In this post:
BA new route
British Airways is introducing a new route from London Gatwick to Larnaca, Cyprus. Their subsidiary, Euroflyer, will operate this route.
Flights will be daily and start on 4 November 2024 on the following schedule:
BA2784 LGW-LCA
- 0815-1455 (Fri)
- 0830-1510 (Mon-Thu)
- 0930-1610 (Sun)
- 1035-1715 (Sat)
BA2785 LCA-LGW
- 1545-1845 (Fri)
- 1600-1900 (Mon-Thu)
- 1700-2000 (Sat)
- 1805-2105 (Sun)
Flights reduce in January and then return to daily in February. Flights in Club start from £492 return and would yield 160 TP return. Don’t forget you could add on 5 days car or hotel to get 320 TP return.
You can find the cheapest dates to fly using BA’s Low Fare Finder here.
Brunch to be trialed on long-haul BA flights
BA is trialling a brunch service on long haul in all cabins, which sounds like a good idea to me. I generally dislike breakfast being served on the plane on long haul as I have usually eaten it already in the lounge since you arrive at the airport a few hours before departure. The service will feature classic brunch dishes and cocktails and starts this month. The brunch service will be served as the first meal in June on all services departing prior to 0900 and this extends to 0930 in July.
BA’s First B787-8 retrofitted with Club Suites
BA has finally started its retrofit of the B787s with the B787-8 being done first (all B787-10 already have Club Suites). The first one is due to be delivered to BA in June and will have the Club Suites and a new Panasonic IFE system.
British Airways to replace FLY flight management system
As well as having numerous issues with their website and app, one of the biggest causes of operational issues has been the FLY system, which BA uses for the check-in and flight departure process, which they introduced in 2016 and has caused several operational meltdowns. FLY is essentially an interface to the underlying system that most airlines use and is much more reliable. FLY was meant to be an easier interface for staff to use, but the added interface has been unreliable.
BA has finally decided to ditch it and revert to an upgraded version of the underlying, which was already being used by British Airways before the airline decided to add an additional layer on top of the older IT system. A selection of outstations will be first followed by Heathrow, Gatwick, and London City after the peak summer period. BA is also planning to roll out a new website and app as part of its improvement program.
9 comments
Is the new flight to LCA from LGW an additional service or a swap from LHR to free a slot?
It is additional.
BA was not using the Althea system prior to FLY, the 2 came at same time. FLY was designed as a front end to enable BA to move to Althea.
Staff at Heathrow and other stations already use base Althea for boarding purposes and it’s the backup for check-in. Althea as it was, couldn’t perform some functions BA needed, so FLY was designed to capture these elements. BA has worked with Amadeus to enable full functionality for the key elements. This change would simply make it the main system across the full operation and was only delayed due to Covid.
I tried to book a business class fare from Heathrow to Berlin with AVIOS points and cash. The booking crashed for no apparent reason but BA retained my points. It took 5 separate emails to “customer services” to get my points refunded.
I am left with this question.
It BA are so complacent about a fundamental error in their booking system are they also complacent about fundamental errors in their safety critical IT systems ? Reliable IT systems are essential for a safe airline and complacency is the enemy of safety.
And in typical BA fashion this morning I received my ready to fly email inviting me to check in. Email received at 11:53, my flight is 15:40 tomorrow so of course I can’t check in until 15:40 today, it really is totally incompetent!
Hi David
Who did you contact to reclaim your avios? I have had a similar issue.
Sam
They’ve been complacent about their failed, insecure, unreliable IT systems for at least ten years…
It would cost money to maintain and upgrades are even more, hence the multiBillion profits because they simply haven’t bothered!
By the time BA have fitted the new Club seat it will be time for a new design. They are sooooo slow.
For ad long as they refuse to resource customer services adequately, load sufficient refreshments and fail to deliver any help ehen things go wrong, BA remain BEST AVOIDED
#FlyAbBA because all BA do in 2024 is harvest cash from an inherited brand and slot position
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