robjame

Yes - this is a whine...
With BA...
1. All European routes from N. America go through Heathrow - IMO one of the worst airports to get around in the world.
2. BECAUSE I am flying through Heathrow, I am restricted to one carry-on. Yes ladies - no purse or computer or camera,etc.
3. If I decide to stop over in England, my checked luggage will be further restricted when I fly to Europe (1 bag).
4. I am not able to choose my seat until 24 hors before, unlike the following passengers:
- Gold and Silver Executive Club members, oneworld™ Emerald and Sapphire equivalents, and other passengers on the same booking
- FIRST Passengers
- Customers holding fully flexible tickets booked in J/C/W/Y booking classes
- Travelling with infants
- Customers with additional needs
- Passengers travelling with children aged 2-11 years
- Skyflyers solo (children travelling alone)
- Specialised groups - sports, school, etc

Yes - and I am travelling Business Class and I am an Executive Club member.
Is this a case of another British institution commiting hari-kari?

BTilke

1. All European routes from N. America go through Heathrow - IMO one of the worst airports to get around in the world.

Really? ALL of them? Since when? Nonstop BA flights from Orlando go to Gatwick and there are many connections onward without any LHR palaver. I thought you could fly to LGW from Dallas and Atlanta as well.

I was planning a trip with my mother from Orlando to Dresden...no LHR, only LGW involved.

Christina

could be, I think there were some news articles recently about BA complaining that the airport stuff was hurting their business. I certainly would never use them to get to Europe and go through Heathrow nowadays -- there are so many other choices.

Of course it will go through Heathrow, though -- all national airlines like that tend to go to their country's main airport as a hub, and then make short runs to other European destinations. I can't think of any one that doesn't actually. I think airlines have to pay a lot of money to get slots at certain airports, and that is limited to some degree (for competition reasons, maybe) so maybe that's why they don't also fly into LGW.

I don't know if that would help, anyway, in terms of the airport problems as they have the same rules, don't they? I know other airlines do fly from overseas into LGW, but BA and Virgin only fly into Heathrow from where I live in the US.

I wouldn't put up with those rules if I were paying for Business Class, although in some sense, the seat doesn't matter quite as much as it does in coach that way.

poss

Reading these posts makes my stomach turn over. I'm a reluctant flyer even at best, but we're booked on BA out of Phila to Heathrow next month (to meet a cruise in Dover). I'm also not "fluent" in computer use, so I'm fairly concerned about the business of trying to secure seat selection 24 hrs before on the BA website. Any sugestions to ease the way mightily appreciated, including which two seats to try to get. We're flying economy, alas, and I like window, so I guess it'll be window and middle. Is there any reason to choose one row rather than another? One side rather than another? On the way over, the aircraft seems to be a 777. On the return a 767. Not being a frequent flyer, I have no idea, of course, what any of that means!
In short, all advice/aid greatly appreciated! (I know about seat-guru, but it doesn't help all that much.)

canyonjane

My son and I just flew on BA from London Heathrow to Boston and had no problems whatsoever.

When our flight arrived in Boston from London, I was surprised because people in small groups here and there throughout the plane sat quietly chatting as other people left the plane. They did not jump up to grab their carry-on bags and prepare for the mad dash off the plane. I have never seen this happen before. Passengers were still on the plane for so long a time that one of the stewardesses said to another, softly, as I passed by, "Are these folks going back to London with us?"

My son and I discussed the dynamics of this and concluded that people were so comfortable on the flight that they did not feel antsy when we arrived (and the flight from London to Boston is longer than the flight from Boston to London.) The reason, we think, is that BA has a new entertainment system on board which is fabulous! Everyone can watch an individual tv screen on the back of the seat in front of them, but the movies are on demand so you can scroll through dozens of movies, both classic films and brand new films, and sample them. You can also watch 22-minute comedy sketches that have aired on television in the US and the UK or you can choose news and you can flip from one format to another easily. Because passengers can pause the movie, there were never any lines for the bathrooms.

It's true that you can have only one carry-on and at first, I was taken aback by this, but I solved the issue of the one carry-on by buying a good quality carry-on suitcase with a substantial outer "pouch" and putting my laptop in that. The "purse" items went in the main compartment except for the boarding pass and passport. The carry-on can also be a laptop case instead of a conventional carry-on suitcase.

I believe the reason for the one carry-on rule is security screening at the airports in London where they want every passenger to have only one carry-on. When I took a flight from London to Florence, I didn't realize I was restricted to one carry-on and the security people at Gatwick were very annoyed with me. Meridiana, the airline, did not care at all if I had two carry-ons, but after that, I got my act together and bought a proper carry-on size suitcase.

It's true that Heathrow is a hike and a half to get from A to B, but I think that the best way to cope is to have one carry-on that you can pull on wheels and wear comfortable walking shoes and comfortable clothing.

By checking in online starting 24 hours before your flight, you can have your choice of window or aisle or seats adjacent to travelling companions. So many people are doing this that you may not have much of a choice if you wait and do it at the airport, but it's very easy to do online.

For the poster who said he/she wasn't very computer savvy, I would suggest getting someone who is computer savvy to sit with you and show you how to check in online. You will be much less anxious about your trip if you know that someone else is going to either do this for you or show you how to do this yourself.

As for choosing a seat in business class, all I can say is that if I could afford to fly in business class, I wouldn't care what seat I had. Those extra feet of leg room have got to make all the difference in the world. I upgraded my seat on Delta going from Boston to San Diego in coach and I could not believe the comfort of a few extra feet of legroom.

Happy Travels, everyone!

jody

That confused me too, Btilke. I fly BA direct MCO/LGW . I prefer to spend a few days in London before going onward. We usually end up taking the Eurostar to France then back to London for a day or two on returning home. .

The 1 carry-on is not a BA rule rather it is a BAA regulation. I was just reading an article this morning that they are thinking of doing away with it after the summer rush.

" UK Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick quotes to The Financial Times “The regulations are being assessed and limits of a single piece of hand luggage per passenger could be lifted after the summer peak travel season. The hand luggage rules may now allow for 2 pieces per passenger, although a ban on liquids will remain"

I don't mind the 24 hr checkin on the way over but it does mean I have to find a computer 24 hours before the trip back home, which is a bit of a bother.

We too are flying business and are Executive Club members, hopefully this trip will push us up to Gold!

rkkwan

BA has a bunch of flights from N. America to LGW, though Dallas and at least one Houston will move to LHR next spring.

BA also flies JFK-MAN. Not sure about other cities to MAN.

The one carry on rule applies to all UK airports. Not just LHR.

Jean

I feel your pain, Robjame.

Are you thinking BA exlusively because of frequent flyer miles? Almost all of our frequent flyer miles are on American which has eliminated most of its Europe-direct flights, so the majority of our choices would seem to be on its partner BA through Heathrow. However...

We live in Los Angeles, and I've found I can route through O'Hare or JFK and Brussels. American has daily flights from JFK to Brussels, Budapest, Istanbul, Manchester, Paris, Rome, and Zurich. LA to Brussels involves a stop in Chicago, but from Brussels there are flights on AA's partner Belgian Airlines to more than 50 cities in Western, Middle and Eastern Europe.

I'm considering concentrating my FF mileage accumulation on United in the future because of the routing options through Frankfurt, but United has problems too. (Don't they all?) I'm going to give Brussels and Belgian Airlines a chance.

baby2

We flew RT on BA Club World on three trips to Europe in the last 15 months with absolutely no problems including getting seat assignments 24 hours before flight since we had discounted tickets - spring/summer 2006: SFO-LHR-CDG/CDG-LHR-SFO; Christmas 2006: SFO-LHR-CDG/CDG-LHR-SFO; spring/summer 2007: SFO-LHR-FCO/ZUR-LHR-SFO. And we liked our seats - no walking over anybody's feet.

And we are doing it again this November: SFO-LHR-CDG/LIN-LHR-SFO. Some of our layover in LHR was less than 2 hours but we found the time more than sufficient - including enjoying some food and drink in the lounge.

robjame

jody - are these connecting flights?
Perhaps I should have said all YYZ flights
With the number of exceptions to the 24 hour rule, I am wondering what will be left. As well, upstairs will probably be overrun by "less than 11 yearolds" who choose 3 days before.

Can BA miles be used for any flight a partner (AA) runs? The BA site says "We will offer you an option to search for airline partner flights where British Airways is not available on the requested date or does not fly the route".
Can one find a AA flight and use BA miles? might be a better alternative??
What is the AA hub?

Lovejoy

The WSJ ran an article about BA in yesterdays paper about its problems at LHR.Specifically its baggage problems.
The recommendation of the Journal is that if you are making connections to the rest if Europe Heathrow is best avoided.
From the article,
"British Airways, the world's second-largest airline in international passenger traffic, mishandled 28 bags per 1,000 passengers in the second quarter this year, a rate that is twice as bad as the worst U.S. major airline, US Airways Group Inc. In all, British Airways has lost the bags of more than 550,000 customers in the first half of this year."

http://tinyurl.com/2v4kp4

robjame

Wow Lovejoy - the Yanks wouldn't stand for it!
The Brits (my ancestors) take it all with a "stiff upper lip".

Orcas

poss, Whenever I reserve seats on-line, I pull up this website:

http://www.seatguru.com/index.php

If your computer is capable, you can have the airline on one tab and seatguru on another and go back and forth between pages, finding the available seats on the airline website while checking them against the information on seat guru.

I found a backpack could carry all my carry-on stuff for British Air. They did leave my luggage behind, though. The brought it to me the next day.

It was a good flight and Heathrow wasn't so bad. Just expect to spend some time there and you won't be disappointed.

twk

Besides the LGW connections, which folks in my neck of the woods have used for a long time, I understand that BA is making plans to fly direct to the US from some other European countries, as permitted under some recent international agreements for the first time.

Dukey

Unfortunately, when your baggage is lost it is hard to cover up your body below the waist with a "stiff upper lip" even if it has been recently laundered.

ira

Hi Poss,

If you will be leaving at night, get 2 seats on the aisle. You will be able to stretch your legs.

There is nothing to see out the window.

See www.seatguru.com for info on seats.

It's not as bad as RJ is claiming.

Jean

Robjame, you should direct your FF questions to BA, but this is how it works on American:

If I want to fly to a city that AA does not service but a partner airline does, I can use my miles (per AA's requirements) on the partner airline or a combination of AA and partner flights. I book through AA's program and not the partner airline. If booked on a partner airline for a particular flight, that airline's seat assignment policy and luggage limits apply to that flight. We prefer to carry-on at all times, but we've been lucky the few times we've been forced to check. I think at this point, I'd have more confidence in Brussels and Brussels Airlines than BA and Heathrow. (I called it Belgian Airlines in my previous post, but apparently it's Brussels Airlines with the airline code "SN.&quot

American's U.S. hub is Chicago. It doesn't really have a European gateway city, although it has more flights into Healthrow than anywhere else in Europe.

What is your final destination in Europe?

robjame

Jean I missed your original post.

I am OK for this year as we booked under the old arrangements. I am thinking ahead to September/October 2008 ant the destination will be France (I am in a rut).

ira - you are right. But being OC I love to have all the details sewn up well in advance and I hate little curves. My wife reminds me that we are going to Europe so relax!

Zeus

A couple of years ago I would've argued with Robjame, but after this past summer where we stood in in line for 2 hours at BA's check-in at Newark (with only 1 agent checking in almost a hundred people for the first 45 minutes), where we had to "commute" halway across England to make our connections in Heathrow, where the entertainment units on our trans-Atlantic flight was kaput (and no effort was made to mollify the passengers), where meal service served the smallest portions I've ever seen in 50 years of air travel, and where 8 out of 25 bags on our trip were lost upon arrival in Athens, I'll never fly on BA ever again. One poor woman in our group didn't get her luggage until almost 2 weeks later, when we returned home from Athens. And to top it off BNritish Airways didn't credit any of my family's mileage to their American accounts, which has been a royal pain in the butt to try to correct.

About the only good thing I can say for British Airways was that drinks were still free - we needed them.

RM67

Aside from the lost luggage issue, which I think is appalling and unforgiveable, I really struggle to see what the justification is for the other 'gripes'.

1/ BA are a British airline so why shouldn't they use the UK's major airport as hub for most of their flights? No, I'm not a great fan of Heathrow either, but I can see the logic of why BA want to route as many flights as possible through it.

2/ Baggage - Restrictions are caused largely by new security measures implemented following terrorism, not at BA's own behest. As an aside, reducing baggage saves fuel (and therefore reduces flight costs, and helps the environment to boot). Why not welcome it and just pack light?

3/ Seating - It would be impossible for everyone to get their seat of choice, so someone has to go first and someone has to go last. It's life. I'm going to be extra contraversial here and ask why being a business traveller should automatically mean special treatment. Perhaps the actual business coughing up have a right to be aggrieved, but not necessarily the individual racking up airmiles at someone elses expense. 8-)Slightly tongue in cheek, but how about those who've paid for their own ticket with their own money getting priority for once 8-)