British Airways/British Airways Cityflyer

[User001]

Here's a great one.

Just seen someone complain on BA twitter that they only just made their connection thanks to BA cancelling their original MAN-LHR flight.

Where were they going after LHR I hear you ask? San Diego? Cape Town? Tokyo?
Well, it turns out They were then flying Aer Lingus to DUB.

Frigging Dublin! Traveling to Heathrow first to get to Dublin, on a carrier that serves the same route as MAN multiple times a day. I have no words!!!!

 

[jfy1999]

That's the best one I've seen since someone said they didn't know one could fly BHX-AMS

 

[Coathanger16]

It was probably a frequent flyer who wanted the extra flight to help maintain his status on a loyalty program.

 

[User001]

possibly. But if they were on a standard fare it's a lot of effort for 5 tier points!

 

[Coathanger16]

possibly. But if they were on a standard fare it's a lot of effort for 5 tier points!

To maintain a certain status level with BA you need "x" number of tier points and have flown a certain number of flights.

Its almost comical that people on here complain that Manchester (and other domestic routes) are the first to face cancellations when problems occur, then it turns out people use those flights to fly to Dublin.

Obviously not all passengers are, but it does make you wonder how many passengers on the Heathrow shuttles are connecting to destinations that are actually served by Manchester. Then makes you wonder if its really any surprise these shuttle flights are the first to be cancelled by BA.

 

[User001]

The weekend base is definately back on the cards for next summer, as LCY and some IBZ flights are now bookable from May.

No other flights bookable yet so probably having a shuffle around. Looks to be at least 2 aircraft again.

It is highly rumoured that the weekend base is staying in the winter, with the focus being winter sun and Ski, but, until that's confirmed at least we know the weekend base wasn't a 1 season wonder.

(BRS/BHX not bookable yet).

 

[David_itl]

Didn't think it was announced that IB would be codesharing:

19:20 Ibiza IB4824 Departed 19:37 T3
19:20 Ibiza BA7315 Departed 19:37 T3

 

[User001]

It's now being confirmed that the Cityflyer base is at Manchester year round.

I've found the LCY flights for the winter, I'm just trying to find the actual base flights now.

BA7310 LCY 2030 MAN 2130 Fri
BA7311 MAN 1330 LCY 1430 Sun

These flights are bookable already.

 

[Dobbo]

Good news: hopefully a mix of ski, winter sun and city breaks...

 

[User001]

New route, Chambery.

BA7327 MAN 0655 CMF 0955
BA7328 CMF 1055 MAN 1200

Sunday's.

There are still 2 flight slots to fill on Saturday but nothing loaded yet so will wait and see what appears.

 

[EGCC_MAN]

Had a day down in London on Thursday - down on the 06:45 Shuttle (A319 G-EUPG), back from City 19:40 (E190 G-LCYU).

Slight delay southbound due to weather-related arrival restrictions at LHR (entirely understandable). The A319 cabin was smart in appearance but seat pitch felt very tight (29in?) similar to a no-frills carrier. Catering is entirely buy-on-board "and we don't accept cash". Nobody greeted the passengers on boarding, though there was a friendly goodbye when disembarking at LHR. Flight adequate in every respect, but indistinguishable from a Ryanair or an EasyJet sector from a passenger perspective.

In the evening, London City Airport was in meltdown mode. Weather-related flight delays and cancellations had backed up throughout the day leaving the terminal heaving with passengers. All seats taken. Their flight display monitors are actually large TV screens which show about eight flights per page. Pages 1 and 2 (of 3) displayed historic flights which were either cancelled or delayed ... all of these should have left already. Only page 3 was displaying forthcoming flights. It was just 50 minutes before scheduled departure time (and 20 mins before boarding) that my Manchester flight made it on to the display monitor for the first time. And miraculously ... it showed as 'ON TIME'.

I would estimate that just over 40 pax (42, 43?) boarded G-LCYU, really impressive when one considers that the flight is realistically an ad-hoc one-way service only. I was immediately struck by how impressive the cabin-interior looked. Really spacious, generous seat-pitch (31in?). Very smart cabin attendant welcomed everybody as they boarded. During the flight we were advised that all catering was complimentary. Everybody received a drink and a snack ... but there was no sense of rationing. Many people received a second pack of biscuits, an extra bag of savoury snacks etc. This was service above and beyond and it gets noticed. I noted that the two ladies sat in the row ahead of me showed onward boarding passes to the cabin attendant during the flight. "Oh yes, that looks like us. It will probably be this aircraft again." So it looks like they were connecting on to the Ibiza service. Perhaps several of the customers aboard were redeeming Avios, but there were plenty with suits and briefcases too. Four of the passengers were actually the spare BACF crew ... their intensive weekend schedule requires additional staff at MAN.

It was notable that this flight left LCY right on time on such a disrupted day. Some other BACF flights were cancelled. But I suspect that it is top priority to get the MAN flight away punctually, as their weekend schedule ex-MAN is so intensive that a delayed start would cause an entire weekend of knock-on EU261 liabilities. So they make sure that this MAN-bound aircraft gets away on time come what may.

The whole BACF experience really impressed me. But BA mainline - whilst adequate - really didn't. No wow-factor at all there. Quite simply, BA Cityflyer cabin service is a league ahead of that aboard BA mainline short-haul. Nothing wrong with Ryanair-style service per se, but is that what passengers are expecting when they pay a BA fare? Meanwhile, BA franchise carrier Sun-Air of Scandinavia (MAN-Billund J328's) offer quite simply THE best short-haul cabin service I have ever come across (and I fly alot). So in the BA stable at least, the apprentices have truly surpassed the master. By an extraordinarily large margin. Those in-the-know will be actively choosing the BA franchise / subsidiary operations where a choice is available.

Final thought: if an ad-hoc standalone once weekly flight like this attracts 40+ pax, could BACF consider the potential for a 2 or 3 daily E170 LCY-MAN schedule offering a business-friendly predictable day-return option? It appears that there is a market ... nobody from East London is going to head to LHR to get to MAN. But maybe the proposed Stobart / FlyBe Southend-MAN service will tap into some of this latent demand?

Interesting trip. And you can redeem Avios on it. Recommended.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Many thanks for that report, EGCC_MAN. Full of interesting details.

 

[ethanegcc]

New route, Chambery.

BA7327 MAN 0655 CMF 0955
BA7328 CMF 1055 MAN 1200

Sunday's.

There are still 2 flight slots to fill on Saturday but nothing loaded yet so will wait and see what appears.

What date does it begin?

 

[User001]

14th December(ish)

 

[ethanegcc]

14th December(ish)

Yes, got it on the MAN Airport website. 16th December I think!

 

[User001]

The winter based aircraft will do a charter flight for Inghams/Esprit:

BA4511 MAN 0745 CMF 1045
BA4512 CMF 1135 MAN 1240

Sunday's.

This means so far the aircraft does:

Friday
BA7310 LCY 2030 MAN 2130

Saturday
BA7327 MAN 0655 CMF 0955
BA7328 CMF 1055 MAN 1200
BA7329
BA7330

Sunday:
BA4511 MAN 0745 CMF 1045
BA4512 CMF 1135 MAN 1240
BA7311 MAN 1330 LCY 1430

 

[Dobbo]

One more to be revealed... odds on Chambery... perhaps a Swiss or Italian resort, or maybe a winter sun route?

 

[David_itl]

Geneva would be boring. I say bring on Sion! Or they could go for Innsbruck as an alternate ski route. For sun, Tenerife which would mean having an overnight Saturday mission?

Friday LCY-MAN
Saturday: MAN-Chambery-MAN-Innsbruck-MAN-Tenerife-MAN
Sunday: MAN-Chambery-MAN-LCY

 

[Jerry]

Would BAs E170s and E190s have the range for TFS?

 

[Scottie Dog]

Are you talking this coming winter or next summer?

The reason I ask is that I'm currently compiling a list of domestic scheduled (on the laptop that I don't have to hand as I type this) flights an0d I don't recall 8 in the winter.

Looks as if user001 has removed the post I was replying to!!