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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flight attendants
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...5276864& pt=Y 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? |
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flightattendants
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? Dan |
#3
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flightattendants
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). |
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flightattendants
On 16 Nov, 23:41, Craig Welch wrote:
said: 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. To what avail? Do you think they would have moved you just because you paid? Then the 'snooty' passengers would have made noise about being joined by a free-loader. -- Craig http://www.wazu.jp/ 1,239 Unicode fonts for 82 written language groups: Price your own web plan:http://www.wazu.jp/hosting/ if you dont pay, then you dont get a lay.... |
#5
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flight attendants
xyzzy writes:
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. That sounds very typically British. |
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flight attendants
Craig Welch writes:
Translation: 'Like most airlines would do' Not necessarily. |
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flight attendants
xyzzy wrote:
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. Most airlines wouldn't normally do this on this length of a flight without some kind of cash/miles/points payment. |
#8
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flight attendants
Craig Welch wrote:
xyzzy said: 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. Translation: 'Like most airlines would do' ========= 'As most American airlines would do'. NO, they would not. Most US airlines do not normally give away international upgrades without some kind of payment, unless Y is oversold. Don't any of you people fly? |
#9
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flight attendants
On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:23:43 GMT, Craig Welch
wrote: said: On Nov 14, 9:55 pm, Mxsmanic wrote: 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. To what avail? Do you think they would have moved you just because you complained? Then the 'snooty' passengers would have made noise about being joined by a free-loader. This. Like it or not, people will pay a logarithmically higher airfare in the hope that they will have a greater likelihood of enjoying a civilized flight. Any thinking airline would be foolish to allow the riff raff to invade the rarified air of business and 1st class. I just did a quickie glace at ba.com. A midweek fortnight RT in March, JNB-LHR: Steerage: £170 Business/Club: £1600 1st: £1817 So, let's say you paid £1600 for Business class: roughly 10x what the commoners pay. You have an empty seat across the aisle from you. Because some "drunken green grocer from Luton" decides he'd be more comfortable up front, you get to spend 9 hours in abject horror as this hideous, foul-smelling idiot drones on and on about how the Pakis are making England a desert and coughing up phlegm, some of which lands on your Simon Carter cufflink. How long, do you suppose, those £1600 seats will retain their value? The pricey seats pay for the flight. Everyone else just about covers their share of the fuel costs. No one likes steerage. I know I don't. I upgrade when I can, but I understand why empty premium seats remain empty. - TR BTW: I find these BA airfares very affordable, all thing considered. |
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British Airways flies planes empty because it lacks flight attendants
"VainGlorious" kirjoitti viestissä Like it or not, people will pay a logarithmically higher airfare in the hope that they will have a greater likelihood of enjoying a civilized flight. Any thinking airline would be foolish to allow the riff raff to invade the rarified air of business and 1st class. I just did a quickie glace at ba.com. A midweek fortnight RT in March, JNB-LHR: Steerage: £170 Business/Club: £1600 1st: £1817 That's not the reason at all. Those paying the full price (business and first class tickets mostly but economy class tickets as well). The furnishing and level of "service" is one thing and full price and "promotional" price tickets another thing. Those in hurry buy the full price tickets because they are fully transferable even between the recognized airlines while the latter tickets gives you access to one dedicated flight (well, in theory anyways). Because the price difference between full price and economy tickets are so substantial - as seen above - companies typically book their businessmen to economy class with a low price tickets. It happens every now and then that businessmen lose their connecting flights for one reason or another and yet it becomes much cheaper this way by buying a new set of tickets for the rest of the journey rather than buying full price tickets in the first place. In this way flexibility and time efficiency is lost to some degree. Another trick to save money for short time hops between two airports is to buy two return tickets (one starting from the origin and the other starting from the destination) rather than only one. This is one reason why airlines have "profiliated" their business class ticket pricing (they have come down......). Naturally the overall demand is one decisive factor. And because it is supposed to be increasing dramatically in near future, there is little hope that air tickets will become cheaper. Actually most likely the tendency will be the opposite. |
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