Airlines

[Michael W]

45 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

The flights I took with BA last month were the first I'd had with them since 2015 (going to watch Caley Thistle play in Romania!).  I see you now have to pay for your meals, which you didn't have to before I'm sure.  Considering they are usually one of the more expensive airlines, what's the benefit of going with them over say Easyjet?

Unless you want to fly from or connect via Heathrow, nothing. 

[Savage Henry]

Unless you want to fly from or connect via Heathrow, nothing. 

That’s the thing. I fly out of Heathrow quite often, and the Inverness to Heathrow timing is spot on. That’s it, though. If EasyJet flew into Heathrow, BA wouldn’t get a penny from me.

[Highland Capital]

1 hour ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

There is no benefit if flying on a standard short haul ticket, they are now essentially a budget airline. Think of BA as a metaphor for the UK, delusions of grandeur and behind the times.

There was maybe a time years ago when they were the best, but those days are long gone (I'm talking about BA here!).  I've not had a bad experience with them but I did once go to Australia with BA one-way and Qantas back and the latter were far and away better.  Was once told that they're notoriously bad for losing luggage as well.

[Michael W]

56 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

 

That’s the thing. I fly out of Heathrow quite often, and the Inverness to Heathrow timing is spot on. That’s it, though. If EasyJet flew into Heathrow, BA wouldn’t get a penny from me.

 

They're going to if the 3rd runway ever happens. Being the dominant airline at an airport running pretty much at capacity is about the only thing that keeps BA where it is - no one else can get in and disrupt them. 

I'm a fan of easyJet also. Granted they Gatwick based which is a bit of a pain, but they are usually well priced and have an excellent network. 

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, Savage Henry said:

 

That’s the thing. I fly out of Heathrow quite often, and the Inverness to Heathrow timing is spot on. That’s it, though. If EasyJet flew into Heathrow, BA wouldn’t get a penny from me.

 

The only time recently that I booked a flight with BA, the Inverness to Heathrow leg was almost thrown in free.

[craigkillie]

15 hours ago, Highland Capital said:

There was maybe a time years ago when they were the best, but those days are long gone (I'm talking about BA here!).  I've not had a bad experience with them but I did once go to Australia with BA one-way and Qantas back and the latter were far and away better.  Was once told that they're notoriously bad for losing luggage as well.

Qantas and BA are night and day in terms of the on-flight service. Both supposed to be the national "prestige" carriers, but only one of them feels like it. Unfortunately for work I often end up travelling to non-touristy locations at unusual times of the year, and quite often BA are the only choice.

Worst experience was travelling to Buenos Aires with them for work. Work booked my flights well in advance and my wife decided later on that she'd like to come. We booked her on the same flights, and phoned them to ask to link the bookings together, which they said they couldn't do automatically but would do manually via a note on the system. Went to check in a couple of days before and they had allocated us seats in completely different cabins, and there were no pairs of seats together. Phoned them immediately and was basically fobbed off and told that they'd probably be able to sort it at the check-in desk. Turned out they couldn't (or wouldn't), either at Glasgow or Heathrow, and we had to sit separately for the whole journey. They also wouldn't confirm that they'd link our bookings for the return, so we had to pay £20 each or something like that to book the seats. The sort of shite you'd expect from Ryanair - pissing off a regular customer for the sake of a small amount of money.

EDIT: It also seems to be the case that every single time you make a booking through Heathrow with them, they end up changing one or both of the flight times by 15/20 minutes here or there. On several occasions that has turned my comfortable 2 hour stopover into a panicky 75/80 minute one.

Edited March 5, 2019 by craigkillie

[Savage Henry]

I will say the BA frequent flyer system is one of the more generous out there.  Compare it to Turkish, when it takes about 3,000 flights to get even beyond the welcome stage, BA Silver is actually reasonably attainable for anyone who makes a couple of medium/long haul flights per year.  And with that, comes lounge access, which is nice.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Never worked. c***s.

 

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

I will say the BA frequent flyer system is one of the more generous out there.  Compare it to Turkish, when it takes about 3,000 flights to get even beyond the welcome stage, BA Silver is actually reasonably attainable for anyone who makes a couple of medium/long haul flights per year.  And with that, comes lounge access, which is nice.

Yeh, we had silver but ended up having a baby so no holidays/flights that year. The lounge access is excellent, especially if going through Heathrow.

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Never worked. c***s.

 

Like the concrete trousers. Serious effort tbf.

[Savage Henry]

16 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Yeh, we had silver but ended up having a baby so no holidays/flights that year. The lounge access is excellent, especially if going through Heathrow.

Going from Silver down to Bronze is genuinely soul shattering.  

[TheScarf]

I subscribe to Paul's Trip Reports.  His are usually really good.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

I subscribe to Paul's Trip Reports.  His are usually really good.

Yeh I do too, bit of a strange guy but hes usually on the money. He’s quit his job to do it full time, I dont get how he’ll make a living doing it but fair play to the guy.

[TheScarf]

Just now, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Yeh I do too, bit of a strange guy but hes usually on the money. He’s quit his job to do it full time, I dont get how he’ll make a living doing it but fair play to the guy.

Along with his YouTube views I think he makes quite a lot from Patreon.  Probably doesn't have to spend much of his own money for tickets and hotels etc.

Think he's about my age (33),  as he talked about being 11/12 in 1997 in one of his early videos, but his tastes make him seem a lot older.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Along with his YouTube views I think he makes quite a lot from Patreon.  Probably doesn't have to spend much of his own money for tickets and hotels etc.
Think he's about my age (33),  as he talked about being 11/12 in 1997 in one of his early videos, but his tastes make him seem a lot older.

Dunno, i reckon he spent about £4/5000 on his world trip last year on flights and absolute budget hotels. He makes $1200 a month on patreon and using fag packet maths he makes an average of £200 per video (some of them more yeh) so paying for business class flights etc would be a bit of a stretch, thats before he pays tax and mortgage/rent etc, he must do some consulting work or something to make ends meet.

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Dunno, i reckon he spent about £4/5000 on his world trip last year on flights and absolute budget hotels. He makes $1200 a month on patreon and using fag packet maths he makes an average of £200 per video (some of them more yeh) so paying for business class flights etc would be a bit of a stretch, thats before he pays tax and mortgage/rent etc, he must do some consulting work or something to make ends meet.

You don't think he gets free flights and hotel rooms for saying nice things? No idea about him but "Influencers" are supposed to be a bit of a thing.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Sam chui definitely gets free stuff, he discloses it, that tends to result in his videos being gushing ‘best flight ever’ type stuff. but the guy Paul suggested that he keeps that to a minimum and has been quite scathing of some airlines, I think the new guidelines will make that a lot clearer.

 

[Savage Henry]

I think we all missed a trick in not becoming airline reviewers. Seems like you get well paid for positively reviewing the salads on business class flights, and being amazed that an air stewardess remembers your name.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

I think we all missed a trick in not becoming airline reviewers. Seems like you get well paid for positively reviewing the salads on business class flights, and being amazed that an air stewardess remembers your name.

You’ve been watching Sam Chui! I recommend Dennis Bunnik.

[19QOS19]

Has anyone flown with Delta? Going with them in September to New York. Though on the way there the flight is operated by Virgin.