Aviation Discussion

[Shaw S Hunter]

Remember that Condor is part of the Lufthansa Group, though.

Not really. Lufthansa is but a minority shareholder these days though Condor does take part in Lufthansa's Miles and More reward scheme. Given all the upset within the German airline sector in recent times I suspect the final unpicking of Condor from Lufthansa, which has long been planned, will be done as discretely as possible. The Lufthansa rebranding fits very nicely with this.

Initially it was planned that Condor would become Thomas Cook Deutschland but seemingly German consumers find the name controversial. So the various Thomas Cook Group airlines will likely all become Condor, a name that is rather less obviously related to a particular country. Unless of course you have an interest in aviation!

 

[AlterEgo]

New Lufthansa livery, and new branding to be launched on the 7th February in Frankfurt. A picture of their plane in the new branding leaked so they've been using Twitter and Social media to combat it. They've gone for a dark blue theme this time, which for me just looks like your standard plane now. It still screams premium airline though which I think is good.

I like that. Better than the old one.

 

[atillathehunn]

Paris is looking like a mess this morning after heavy snowfall overnight. Hoping it's cleared up by tomorrow lunchtime - arriving at CDG by Thalys before connecting to Amman.

 

[Techniquest]

Evening all,

I probably should have revealed this in my trip report thread first, but as it's aviation related then it makes more sense here anyway. I do have a couple of questions too.

My next Tech's World Frenzy trip has been confirmed since Tuesday afternoon, in May I am jetting off to Toronto! LGW-YYZ (Toronto Pearson) on BA2271 on 6th May and return on 10th May on BA0098 YYZ-LHR!

Upon booking the BA website suggested it will be a 767 on BA2271 and a 787 on BA0098. I did find flights involving A380s a few days beforehand but couldn't find them when it came to booking the trip. Got an awesome deal considering how close the trip is, and I am rather hoping it's a better long haul flight than what I endured on Norwegian!

Question time:

- Anyone done BA long haul and got any comments? I must admit it looks nice and I am rather keen to find out how it goes.

- You may or may not have noticed elsewhere on the forum that I'm on a weight loss mission, so I've requested my on-board meal to be low fat. Has anyone ever tried such a meal, and if so any comments? It seems nigh-on impossible to find out what the offering might be, as if it's not something I'll be able to eat I'd rather tell them and let them offer a meal to someone else/save space in the kitchen.

- Norwegian requested passengers to arrive 3 hours before departure on my 2016 NYC trip, is this likely to be the same with BA?

- Finally, I tried looking on FR24 earlier for BA2271 and BA0098 but to no avail. It would appear likely to be because neither flight was likely to be in the air at the time, or I had to zoom right out, I'm not sure. I'm very much a novice with FR24 so if anyone can advise how to find either flight I'd love to hear from you!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

BA 2271 doesn't start until 1st May, so that'll be why there is nothing on Flight Radar 24.

BA 98 is a 787. Search FR24 without the leading zeros.

 

[Crawley Ben]

Evening all,

I probably should have revealed this in my trip report thread first, but as it's aviation related then it makes more sense here anyway. I do have a couple of questions too.

My next Tech's World Frenzy trip has been confirmed since Tuesday afternoon, in May I am jetting off to Toronto! LGW-YYZ (Toronto Pearson) on BA2271 on 6th May and return on 10th May on BA0098 YYZ-LHR!

Upon booking the BA website suggested it will be a 767 on BA2271 and a 787 on BA0098. I did find flights involving A380s a few days beforehand but couldn't find them when it came to booking the trip. Got an awesome deal considering how close the trip is, and I am rather hoping it's a better long haul flight than what I endured on Norwegian!

Question time:

- Anyone done BA long haul and got any comments? I must admit it looks nice and I am rather keen to find out how it goes.

- You may or may not have noticed elsewhere on the forum that I'm on a weight loss mission, so I've requested my on-board meal to be low fat. Has anyone ever tried such a meal, and if so any comments? It seems nigh-on impossible to find out what the offering might be, as if it's not something I'll be able to eat I'd rather tell them and let them offer a meal to someone else/save space in the kitchen.

- Norwegian requested passengers to arrive 3 hours before departure on my 2016 NYC trip, is this likely to be the same with BA?

- Finally, I tried looking on FR24 earlier for BA2271 and BA0098 but to no avail. It would appear likely to be because neither flight was likely to be in the air at the time, or I had to zoom right out, I'm not sure. I'm very much a novice with FR24 so if anyone can advise how to find either flight I'd love to hear from you!

You should be flying a 777-200 as that's all BA use for their long haul ops from Gatwick (this I can confirm as I work at Gatwick, you may also wish to see the link below)

https://www.routesonline.com/news/3...wick-toronto-from-may-2018/?highlight=Gatwick

I flew BA from New York (JFK) to Gatwick in May 2017. The crew were great, but the entertainment system is poor & the planes could do with a refurb. The food is nothing to get excited about. IMO the airline charges an awful lot for what you get.

Have a great time in Toronto. Nice city, 4 night easily enough time there. Went there many years ago.

Cheers

Ben

 

[Bald Rick]

Agreed, mock booking on BA2271/2270 in May shows it as a 777.

BA, better than FR, but then everything is.

VS knocks spots off BA for transatlantic though. Not much help for Toronto admittedly.

BA check in / bag drop for long haul at LGW closes 60mins before departure. Allowing an extra hour on top will be more than enough. 3hrs is overkill - the airlines just say that to allow for dawdlers who haven't a clue how to negotiate public transport / car parks / airport handling - there's plenty of them. Also gives Gatwick extra time to persuade some cash out of your pockets and into theirs.

Tip: If you are staying nearby, BA will let you check in and/or bag drop for morning flights the afternoon / evening before. Then you just need to be at the gate 20 mins before departure.

Tip2: if doing bag drop the night before, make sure you have toiletries / clean clothes / hotel details in your hand luggage. #experience.

 

[gsnedders]

BA check in / bag drop for long haul at LGW closes 60mins before departure. Allowing an extra hour on top will be more than enough. 3hrs is overkill - the airlines just say that to allow for dawdlers who haven't a clue how to negotiate public transport / car parks / airport handling - there's plenty of them. Also gives Gatwick extra time to persuade some cash out of your pockets and into theirs.

Many ex-US flights ask for 3 hours, because security checkpoints at some US airports relatively often end up with hour+ long queues. :/

 

[Bald Rick]

Many ex-US flights ask for 3 hours, because security checkpoints at some US airports relatively often end up with hour+ long queues. :/

Sorry yes, I hadn't considered the return. Although I would have thought that Toronto Pearson is a bit more user friendly than, say JFK or Newark.

 

[Techniquest]

BA 2271 doesn't start until 1st May, so that'll be why there is nothing on Flight Radar 24.

BA 98 is a 787. Search FR24 without the leading zeros.

Ahh, that explains a lot. Never considered either flight may not yet be in operation, I'm glad it wasn't just me being a bit thick then! I'm rather glad I asked the experts now, I've learnt something new and will give that tip a try later.

Sorry yes, I hadn't considered the return. Although I would have thought that Toronto Pearson is a bit more user friendly than, say JFK or Newark.

I didn't find JFK to be too bad personally, not the best of course but for such a major international airport it was fine. Just a shame about the Subway trains getting from the city, that wasn't fun! NYC I did like but the Subway was in such dire need of updating. LU do it so much better, but then so does the Stockholm Metro!

I haven't quite settled on where to stay the night before, but my flight leaves at 1135 so somewhere like easyHotel Croydon will probably get my vote. I'm heading to London the night before after an all-day shift and I'm still waiting for Advances to become available yet. Once they are I'll settle on my hotel. So as handy as that bag drop thing is, which I am grateful for the gen on as I didn't know, I probably won't take advantage.

I have heard good things about Virgin Atlantic so imagine how disappointed I was to find they don't fly to Toronto! As for "everything being better than FR" I will not comment as I'm one of the few people who like flying Ryanair. This has been covered in the past though!

Thanks for the gen too on the food, I may well end up having some proper food before my flight just to be sure I'm not going to get bowled out.

My many thanks for the replies all, the link that was provided I'm about to go and have a read of

 

[Crawley Ben]

Ahh, that explains a lot. Never considered either flight may not yet be in operation, I'm glad it wasn't just me being a bit thick then! I'm rather glad I asked the experts now, I've learnt something new and will give that tip a try later.



I didn't find JFK to be too bad personally, not the best of course but for such a major international airport it was fine. Just a shame about the Subway trains getting from the city, that wasn't fun! NYC I did like but the Subway was in such dire need of updating. LU do it so much better, but then so does the Stockholm Metro!

I haven't quite settled on where to stay the night before, but my flight leaves at 1135 so somewhere like easyHotel Croydon will probably get my vote. I'm heading to London the night before after an all-day shift and I'm still waiting for Advances to become available yet. Once they are I'll settle on my hotel. So as handy as that bag drop thing is, which I am grateful for the gen on as I didn't know, I probably won't take advantage.

I have heard good things about Virgin Atlantic so imagine how disappointed I was to find they don't fly to Toronto! As for "everything being better than FR" I will not comment as I'm one of the few people who like flying Ryanair. This has been covered in the past though!

Thanks for the gen too on the food, I may well end up having some proper food before my flight just to be sure I'm not going to get bowled out.

My many thanks for the replies all, the link that was provided I'm about to go and have a read of

Toronto is a pretty large airport, so may well want to leave the recommended 3 hours or so for your return journey.

Have you looked up the Bloc Hotel or Yotel? Both inside the South terminal where BA operate from so might be worth looking at?

Cheers

Ben

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Ahh, that explains a lot. Never considered either flight may not yet be in operation, I'm glad it wasn't just me being a bit thick then! I'm rather glad I asked the experts now, I've learnt something new and will give that tip a try later.

BA 98 has been running a while https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ba98 - it just doesn't have the leading zeros in the flight number.

 

[Butts]

Evening all,



Question time:

- Anyone done BA long haul and got any comments? I must admit it looks nice and I am rather keen to find out how it goes.

- You may or may not have noticed elsewhere on the forum that I'm on a weight loss mission, so I've requested my on-board meal to be low fat. Has anyone ever tried such a meal, and if so any comments? It seems nigh-on impossible to find out what the offering might be, as if it's not something I'll be able to eat I'd rather tell them and let them offer a meal to someone else/save space in the kitchen.

With the size of Airline Meals I wouldn't be to worried about over indulging or high calorific content - The only advantage of having a low fat offering would be it will probably be served first.

While you are in Toronto don't miss the CNN Tower for a long time the highest building in the world. Also I went on a trip to Niagra Falls which was pretty spectacular. I also went to the Zoo covered in Snow and about -10

 

[fowler9]

I've only flown BA long haul twice. Heathrow to Hong Kong on a 747. Cabin crew were a bit surly, the interior was rather tired (My headrest was falling off). Food was fine and the entertainment system had a lot of choice. Buenos Aires to to Heathrow on a 777. The interior was again rather tired (My headrest was falling off again, swear it wasn't me, ha ha), the cabin crew were fine, food was fine, entertainment system was fine. We had lots of turbulence over Brasil which was fun. One amusing thing was a girl who had sat with her legs curled under her on the seat. Her knees kept digging in to the guy in front who eventually lost his temper, lots of angry words were exchanged. Ha ha. She eventually got told to put her legs down by the cabin crew. Anyway, the turbulence and the ignorant passenger sticking her knees in to someones back aren't the airlines fault (I like turbulence anyway, I don't like people who curl up like that, especially if they are behind me, ha ha).

 

[Techniquest]

Ooh I haven't yet looked up those hotels, thanks for the tip Crawley Ben Same for Toronto airport, I'll allow plenty of time for it just to be sure.

fowler9, thanks for the gen on those flights. There are refurbs coming out slowly I'm told on the older aircraft so it might not be too bad. Only one way to find out!

Butts, the CN Tower is definitely on my list to do. Niagra Falls is also on there, two can't miss things there. I hope I'll be able to get a train to Niagra and not have to go by road but we'll see!

 

[fowler9]

fowler9, thanks for the gen on those flights. There are refurbs coming out slowly I'm told on the older aircraft so it might not be too bad. Only one way to find out!

No probs, was worried I sounded too negative after I posted it. Ha ha. Considering both the flights were around the 12/13 hour mark I was absolutely fine, really enjoyed them. It was bizarre the headrest coming away on both of my flights, it was nothing I wasn't comfortable living with. I got some sleep but too be honest I am always too excited on flights so spent a lot of time having a beer, watching films and that screen that shows you where you are, for some reason flying over Novosibirsk always sticks in my mind. Didn't get smashed like. I'm talking about 4 of those fun size cans over the course of half a day flying, I wasn't like one of those clips you see of stag parties on their way to wherever. Ha ha. I'm going back 6 years by the way, sadly I think the 747 has been retired, the 777 has been backwards and forwards to Buenos Aires a few times recently, I imagine it will have had a refurb since I flew on it.

 

[theageofthetra]

All flights cancelled at London City airport due to a WW2 bomb near the runway.

 

[AlterEgo]

Here’s a cock up for the books.

Turned up at Zagreb airport yesterday for my Turkish Airlines Business Class flight, Zagreb-Istanbul-Heathrow, including an A330 flatbed on the latter leg.

They couldn’t find me on the system. Turns out, that when I had contacted TK’s social media team to pick seats (their website is notoriously flaky), they had accidentally rebooked my ticket for the day previously, meaning I was a no show. Quite how they managed that is a mystery, and I received no notification about the reticketing. They accepted their error but the flight was sold out, and so I’ve overnighted in Zagreb. Trundling home dejectedly and directly on Boring British Airways.

Turkish have managed to proactively find out that I have a social media profile (not sure how as I never mentioned it) and are in the process of making things right.

Anyone had any cockups as big as that?

 

[fowler9]

Didn't

Here’s a cock up for the books.

Turned up at Zagreb airport yesterday for my Turkish Airlines Business Class flight, Zagreb-Istanbul-Heathrow, including an A330 flatbed on the latter leg.

They couldn’t find me on the system. Turns out, that when I had contacted TK’s social media team to pick seats (their website is notoriously flaky), they had accidentally rebooked my ticket for the day previously, meaning I was a no show. Quite how they managed that is a mystery, and I received no notification about the reticketing. They accepted their error but the flight was sold out, and so I’ve overnighted in Zagreb. Trundling home dejectedly and directly on Boring British Airways.

Turkish have managed to proactively find out that I have a social media profile (not sure how as I never mentioned it) and are in the process of making things right.

Anyone had any cockups as big as that?

Didn't go quite as wrong as that but when me and the ex were checking in to our rearranged LAN flight from Auckland to Santiago on Christmas Eve 2012 it turned out that we didn't appear to be showing on that flight. Was sweating it in for a good hour before it was sorted out and they got us 2 really good seats on the flight. Never found out what had gone wrong. We would have been in a proper mess if we hadn't got on the flight, there are to many last minute seats from New Zealand to Chile, we waited a month for those ones to be available and it really would have messed up our entire trip if we hadn't got on.

 

[FQTV]

Remember that Condor is part of the Lufthansa Group, though.

Condor is, and has for some time been, part of the Thomas Cook Group.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Anyone had any cockups as big as that?

How about when arranging a charter flight to see the 2015 Arctic eclipse getting just about everything sorted and ready to release publicity and bookings about 6 weeks before the eclipse when the operator puts their hand up and admits they've forgotten to apply for a departure slot at Heathrow for it and at that stage the only slot Heathrow could offer for the day was about 2 hours after the eclipse finished...?


( Lest anyone should wonder because of the Heathrow reference, I should point out that the mistake wasn't made by British Airways. )

 

[atillathehunn]

Evening all,

I probably should have revealed this in my trip report thread first, but as it's aviation related then it makes more sense here anyway. I do have a couple of questions too.

My next Tech's World Frenzy trip has been confirmed since Tuesday afternoon, in May I am jetting off to Toronto! LGW-YYZ (Toronto Pearson) on BA2271 on 6th May and return on 10th May on BA0098 YYZ-LHR!

Upon booking the BA website suggested it will be a 767 on BA2271 and a 787 on BA0098. I did find flights involving A380s a few days beforehand but couldn't find them when it came to booking the trip. Got an awesome deal considering how close the trip is, and I am rather hoping it's a better long haul flight than what I endured on Norwegian!

Question time:

- Anyone done BA long haul and got any comments? I must admit it looks nice and I am rather keen to find out how it goes.

- You may or may not have noticed elsewhere on the forum that I'm on a weight loss mission, so I've requested my on-board meal to be low fat. Has anyone ever tried such a meal, and if so any comments? It seems nigh-on impossible to find out what the offering might be, as if it's not something I'll be able to eat I'd rather tell them and let them offer a meal to someone else/save space in the kitchen.

- Norwegian requested passengers to arrive 3 hours before departure on my 2016 NYC trip, is this likely to be the same with BA?

- Finally, I tried looking on FR24 earlier for BA2271 and BA0098 but to no avail. It would appear likely to be because neither flight was likely to be in the air at the time, or I had to zoom right out, I'm not sure. I'm very much a novice with FR24 so if anyone can advise how to find either flight I'd love to hear from you!

Flew 2 long haul BA segments in autumn of last year, and 8 short haul BA segments. Short haul they are 'meh'. Long haul they are 'meh'. Seat was a bit tight on the 747. Depending on the crew, very stingy on the drinks, and I don't mean the booze. Other airlines flying particularly to hot destinations are very proactive with water and juice. BA did one bar run, one tea and coffee run, and one water run. I was awake throughout the entire flight apart from perhaps an hour.

Many IFE problems on the terrible Rockwell Collins system on the way out. On the way back it did work, though terrible selection and small screen.

The food, when it was there, was not at all bad. They managed to not ruin chicken in the air. With decent levels of spice.

However, even on the 8.5 hour flight there was one meal and a Mars bar. All crew dependent. On the way back I was plied with more booze than I knew what to do with.

Incredibly average and absolutely no airline is worth spending more on in economy, perhaps with a few airlines to avoid rather than as airlines to choose.

 

[atillathehunn]

How about when arranging a charter flight to see the 2015 Arctic eclipse getting just about everything sorted and ready to release publicity and bookings about 6 weeks before the eclipse when the operator puts their hand up and admits they've forgotten to apply for a departure slot at Heathrow for it and at that stage the only slot Heathrow could offer for the day was about 2 hours after the eclipse finished...?


( Lest anyone should wonder because of the Heathrow reference, I should point out that the mistake wasn't made by British Airways. )

This one seems almost comically silly - something from Cabin Pressure (Radio 4 series well worth listening to if you don't know it).

The accidentally booking you on to the wrong flight when selecting a seat is laughable only for the incompetence. And missing out on J on an A330 on TK - a crime!

 

[atillathehunn]

I also meant to add: Tech, enjoy Toronto! I've heard good things about the food there.

 

[Crawley Ben]

Norwegian have today announced further expansion plans focusing on their hub at Gatwick.

Possible destinations in the Far East include Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. These all depend on Russia granting permission to fly across the Siberian corridor.

Possible future USA destinations include Philadelphia & Minneapolis (using brand new 321LR aircraft)

Possibility of New York being served 3x daily up from the current 2x daily services.

Full details in the link below.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/b...orwegian-expands-targets-business-travellers/

Of note is the new Buenos Aires service which starts tomorrow from Gatwick. Interesting times for both Norwegian & Gatwick.

Cheers

Ben

 

[atillathehunn]

Interesting expansion plans.

Interesting that Norwegian appear to be shifting from trying to go to New York and Boston via tiny regional airports (they've pulled some of the flights before they've really started) and are now targeting slightly less major cities, but cities which are perhaps not so well served. Though I'm not too sure about the tourist potential of MSP in the depths of winter...

The far east would be interesting, but competition is pretty cut throat to China with returns available for pocket change with the Chinese carriers.

Ben: if you're working today, how did the Buenos Aires flight go off? Was it well loaded?

If they want to appeal to the business traveller they need a real business product, and they also need a frequent flier programme to be able to compete with the entrenched carriers. They also need frequency. No business will book their employee to Singapore if the next flight is in 2 days with no Alliance rebooking options in case of missing the flight, meeting patterns changing or a flight goes tech.

 

[Crawley Ben]

Interesting expansion plans.

Interesting that Norwegian appear to be shifting from trying to go to New York and Boston via tiny regional airports (they've pulled some of the flights before they've really started) and are now targeting slightly less major cities, but cities which are perhaps not so well served. Though I'm not too sure about the tourist potential of MSP in the depths of winter...

The far east would be interesting, but competition is pretty cut throat to China with returns available for pocket change with the Chinese carriers.

Ben: if you're working today, how did the Buenos Aires flight go off? Was it well loaded?

If they want to appeal to the business traveller they need a real business product, and they also need a frequent flier programme to be able to compete with the entrenched carriers. They also need frequency. No business will book their employee to Singapore if the next flight is in 2 days with no Alliance rebooking options in case of missing the flight, meeting patterns changing or a flight goes tech.

Morning, day off today back at work tomorrow so will have a look at the pax figures if I remember tomorrow and let you know. Believe the demand has been strong so would expect today's flight to be between somewhere between the 250 & 300 mark.

Cheers

Ben

 

[atillathehunn]

Enjoy your day off!

This weekend I used the rail fly service from Air France. Very impressed. I checked in my bag at Brussels Midi and saw it again in Amman. First class seat on the TGV and non stop Midi - CDG. On the return not so slick with baggage as you have to clear customs, but I collected it from the belt, took it to the railway station and rechecked it, where it's delivered to the platform in Midi.

I had a 5 hour layover booked, but before I had even asked the question in CDG they were rebooking me on the train departing in 90 minutes.

 

[AlterEgo]

A person has died after two road vehicles collided airside on a taxiway at Heathrow this morning.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.te...cuated-heathrow-airport-serious-accident/amp/

A Heathrow Airport worker has died after an accident which meant hundreds of passengers were evacuated from planes on the tarmac.

Emergency teams have been rushed to the scene after the incident which happened around 6am at Terminal 5.

Hundreds of people have been stuck on their planes, and many have complained of confusion and delays.

There was a crash between two vehicles on the airfield, injuring two members of staff.

One man, in his 40s, was taken to a West London hospital and later died.

Very sad - and also incredible given the low speeds of road vehicles airside at Heathrow. The crash looks fairly innocuous from some images posted on social media.

 

[atillathehunn]

Very sad news. I've read in another report that it was cardiac arrest that caused him to shuffle off this mortal coil, so unfortunately even though the collision doesn't look to be that serious, if he perhaps had an underlying condition it could have been the catalyst required.

All terribly sad for his colleagues, relatives and friends.