Primera Air

[nwoody2001]

So just had a look at the following flights to both New York and Boston as following:

Birmingham – Primera
Birmingham – Cheapest one-stop
Manchester – Cheapest Direct
London Heathrow – Cheapest Direct
London Gatwick – Norwegian

The results are as follows and the prices are pretty compelling. I’ve opted for comparable pricing so whilst primera offer fixed flight only tickets which are a lot cheaper, I have chosen the ‘Comfort’ package which includes Meals, Hold Baggage, Priority Allocated Seating, Name and Date Change so is comparable with standard economy product (of course minus IFE)

Interesting, for NYC, Primera are within £31 of the cheapest tickets available, so on price alone, if you lived in Birmingham and wanted to fly direct, it would not be worth while to travel to Heathrow! The utter bargain however is Boston! Primera out of Birmingham is £75 cheaper than the closest option which is pretty impressive (no idea what’s going on at Heathrow!)

Now obviously it’s very early days and not all airlines will have released their tickets, but if you’re looking to buy now, expesially to Boston, there is a bargain to be had! If you’re in a back packing mod and think you don’t need anymore than 10kg of luggage and happy to buy your lunch from pret at the airport, you can get a flight only ticket on those dates to Boston for £226 Rtn !!!


NEW YORK (07/06/18-11/06/18)

Birmingham to New York (Newark) (Direct) - Primera Air (Comfort) = £411 Rtn

Birmingham to New York (Newark) (Via Paris) – Air France/KLM (Standard Economy) = £380 Rtn

Manchester to New York (JFK) (Direct) – Virgin Atlantic (Standard Economy) = £394 Rtn

London Heathrow to New York (Newark) (Direct) – United Airlines (Standard Economy) = £380 Rtn

London Gatwick to New York (JFK) (Direct) – Norwegian (LowFare+) = £493 Rtn

BOSTON (22/06/18-26/06/18)

Birmingham to Boston (Direct) - Primera Air (Comfort) = £325 Rtn

Birmingham to Boston (Via Dublin) – Aer Lingus (Standard Economy) = £430 Rtn

Manchester to Boston (Direct) – Thomas Cook (Standard Economy) = £400 Rtn

London Heathrow to Boston (Direct) – British Airways (Standard Economy) = £860 Rtn!!!

London Gatwick to Boston (Direct) – Norwegian (LowFare+) = £437 Rtn

 

[Ray Finkle]

They just need to get those fares on Skyscanner asap, I think they'll struggle if they don't.

I've just had a read through the SSC forum and the reaction was quite surprising. I thought that a forum full of very passionate Brummies would be fully behind this but it seems to be a growing list of reasons not to support their local airport. It just highlights what BHX are up against

 

[Jerry]

They just need to get those fares on Skyscanner asap, I think they'll struggle if they don't.

I've just had a read through the SSC forum and the reaction was quite surprising. I thought that a forum full of very passionate Brummies would be fully behind this but it seems to be a growing list of reasons not to support their local airport. It just highlights what BHX are up against

What are they saying?
Surely I'd have thought people would be positive about a new airline and a new route coming to BHX instead of MAN or LHR!

 

[Brum X]

They just need to get those fares on Skyscanner asap, I think they'll struggle if they don't.

I've just had a read through the SSC forum and the reaction was quite surprising. I thought that a forum full of very passionate Brummies would be fully behind this but it seems to be a growing list of reasons not to support their local airport. It just highlights what BHX are up against

Brum X though fully supportive of these flights on SSC. Ive just given them a piece of my mind.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Brum X though fully supportive of these flights on SSC. Ive just given them a piece of my mind.

I noticed Neil and yourself standing up to them, they need all of the support they can get.

I guess with Primera being relatively unknown people are understandably cautious. I hope that there are some great reports from people who use them and word spreads quickly that they are actually pretty good.

The Boston Globe have run a story about Primera but I get the impression that they are not a fan of the new breed of loco's

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there ray and all, just checked on skyscanner for direct flights from birmingham with Primera around the dates to new York and Boston, nothing yet, no direct flights yet on there, so this is the problem they are going to have unless they put this on this website asap....AndyC...

 

[finchy168]

Nothing on the Google flights search engine either

 

[Coathanger16]

I've just looked at existing Primera flights (Copenhagen to Barcelona) and they don't appear on Google Flights, Expedia or Kayak but they do on Skyscanner.

I think the best we can hope for then is that BHX to EWR/BOS show up (soon) on Skyscanner.

 

[flymetothemoon]

Brum X though fully supportive of these flights on SSC. Ive just given them a piece of my mind.

Just saw your rant at them on SSC BrumX Good man-well done

 

[richard winterbourn]

Maybe living 'in the sticks' means i am outside of everyday life so can i ask, what or who is SSC?

 

[Coathanger16]

Maybe living 'in the sticks' means i am outside of everyday life so can i ask, what or who is SSC?

I believe its SkyscraperCity - another forum site:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/

 

[User001]

The issue with the negativity on SCC is that if this is the reaction via an Internet forum that's very pro-Birmingham and pro-keeping money in Birmingham, which is also a very small sample group, then what's the general public feeling going to be like?

We need this to be a huge success, and based on what we have seen with Internet reaction, the lack of decent coverage in the media so far, not appearing on GDS and the fact this will be an unknown brand, it does seem like Primera have a mountain to climb.

I think a lot of posters, full page media adverts, social media campaign, target travel agents like Hainan did with interactive evenings, and maybe some sort of event in the bullring and town centres nearby that show the premium seats, on board service, posters, dress up, games, videos etc is needed.

Obviously we don't know what kind of advertising will be done locally in the US either, but it would be wise for BHX to get on board in the USA side of things to really promote the Midlands as a tourist attraction.

 

[finchy168]

https://ciltuk.org.uk/News/LatestNe...h-London-Stansted-to-USA-flights-in-2018.aspx
Another site with no mention of BHX

 

[route66]

The issue with the negativity on SCC is that if this is the reaction via an Internet forum that's very pro-Birmingham and pro-keeping money in Birmingham, which is also a very small sample group, then what's the general public feeling going to be like?

We need this to be a huge success, and based on what we have seen with Internet reaction, the lack of decent coverage in the media so far, not appearing on GDS and the fact this will be an unknown brand, it does seem like Primera have a mountain to climb.

I think a lot of posters, full page media adverts, social media campaign, target travel agents like Hainan did with interactive evenings, and maybe some sort of event in the bullring and town centres nearby that show the premium seats, on board service, posters, dress up, games, videos etc is needed.

Obviously we don't know what kind of advertising will be done locally in the US either, but it would be wise for BHX to get on board in the USA side of things to really promote the Midlands as a tourist attraction.

Ironically, there is a MAN poster on the SCC site indicating why it will be as cheap to fly from MAN as use Primera from BHX. So that's not a great help either!

 

[User001]

Ironically, there is a MAN poster on the SCC site indicating why it will be as cheap to fly from MAN as use Primera from BHX. So that's not a great help either!

While I don't condone what they post, I think we can all agree there are bigger things to overcome than an overzealous Manchester based poster on an obscure architecture website!

 

[Ray Finkle]

I guess it's early days and there is still time but visibility could become a major issue.

These flights need to come up top on searches from Skyscanner and the like, at the moment anyone without some insider knowledge barely knows that they exist. The also need to appear in the internal systems for travel agents as we all know how lazy they can be in just directing people to LHR.

I guess the price could be seen as a good thing, if it's comparable to flights from elsewhere then maybe there is less of an incentive for a long surface journey.

 

[nwoody2001]

I'm HOPING that at the moment, Primera are focusing on finalising the other routes to be launched. And once they are announced, they can then focus on marketing the routes full hog!!! At the moment, things appear to be an evolving situation with website changes, changes to timetables etc.

Remember, these are not a start-up or new airline, they know what they are doing. I am confident that what they are proposing is a quality offer, we just have to hope everyone else sees it too!

 

[Positively_Brum]

They just need to get those fares on Skyscanner asap, I think they'll struggle if they don't.

I've just had a read through the SSC forum and the reaction was quite surprising. I thought that a forum full of very passionate Brummies would be fully behind this but it seems to be a growing list of reasons not to support their local airport. It just highlights what BHX are up against

I've travelled to New York many times over the years starting off on I think BA186 from BHX-JFK, Continental CO26 to EWR, UA26 to EWR (Many times) and I needed to get to New York in November.......No United so booked Jet2 on 1 of their chartered flights. If i can get to the States via BHX I will......Miami soon from BHX via Brussels......I will undoubtedly use Primera to get to New York and will shout to all and sundry about it. BHX is the number 1 choice for business & pleasure. I agree these flights need to hit Skyscanner, Expedia etc to get into the public eye and hopefully they will very soon. I could carry on but I'm new on here

 

[Ray Finkle]

I could carry on but I'm new on here

Please feel free, it's an interesting read

 

[richard winterbourn]

Nwoody21 makes a valid point. While Primera Air are new to the BHX scene, they are not new to the airline industry. They have been building up a business over a few years and, indeed, have been providing planes for other airlines, including Jet2. If they were anything less than professional and efficient this would not have happened.

It is early days and i, for one, am prepared to sit back and wait to see how they progress. Does anyone honestly think that an airline which already has a good reputation is going to risk losing shedloads of cash on new flights, and i mean shedloads in terms of millions of £s!

There is also a belief that because we frequent sites such as this or, indeed SSC, that the majority of the public either know our views or are interested in what we say. They are not. We represent , i would think, less than 1% of people who fly from BHX. So don't lose any sleep on someone from 'up't north' who flags up a cheaper price to NYC from MAN. It is insignificant.

What is more significant is how Primera Air are working behind the scenes, outside of our gaze and sphere of operations, in ensuring their new business is going to be successful. After all, these flights don't begin until May, 2018. How many of us have even thought about what we are going to do next summer.We have got this summer and winter to get through first.

In short, and i can't remember who posted the comment a few days ago, but i support him by saying i'm a half-full glass guy at the moment