Jaunted - Tag: british airways

British Airways And Iberia Agree To Merge And Become Soul-Sucking Airline

JetSetCD — 2009-11-12T16:16:52-05:00

Now not everyone knows that the Spanish airline Iberia hasn't been faring so well, but you should be very aware that they've just reached a preliminary agreement with British Airways to merge. This means that the airlines will cooperate on flights and form a company which, according to SkyNews, has "419 aircraft which would fly to 205 destinations."

BA and Iberia, along with American Airlines and Finnair already put the merger cogs in motion back in August 2008 when they created the website "MoreTravelChoices.com." Since even before then, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic has been railing out against the proposed merger of BA and AA especially, arguing that they'd have a near monopoly on transatlantic routes—ones that Virgin also flies.

British Airways Can't Catch A Break, Now Facing Employee Walkout

Omri — 2009-11-09T14:54:29-05:00

All things considered, the executives at British Airways haven't been having the best couple of weeks. Ryanair spent last few days rubbing salt in the wounds of Britain's largest carrier, crowing about how the airline wasn't going to have that title much longer. This was on top of strike threats that company officials were rushing to downplay in the media. No chance of a strike, they insisted to worried customers and investors. Those reassurances turn out, as of this weekend, to have been not entirely unreliable:

Ryanair Taunts British Airways: 'We're (About To Be) #1!'

Omri — 2009-11-05T16:15:14-05:00

It's no secret that Ryanair has translated their "Customers Suck" philosophy into one quarter of breakout profits after another.

It's also no secret that we kind of loathe them and everything they stand for (excepting low airfare), which makes this particular story, about how the low cost carrier is poised to pass British Airways as the largest airline in the UK, as predictable as it is aggravating. Try to contain your shock when we tell you that they're being obnoxiously smug about the whole thing:

How Many All-Biz-Class Airlines Must Fail Before British Airways Understands?

JetSetCD — 2009-09-30T12:18:51-05:00

Haven't we already worked out that All-Business-Class Flights just don't span out? Just look at the track record for these flights: Silverjet, Eos, and MaxJet all died in early 2008, ailing L'Avion was bought by British Airways shortly after that, and BA's own all-business OpenSkies took to their blog to beg passengers to book with them.

So why is British Airways making an additional attempt at the all-business, transatlantic route? Of course it's all about money, and the reasoning is that they think it'll be profitable in its first year—no word on further years. The newest route runs from London's City Airport (LCY) to JFK, but has to make a refueling pitstop in Shannon, Ireland because The Telegraph UK explains that "City Airport's runway is too short to handle an A318 with a full fuel payload." Bummer.

British Airways Introduces Shiny New Fee For Selecting Your Seat

Omri — 2009-09-25T13:37:57-05:00

New fees are pretty much inevitable. It's obnoxious and even six months ago it might have drawn howls of criticism, but now everyone seems to be charging extra for choosing emergency exit seats and so the next step has come: charging to select your seat at all. Congratulations airline companies, your nickle-and-dime opaque fees have finally crossed the line from outrageous to embittering. The LA Times has the deal:

We’ve seen airlines add extra charges to reserve popular exit-row seats and aisle seats. But are you ready for this one? Starting Ocober. 7, British Airways plans to charge you just to select a seat. That’s right: $30 to $90 for the right to choose a seat any time up to 24 hours before flying. After that time, you get a free pick of what’s left.

You're exempt if you're in first class or have a particularly high status with the airline, but everyone else is on the hook. It's $30 for coach and $90 for business, presumably on the assumption that there aren't really bad seats in business, so if you want to choose your seat you must really want to choose your seat.

Yield To Landing Planes On The Road Between Gibraltar And Spain

JetSetCD — 2009-08-27T16:34:41-05:00

We love airplanes, you love airplanes, so let's go look at airplanes! In our Prime Plane Spotting series, we'll let you in on all the best spots to whip out your cameras and binoculars for a piece of the aviation action.

We may have made it 'round to most of the world's itty-bitty countries and territories, but Gibraltar still eludes us. The Rock, which is not part of Spain but sits on the Iberian peninsula, is a self-governed British territory famous for peculiarities like their wild monkeys, mishmash of language and cuisine, and crazy insane airport runway positioning.

You see, Gibraltar's tiny airport straddles the border between Spain and Gibraltar, and juts out into the ocean because of the lack of land. The single road that runs between the two countries runs right across the main runway, by necessity, and as a result, the road must be closed during plane takeoffs and landings.

Will A British Airways-AmEx Partnership Bring Mile-Chasing Back?

egw — 2009-08-18T17:24:37-05:00

British Airways announced this week that it's partnering up with American Express's Membership Rewards program, so cardholders can convert their points into Executive Club miles. But in this economy, are frequent-flyer miles still a good deal?

Prior to this agreement, only British cardholders could harness the power of their green cards to buy miles in the Executive Club for British Airways and its Oneworld partners. Earn enough points and members might even be able to take advantage of BA's newest Caribbean routes bowing this fall.