On Nov 16, 3:09 pm, wrote:
On Nov 14, 9:55 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:

British Airways has admitted flying dozens of "ghost flights" across the
Atlantic, with only pilots and cargo aboard (and no passengers), because it
doesn't have the crews to staff the flights with passengers:

http://www.emailthis.clickability.co...kMap=viewThis&...

Some of the ghost flights are apparently flown just to keep slots at major
airports active, even though every ghost flight burns tons of fuel.

Why don't they just hire more FAs? Or--like several other airlines--do they
make so much from hauling cargo across the Atlantic that they don't need
passengers to turn a profit?

My wife and I flew back last weekend from Johannesburg
and London on BA. The 747 from JoBurg to LHR was full, but from there
to YYC the cattle-car section of the 777 was jammed, yet the snooty-
chairs were mostly empty. I endured 9 hours of discomfort; good thing
I didn't know until I got off that those comfy lounges were
unoccupied. Might have made noise about getting a better seat. Now I
wonder: maybe those expensive chairs were empty because they had no
attendants for that section?

I believe British Airways feels it's more important to maintain the
exclusivity (and therefore perceived value) of those seats than to
fill them up the unsold ones with, say, the highest status frequent
fliers who are on the flight like most airlines would do. I took a
rtw business trip in business class last year and the travel agent had
a bitch of a time getting the seats on the BA segments because they
simply didn't want to release them at the RTW business class prices
(and this was the same flight you were on, Joburg to LHR).