British Airways says, “Sandwiches? You don’t need no stinkin’ sandwiches!”

by Sean McLachlan on

British Airways has announced that as of next week it will no longer serve sandwiches on its short-haul flights, the BBC has reported.

The move, which the airline hopes will save £22 million ($36.3 million) a year, will affect all flights after 10am that last less than two-and-a-half hours. Passengers will be served “snacks” instead, most likely meaning a tiny bag of pretzels and a thimbleful of orange juice in a little cup filled with ice. Early morning flights will still serve breakfast, such as it is.

The airline is also considering further cuts such as no more hot towels in Club class (my heart bleeds) and maybe even getting rid of free pretzels in economy.

So much for “Fly the friendly skies.” Oh wait, that’s United, and they went bankrupt and had to get bailed out by the American taxpayer. Sorry, I have trouble keeping my penny-pinching airlines straight. I’m still mad about BA opening my luggage and leaving it out in the rain at Heathrow. When it got to Missouri (two days late) my clothes were soaked and my books were ruined.

Ah well, the sandwiches I make at home and bring with me when I fly always taste better anyway. And I never put anything valuable in my checked luggage. I’ve seen people putting laptops in their suitcases. They obviously don’t read Gadling.

The fall of OpenSkies?

by Grant Martin on

OpenSkies, the all-business-class subsidiary of British Airways has always been fighting an uphill battle. At only one year old, the airline has always struggled to earn and maintain a customer base. Now with demand on the wane and airlines cutting back, OpenSkies might soon be on the chopping block.

The model, it seemed, was valid. A smaller plane with all business and first class seats could consume less fuel, sell fewer seats at a slightly higher price and still make a profit. But as Eos, Silverjet and Maxjet all showed, there just might not be enough demand for business class seats to warrant an entire widebody aircraft full of them.

Now, with British Airways launching business-class service between London (LCY) and New York on a tiny A318 aircraft, the niche crowd may move to that product. That leaves very little space for OpenSkies. According to The Guardian, this means that BA may want to sell of or cancel the service.

No official word has come from the BA, naturally, so the airline may survive yet. Having personally flown the service a few times, I hope they make it. But in a market as tight as this, the top of the hill is a long way off.

British Airways plans to fly the tiny Airbus A318 across the pond

by Scott Carmichael on

British Airways has announced its plans to fly on the London City – New York JFK route starting this October.

Now, news like this normally gets ignored by us, unless it involves cool and interesting locations, neither of which are included in this announcement.

What makes this news worth writing about, is that the route will be serviced by the small Airbus A318 plane. This plane is seriously small for a transatlantic jump. It is based off the Airbus A320, the same plane used by Jetblue on their routes.

The planes will be configured with business class seating only, so British Airways is clearly hoping there is enough cash left in the banking world to fly people between London City and Wall Street.

On the way to New York, the plane will have to stop in Shannon, because London City airport is not large enough to let it take off with a full load of fuel! Shannon has the added bonus of being home to a US Customs and Immigration facility, which will prevent passengers from having to deal with long lines at JFK. This also means that BA will be flying its first ever domestic arrival at JFK.

I sure hope BA knows what they are doing, because this route sounds like more work than it is worth. Fingers crossed that their beancounters did their homework, and this won’t be the beginning of another route doomed to be canned after a few months.

British Airways scrapping first class on new planes

by Sean McLachlan on

It’s official, we’re in trouble.

British Airways has decided to remove first-class seating on four of its new flights, The Guardian newspaper has reported. The carrier is also considering removing the service from other flights.

The move comes after a fall in demand for first-class seating, brought on by the economic downturn, which apparently is even affecting people who will pay three to ten times more for a ticket just so they get to wear special British Airways pajamas and dine on lobster. Another problem is increased competition from business class, which offers many of the same amenities such as early boarding and seats that convert into miniature beds. In these hard economic times, even millionaires are willing to go without jammies and lobster if they at least get premium seating and don’t have to go to the bathroom with the middling classes.

British Airways needs to find ways to cut costs. Demand for both first and business class has fallen sharply, and it has just reported a 401 million pound ($638 million) loss even though it is still adding routes. A new direct flight from Heathrow to Las Vegas will not have first class seating.

Existing flights will keep their first-class seating at the moment because company officials state that the cost of tearing out the section and replacing it with business class or coach seating would be too expensive. This could have a good effect on the more proletarian passengers–because with more empty seats in the posh section, there would be a greater chance of getting upgraded. The potential bonanza may not last long, however, because BA might follow the lead of other carriers like KLM and Delta and scrap first class on transatlantic routes altogether.

Survey of most annoying passengers says – don’t kick my seat

by Scott Carmichael on

British Airways recently surveyed a large number of their European customers, and asked them what the most annoying behavior is from their fellow passengers.

The results are not exactly a surprise, and probably very much in line with the kind of stuff that annoys us all.

Here is the top 5 of most annoying in-flight passenger behavior:

  1. Fellow passengers who kick the back of your seat.
  2. Parents who can’t control their kids.
  3. Passengers who constantly whine and rant during the flight.
  4. Passengers who fully recline their seat.
  5. Impatient passengers who get up as soon as the plane gets close to the gate.

So, this got me thinking about things fellow passengers do that annoy me – I could only think of 3 that were not already in the list above.

  • Passengers who get out of their own seat by holding on to the back of my seat (usually waking me).
  • Anyone who thinks of themselves as an “elite flier” and constantly wants others to know how important they are.
  • Any passengers that feel the need to clap when the plane lands. Seriously, just don’t do it.

I want to know what kind of behavior from your fellow passengers annoys you the most – leave us a comment and we’ll see whether the British Airways survey was in line with our own annoyances.