Not good news if you prefer BA to Easyjet

logicbob · Post by **logicbob** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 9:58 am

This is an email that I recieved this morning from BA I hope it helps clarify what is happening.

*************************************
British Airways' schedule changes

You may have heard news this morning that easyJet has announced its intention to purchase British Airways' franchise carrier, GB Airways and that British Airways will terminate its franchise agreement with GB Airways with effect from 30 March 2008.

All BA flights with a flight number between BA6760 and BA6999 are operated by GB Airways.

We would like to reassure you that flights to all GB Airways destinations will continue to operate normally with the full British Airways service up to and including March 29, 2008. If you have a booking on a GB Airways flight up to and including this date your flight will not be affected.

If you are booked to travel after March 30, 2008, you will be contacted with details of your new flight once easyJet's purchase of GB Airways is complete. We expect this to be in the next eight weeks.
For more information, please visit http://ba.com.

Warm regards

Sarah Keyes
Executive Club Manager

Graham · Post by **Graham** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 10:16 am

Now I am really miffed - just looked at changing my Easter flights to Monarch - including the excess charge for golf clubs it is going ot cost me £515 more for my family of 4 than the BA flights I booked 2 months ago

(not to mention the horrible flight times)

Gazza · Post by **Gazza** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:06 am

This from Thompson Financial News :

British Airways plans to start services from Heathrow to Faro and Malaga and from Gatwick to Faro, Gibraltar, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma and Tunis. The new
services will start from March 30, 2008.

. r.jones@thomson.com rj/lht

How true this will turn out to be, only time will tell

G

Mike,Chislehurst · Post by **Mike,Chislehurst** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:31 am

That's potentially good news. Doesn't leave much for Easyjet

Gazza · Post by **Gazza** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:36 am

http://www.justtheflight.co.uk/news/183 ... unced.html

I also placed a call to BA PR Dept and although they were a little coy, they did reveal that there are plans to develop the route.

G

Gazza · Post by **Gazza** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:38 am

Oh and they also heard about the Easyjet burping steward and plan to hire him as chief purser on the LGW / FAO route!!!!!

G

Farol · Post by **Farol** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:07 pm

We normally fly with Easyjet and feel they give excellent value for money.

The last time we flew with BA to Faro we finished up sending a letter of complaint to BA. Their answer amounted to saying that they could not care less as the flight was operated by GB Airways under licence.

If it wasn't for the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair what would we all be paying for flights? I doubt that BA would have introduced low price flights and without them I doubt that we would have bought our home in Portugal.

When we started regular trips to the Algarve BA only flew on certain days. It was Easyjet that introduced daily flights.

If Easyjet went out of business what would happen to property prices in the Algarve?

Michael Crane · Post by **Michael Crane** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:03 pm

Farol wrote:If Easyjet went out of business what would happen to property prices in the Algarve?

I'd be able to afford one

e-richard · Post by **e-richard** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:31 pm

Michael Crane wrote:
Farol wrote:If Easyjet went out of business what would happen to property prices in the Algarve?
I'd be able to afford one

Then property prices really would plummet

e-richard · Post by **e-richard** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:49 pm

Back to being a bit serious.... I'm unashamedly an EasyJet fan. Their prices are hard to beat if you book suitably in advance, but then:
a) I'm fairly short
b) We usually travel with hand luggage only

When EJ first implemented on-line check-in and print your boarding card, we could do this at time of booking and we were then allocated boarding group D - last to board !

Now, you can on-line checkin and print boarding card at least 1 month before flight (BA only allow 24hours before flight!) and you are allocated boarding group A AND on-line boarding cards are also treated as Speedy Boarding!

Still, I do hope that BA will be offering flights to Faro after March 30th as suggested above. Even EJ need some compeition, and very occasionally, when I have enought points, we do like travelling "up front".

Al Garb · Post by **Al Garb** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:41 pm

I'm also a "Chav Air" fan. I've probably done forty round trips with them and only been delayed twice; fog in the UK and French ATC. I'm tall, pay my Speedy B and check in on line and get an emergency exit seat.

I've never heard any suggestion that they cut corners on safety. The perception of them being down market is not actually accurate. Of their leisure travellers 10% have household incomes of £80K+ and half above £46K. More than half their passengers are from the middle and higher socio economic groups.

That's the problem the bloody middle classes get everywhere nowadays. EJ coffee is crap, even what they laughingly call espresso, but it's a small price to pay and I just switch off from those "Please don't forget to remove your children from the overhead lockers" routines

Misty · Post by **Misty** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:42 pm

Who said that easyjet cut corners on safety? I would rather trust easyjet on that issue than BA. I also thought the new easyjet airbus had more legroom than the old 737s they use.

Please Sir · Post by **Please Sir** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 3:05 pm

Mike,Chislehurst wrote:Roy, you wouldn't by chance be considering a weekly return Biggin Hill to Faro. Very handy for myself and Gazza.

These guys might help you out.

http://good-times.webshots.com/video/30 ... 9154BSLLSu

tbbr · Post by **tbbr** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:58 pm

We fly on EJ at least 6 times year, don,t pay for speedy boarding ( just spend longer sitting on the bus ) and manage to get the emergency exit seats 2 times out of 3.

OK so some times we get the " tired and emotional " golfers or hen parties but you get those on most airlines.

As to being the " flying council house " we have come to know of more than a few very wealthy ALgarve based individuals who always fly on EJ. because of their reliability and costs.

We will take EJ over RYan ( Con ) Air anytime.
( latest news from them is £1 coin slots on the loos, ( think Im joking , just wait ).

Bruce Wallis · Post by **Bruce Wallis** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:16 am

My only bitch about Easyjet is the unseemly scramble for seats, but the best way to avoid this is to go aboard via the backsteps as most people seem to fight for room at the front.

Easyjets reliabilty far exceeds Monarch, whose 1745 flight is late departing LGW 70% of the time.

My concern about possibly losing BA, is all about losing 200 seats a day in each direction. That in itself could push prices up.

In terms of competion, the awful RyanAir would be good. But that's as far as it goes. I can never forget the flight with RyanAir where we got diverted to Bristol and just dumped in the terminal.
When I complained to the Senior Steward, he just laughed and sneered, "You pay f***-all....you get f***-all"

They arent even that cheap...when you total up all the elastic taxes and bolt on, a 1p flight suddenly becomes something in the order of 40 quid!.