NW Bumps Up USA-Heathrow Flights
 

NW airlines will start on May 1, 2008 three non-stops Detroit-London Heathrow and one each from Minneapolis-St Paul's Larry Craig Airport to Heathrow and one Seattle-Heathrow

This is possible under the Open Skies agreement between EU and USA

Previously only American and United were the only American carriers allowed into Heathrow

If looking for cheap flights often when an airline inaugurates routes they have good fare sales - nwa.com i guess to see.

NW is maintaing their daily Detroit-Gatwick flight

BA is dropping of course there Detroit-Heathrow flight near the end of March

Actually, they're starting three LHR flights total. One each from DTW (333), MSP (333) and SEA (332). Not 3x from DTW.

The daily DTW-LGW will be downgraded to a 757.

Also, here are the start dates:

MSP - March 29.
DTW - May 1.
SEA - June 1.

This is unlike DL and CO, which are starting all their new LHR flights on March 29.

Yes indeedy - read the story a bir wrong - one from each

i kinda of thought 3 from Deee-troit?

The DTW and MSP flights will do well, as they are strong NW hubs and as PalenQ mentioned, BA dropping DTW.

The SEA flight is more curious. While NW has presence there, and is partner with AS, it's not a true hub. Also, the flight time is "unusually late" both ways, most likely because that's the LHR slots that KLM will give them.

NW 106 SEA-LHR 2220/1615 +1
NW 105 LHR-SEA 1830/2055

A 4:15p arrival at LHR means whole day gone, while a 8:55p arrival at SEA means few connections possible from there, except for a few short hops on Horizon.

I do like flights leaving relatively late at night, because I can work the whole day and get to the airport with no rush. And a 4:15 PM London arrival means that you don't have to suffer very much the first jetlagged day - just hold on for another 4 hours or so, and you can go to sleep.

The return flight arriving at 8:55 PM - I agree that is less than ideal, although of course you do get the advantage of almost a full business day in London - which could benefit business travelers too.

< Minneapolis-St Paul's Larry Craig Airport>

Almost missed that one!

a little toilet humor!

The DTW service, at least, will use the new Airbus A330s, according to Detroit Free Press article

PalenQ -

Both DTW and MSP will use the A330-300.

SEA will use the smaller and longer-range A330-200.

Sounds more like potty training.

my head must be clogged, I was wondering when did they renamed MSP airport, duh ;;) Deborah

It took an act of Congress i believe - some deal hashed out in the back room.

That's funny. I almost missed that. You have to be careful when you have a wide stance!

and helps to have taken tap dancing lessons as well

Knock it off, you guys. You are giving the MSP airport a bum rap.

You mean Men Seeking Pxxxx (MPS) Airport?

I happen to think the SEA flight is pretty well-timed. For, say, a Mon-Fri trip, you get more useable daytime on the ground in both SEA and LON and it is better for jetlag in both directions. May not work ideally for connections, but timings that work for connections are usually less than ideal for point-to-point, so it is a trade off.

BA was going to have a significant advantage with connecting traffic anyway, as they also partner with AS and from LHR... Given that, I think NW is doing the right thing focusing on point-to-point traffic.

I wouldn't be surprised if NW already have a corporate contract in place that makes them think there is local traffic enough to support a point-to-point route - perhaps someone who is already in the bag due to the NRT or AMS flights?

Lary Craig aside (well aside, hopefully), that's very good news for me. Thanks for bringing up the new LHR departures.

All kidding aside, I am thrilled by this news, since MSP, MPS, whatever, is the airport I use.

I was kidding about MSP being named Craig Airport - it still goes by its old name - Brett Favre Airport.

I'd be more interested in the NWA flight SEA-LHR if it went to Gatwick. All we need is more flights into Heathrow, even with the new terminal.

but Heathrow is gold for airlines because of its many more lucrative connecting flights - that's why everyone wants slots there and would move, like NW their attention from gatwick to heathrow.

and many travelers will find for that reason Heathrow also more convenient than Gatwick

and after viewing the hour-long wait to get thru Customs last Feb at Gatwick and the longer waits to check-in for many airlines i'd rather go to the new terminal in Heathrow.

LHR is slot controlled, so there are no more flights going to LHR on March 30 than today. Difference is that European airlines flying smaller planes are transferring/selling the slots to US carriers flying widebodies.

So, more passengers, yes; more flights, no.

One issue with the new Skyteam flights (including NW) into LHR is that all Skyteam carriers use T4, and the Heathrow Express will no longer stop there once T5 opens. You need to transfer to T1/2/3 for the HEX. Or take the tube or Heathrow Connect direct from T4..

I think the SEA-LHR-SEA timings work well for SEA based pax. The eastbound flight arrives in London in plenty of time for the last connections to Europe, and on the return it allows Europe-originating pax to go into the office and still get to (AMS, CDG, PRG...) in time to connect through LHR to SEA.

SEA-LHR is principally a premium cabin route (given large corporate users) - so much so that BA has added a second flight most days. It's hard to see NW competing for the front of the plane, especially given LH and AF are flying nonstop to the continent (LH as of the spring) as well as SK's daily flight to CPH and NW's current AMS nonstop. So there could be two outcomes - more rate competition for business class from SEA (yea team) or more discounting in the back from BA and NW for LHR, in order to keep pax from non-stopping it to the continent.

AS and BA are partners, but nowhere nearly as close as AS is with NW (with codeshares, cross-qualifying FF programs, NW upgrades provided by AS to its elites, etc.) With their already strong partnership with KL/AF, DL and CO, it looks like AS is creeping closer to Skyteam affiliation than to Oneworld. Feh.

Brett Favre Airport! PalenQ, how dare you?!?!?! Just wait until us Vikings fans don our stylish Vikings hats with the Helga braids, paint our faces purple, and raid your house!

Ah go get a shanty and do some ice fishing!

"Heathrow is gold for airlines because of its many more lucrative connecting flights "

Apparently not. Most numbers I've seen show that Heathrow has fewer connecting passengers than any of its NW European competitors. 80%+ of Heathrow passengers don't connect to another flight.

The knock on from Open Skies - and a faster Eurostar will reduce the number of transfer passengers still further. Slots are moving from European destinations to US American ones (there won't be any new slots till 2015 at the earliest).

Heathrow is desirable partly because of airlines' herd thinking (London-New York already has more airlines on the route than any other international city pair anywhere, three of them are in danger of going bust in the next twelve months, and at least one almost certainly will), and partly because it's the handiest airport for Europe's commercial capital - a city which has seen uninterrupted growth for fifteen years.

Heathrow is preferred because premium travelers prefer it. Access to central London is at least as easy, but probably better. The Tube is a big plus. The HEX is at least as convenient as the Gatwick Express (though I don't think either is a great choice). And a taxi to almost any business destiation will more often be cheaper from Heathrow than Gatwick. Throw in that the area directly around Heathrow is a bigger business destination, and Gatwick just doesn't make as much geographic sense.

As for the airport experience, I think that, for premium travellers, Heathrow wins. The fast track and Iris lanes minimize any differences in security/connection/immigration times, and the better lounges, shopping and amenities mean that any time at the airport passes much more easily than at Gatwick.

Of course, for the coach traveler, I think that the difference is minimal and Gatwick may even be very slightly better, but these moves are not about coach travelers.

<Brett Favre Airport! PalenQ, how dare you?!?!?! Just wait until us Vikings fans don our stylish Vikings hats with the Helga braids, paint our faces purple, and raid your house!>

poohgirl - why did they name MSP airport Brett favre Airport?

Because they have a lot of touchdowns there!

Good one, PalenQ!

Is it confirmed that NWA flights are at T4? I see that MSP-LHR arrivals are at Gate 410.

Yes, NW uses T4.