BA to MAN

Post by **sn26567** » 14 May 2003, 09:17

On 12-13 May I flew BA to Manchester and back.

BA1619 BRU-MAN 12 May 2003 BAe146 (operated by TH = British Airways CitiExpress in code-share with SN BA)

On the minus side:
• English speaking only (code-share with SN: should speak French and Dutch as well)
• Six seats per row, even in business class (standard is five in most airlines); in fact I had a D class ticket (discounted business)
• No curtain to separate business and economy
• Only English newspapers

On the plus side:
• Reasonable snack (cold chicken, tomato, pasta; chocolate cake)
• Free drinks at will
• Friendly staff

BA1620 MAN-BRU 13 May 2003 BAe146 (operated by TH = British Airways CitiExpress in code-share with SN BA)

On the minus side:
• again, English speaking only (code-share with SN: should speak French and Dutch as well)
• dinner was only a sandwich; this time I had a K class ticket (discounted economy)
• again, only English newspapers

On the plus side:
• Reasonable snack (cold chicken, tomato, pasta; chocolate cake)
• Five leather seats per row; why such a difference with the previous flight?
• A curtain to separate business and economy (but right before my nose

)
• Free drinks
• Friendly staff

meerkat · Post by **meerkat** » 14 May 2003, 10:09

Ahhhh! The British and their linguistic skills!!!!!

The food certainly sounds better than the SNBA cheese sandwich I had my last economy trip to MAN in February. Business class breakfast on the return was better and certainly more room as only 3 of us in the front cabin whilst the rear was completely full.

From my little experience I have found that flights to MAN are often quite full - was this the case with the BA flight too?

Meerkat

meerkat · Post by **meerkat** » 14 May 2003, 10:15

My brother lives in Antwerp and travels regularly to Manchester(MAN) by VLM from Antwerp via Rotterdam (good prices, no parking charges, easy check in/security etc, 10 to 15 minutes from home!).

There are few pax from Antwerp to Rotterdam but the Rotterdam-Manchester leg (+vv) is often near full. A nice snack is offered but the flight time is longer than with SNBA or BA as the aircraft are Fokker 50's, also the leg to/from Rotterdam can be fairly bumpy as they fly quite low for the short hop and cannot get above the turbulence.

Meerkat

Post by **sn26567** » 14 May 2003, 11:30

meerkat wrote:From my little experience I have found that flights to MAN are often quite full - was this the case with the BA flight too?

Indeed, Meerkat, the flights were 95% full.

Seems that you are a seasoned traveller.

Sabena_690 · Post by **Sabena_690** » 14 May 2003, 13:06

Aren't all BRU-MAN flights operated by SN in codeshare with BA?

Aeromexico is impossible. The belly of the aircraft you shot, Jason, is silver, while the belly of 

I think it's difficult to ask from all flight attendants to speak Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, ...

I think that BA offers quite a good product on it's short haul flights (a sandwich for a 1h flight). The problem is that they serve the same sandwich also on 2h flights for example.

Regards
Frederic

Post by **sn26567** » 14 May 2003, 13:23

Sabena_690 wrote:Aren't all BRU-MAN flights operated by SN in codeshare with BA?

Half of the flights are operated by SN and the other half by BA. They all use 146 or Avro aircraft.

Sabena_690 wrote:Aeromexico is impossible. The belly of the aircraft you shot, Jason, is silver, while the belly of ic

????

Sabena_690 · Post by **Sabena_690** » 14 May 2003, 18:47

Woops, my mistake, that is from a reply in an other aviation forum.

It was a reply at this statement:
• English speaking only (code-share with SN: should speak French and Dutch as well) 

Frederic

meerkat · Post by **meerkat** » 14 May 2003, 19:21

Good to hear that load factors are good - let's hope that SNBA is not discounting too heavily and is making some money.

Seems that you are a seasoned traveller.

I would like to travel/fly more but most of my flying is paid for from my pocket so is somewhat limited. That said I expect to fly 5 or 6 round trips each year. This year so far twice to Manchester and once to Liverpool.

My earliest flight was on a Vickers Viscount from Manchester to Isle of Man in 1963 and have flown on quite a few types since then with the oldest being a DH89 Dragon Rapide and the newest a B737-800 of Ryanair.

Meerkat

Post by **sn26567** » 05 Jun 2003, 09:23

Latest news: None of my two flights produced airmiles in my Privilege account. The BRU-MAN in C class was completely forgotten (I am sending a complaint right now) and the return flight in Y class was issued at a fare that does not qualify for any airmiles ("Fare paid is not eligible for mileage accrual").

Now, my travel agency booked those flights under the BA flight numbers. Maybe I should have insisted for SN flight numbers.

My British colleagues also tell me that only in rare cases they get airmiles with BA.

I am very disappointed at BA

Sabena_690 · Post by **Sabena_690** » 05 Jun 2003, 12:11

BA is indeed, since they changed their 'Executive Club' program, not a good airline if you want to reach fast a high status.

Do you often fly intercontinental? Otherwise, I recommend you the FF program of AA. They give full mileage on more flights than the BA FF program.

Watch out with SN: also they do not give miles on some of their discounted fares (as far as I remember, on those one way flights for example).

Regards
Frederic

Post by **sn26567** » 10 Jun 2003, 09:40

Further news: on 6/6/2003 SN BA issued a news release on its website saying:

Now Privilege members earn miles on all British Airways flights

From July 1st, the good news for Privilege members flying on BA is that they can now earn miles in more economy classes on all BA flights, including discounted tickets. Previously only available on full fare Economy, Business, First Class and Concorde tickets, British Airways are now offering Privilege miles on all classes of tickets, as a recognition of customers’ search for the best value for money in air transport.

Also during the summer, we’re offering special Privilege advantages on flights with our other codeshare partners, Alitalia to Rome and Milan Malpensa, and Iberia to Madrid and Barcelona, with double miles awarded to Privilege members flying on these routes up to 30th July 2003.

Plus, longhaul passengers can now also earn double miles on flights to Entebbein Uganda and Nairobi in Kenya, up to the end of this month. Perfect for clocking up maximum advantages to spend later in the year.

Join today and you can earn and spend miles on American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, TAP Air Portugal and Ukraine International as well as on our own schedule of 285 punctual, daily flights to Europe and Africa.

And with 4,000 partners on the ground, ranging from hotel chains and car rental companies to credit cards and mobile phone service providers, your Privilege card can open up a world of savings and benefits wherever you travel. Membership forms are available on the flight, or you can apply online.

Voilà, I have once again been cheated by BA.

And incidentally, I am flying BRU-MAN-BRU on 30 June, just the day before I can get miles on discounted flights.

Post by **sn26567** » 26 Jun 2003, 09:11

sn26567 wrote:None of my two flights produced airmiles in my Privilege account. The BRU-MAN in C class was completely forgotten (I am sending a complaint right now) and the return flight in Y class was issued at a fare that does not qualify for any airmiles ("Fare paid is not eligible for mileage accrual").

My complaint was partially successful: I got 625 airmiles for my trip in C class with a D fare. That is less than the usual 1000 miles for a C class trip, but more than the usual 500 miles for a Y class trip at full economy fare.

BRU-MAN is 332 nautical miles, so you normally get the minimum of 500 miles in Y and 1000 miles in C. I still don't understand the airlines, and BA is particularly opaque.