British Airways
Apr 28th, 2005, 03:49 PM
#1
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British Airways
One of our flight options between San Francisco and Athens is on British Airways with a 50 minute connection in London. Supposedly, 50 minutes is a legal connection, and the flights arrive and leave from the same terminal. Has anyone had an experience on British Airways that either supports or refutes the idea that this is doable?
Apr 28th, 2005, 03:53 PM
#2
It should be okay provided you don't end up too long in the LHR pattern on arrival. IIRC BA use Terminal 1 for SFO flights as well as European destinations (T4 for most longhauls from the US) so the gate sprint shouldn't be an issue.
Apr 28th, 2005, 05:22 PM
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There is another flight to Athens about 7 hours later that lands at around 2 in the morning. The other options include Lufthansa through Munich for more money, with a 1-1/2 hour connection. But if we miss that connection, there isn't anything until the next morning....
There don't seem to be any easy options.
There don't seem to be any easy options.
Apr 28th, 2005, 08:23 PM
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The 2:15 Lufthansa is a good suggestion, but it's actually a United flight (and pricey). Did I read somewhere their mechanics may strike? Just came across the thread here about the BA flight from L.A. going across the Atlantic on three engines. That news helps to move B.A. further down on my list!
Apr 29th, 2005, 07:03 AM
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I also read in Salon.com's "Ask the Pilot" column that it is perfectly doable for a plane of that type to fly on 3 engines, and it was up to the pilot whether to turn back, and he decided it was safe enough to do it.
Apr 29th, 2005, 10:21 AM
#9
The problem would be if you are held up either in landing or in de-planing. Last trip we sat on the tarmac quite awhile waiting for a gate to become available for us to get off the plane (this was on BA at Heathrow).
Apr 29th, 2005, 07:52 PM
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Am thinking we'll just pay more on Lufthansa and go through Munich with a 90 minute connection. I'm assuming that's a pretty safe connection time. Unless a miracle happens and something changes, the price is really high through Frankfurt. In case we do still use BA, is there any kind of transit hotel/room at the airport if we have a 7 hour layover?
Apr 30th, 2005, 12:19 AM
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Sunny-with respect to the incident involving BA flying on 3 engines, the fact that the flight was "doable" does not AT ALL mean that the operation of that flight complied with all Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 requirements for the safe operation of a commercial flight. The FAA's investigation of that incident is on-going, and BA may yet receive a civil penalty precisely for the violation of said Federal Aviation Regulations. Any aircraft flying into US airspace must comply such FAA regulations, if it doesn't then it is subject to civil penalty, regardless of whether the FAA rules differ from the originating country's in some respect. It should be pointed out that aviation safety rules are somewhat standardized under the International Civil Aviation Organization, but the US has the strictest aviation regulations in the entire world, bar none. There have been a number of crashes of European charter flights that have occurred -one, involving a German charter to the Caribbean in 1996 out of the Dominican Republic killed some 189 persons. This flight did not even meet basic FAA safety requirements-it would not have been allowed to fly into this country. Reforms were made in the German Transport Ministry after this crash, partly due to pressure from the victim's families who learned that the flight would not have been allowed into US airspace, in order to bring their regulations more in line with the US.
But as far as a good safety record, unfortunately, as much research has shown, an airline's safety record is simply no predictor for future crashes. The annals of commercial aviation are replete with crashes by the so-called "best" airlines, sometimes a series of them, of which some will inevitably have to do with human error.
But as far as a good safety record, unfortunately, as much research has shown, an airline's safety record is simply no predictor for future crashes. The annals of commercial aviation are replete with crashes by the so-called "best" airlines, sometimes a series of them, of which some will inevitably have to do with human error.
