Why doesn’t BA go the full monty and fly into LaGuardia instead of JFK? Seems like that would be far more convenient for the business travelers it markets to… or at least it seems to make sense to me, anyway…

There are two reasons.

1) There is a perimeter rule in place that only allows flights from LaGuardia to go 2,000 miles.

2) I bet the runway at LaGuardia is short enough that they might not be able to make the eastbound nonstop as they can out of JFK.

people liked EOS but look were they are now.

The difference is, and always will be, is BA has the network to back a premium service up. A stand alone premium service never works because they can only compete on fare; they don’t have the premium schedule to back it up. BA, however, offers the schedule breadth (hundreds of destinations/partners) and depth (LONNYC 10 times/day) at LON. It does NOT do so at Paris or Amsterdam, where its premium service is predictably sucking.

Have yet to see the A318′s come over work – most approaches on most days head over the top of my office!

Needless to say I was quite angry the rest of the way.

feel better!

What’s the deal with the Shannon stop? Needed for range or specifically so that pax can be pre-cleared by CBP?

To build further on what UT Flyer said, this is a range issue but it’s primarily because the runway at London/City is less than 5,000 feet. Too short to go out with a full load of fuel.

Alan Fleming wrote:

Cranky – this isn’t just for people working in the Docklands. LCY is *much* handier for anyone who’s not in the west or south of London’s city centre – and that includes the whole of the financial district in the City of London as well as the docklands.

Thanks for clarifying. I actually changed my piece above before I published it to say “in or around” the Docklands thinking that I was being too harsh, but apparently even that is too narrow.

Daren S wrote:

One thing that would be interesting to know is how many of those bankers would have traditionally flown First out of LHR, but now will take the Club World offering out of LCY?

Great question. A lot of what people like about BA First is that it’s incredibly private. Yes, the suite is better, but it’s the privacy that’s really stellar. I could never imagine springing for First Class, but I would think that the convenience of this flight would make it worth switching.

Shane wrote:

Seriously, with such few seats, will BA have a problem with over or underbooking since most of the people will probably be on refundable/changeable tickets?

If they have a problem overbooking then clearly they’re in good shape. They are looking at this service with around a 70% load, so I would be surprised to see massive overbooking problems. Yes, maybe beginning or end of the week could be full, so it will be interesting to see how they handle it.

Dave wrote:

Cranky – Having flown VS several times via JFK T4, there is no way you can get through Customs in 30 mins, it always takes at least 15 to get through passport control and another 20-40 minutes to collect baggage. I used to average about an hour from off the plane to the curb.

Well, if we’re talking baggage claim, then it will take more than 5 minutes to get out on BA as well. But it should be much quicker still. I was being conservative on my comparison, but maybe it was too conservative.

Oliver wrote:

This may be hypothetical for the banker crowd on those flights, but what happens if US Customs and Immigration wants to screen your luggage and yourself a bit more closely — is BA going to strand you in Shannon after 45 mins, or are they going to wait?

They’ll have to wait, but I would imagine that with the visa waiver program that they’ll have a pretty good idea of who is onboard before it leaves London.

Trent880 wrote:

Does BA plan to offer any connectivity to its limited network beyond LCY?

Good question. I imagine that you should be able to connect right on to another flight at LCY to go up to Glasgow or something like that. That would be a compelling way to get there.

David SFeastbay wrote:

I wonder if this service will still be around this spring when T-Mobil users will be online? These flights may not go over well, people liked EOS but look were they are now. Granted BA has deeper pockets, to hang in longer but who knows. There are just some people who will not want that SNN stop on the return, and there are people who like to toss around “Heathrow’ in conversation. London City doesn’t sound to high brow for some. And the aircraft is not a jumbo jet which gives the First and Business class travelers a thrill as they board ahead of the cattle in the back and take their plush accomdations. If everyone on the plane is the same class, you can’t impression the peons in back.
They may have a change if they give corporate accounts a bigger incentive in their company contracts for a better discount to use LCY.

This is most certainly not for everyone, but it doesn’t need to be with so few seats. I have to imagine it will be around by Spring – they’ve acquired a brand new aircraft type for this so if it doesn’t work, there’s a big loss. I don’t think BA will have to offer higher discounts on this service except for the first trial. Once their vast network of corporate accounts (something eos lacked) tries the service, it seems like they’ll want to keep coming back.

enplaned wrote:

I think you’re being overly kind to the LHR option in the analysis. From experience, we generally allowed two hours to get from the City of London to LHR, and that was in a limo. It’s hell on wheels, and will remain so until Crossrail is constructed.

Yes, I agree. Crossrail will be incredible, though there still may be the attraction of the exclusiveness of the service.

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/

By (hopefully) 2017, you’ll be able to go from the City of London (Liverpool St Station) to Heathrow in about 36 minutes by train (which is at least 10 minutes faster than Stansted Express from Liverpool to Stansted), and from Canary Wharf to Heathrow in 43 minutes.

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/the-railway/why-crossrail/benefits-of-crossrail/good-for-transport

At that point, I’d guess the utility of BA 001/2/3/4 will be much diminished. But until then, I think this is a great idea.

I wonder if this service will still be around this spring when T-Mobil users will be online? These flights may not go over well, people liked EOS but look were they are now. Granted BA has deeper pockets, to hang in longer but who knows. There are just some people who will not want that SNN stop on the return, and there are people who like to toss around “Heathrow’ in conversation. London City doesn’t sound to high brow for some. And the aircraft is not a jumbo jet which gives the First and Business class travelers a thrill as they board ahead of the cattle in the back and take their plush accomdations. If everyone on the plane is the same class, you can’t impression the peons in back.

They may have a change if they give corporate accounts a bigger incentive in their company contracts for a better discount to use LCY.