MidAtlantic

Interesting development from BA

https://simpleflying.com/british-air...source=Bibblio

Pulaski

That's somewhat interesting, but as it's only twice a week it is going to have limited appeal.

l hope it might lead to a daily flight in future, as we sorely need more competition to the stoopid prices for tickets from CLT.

newadventure

I'm flying this back to UK on Sunday. It seems to be set up more for UK people to come over for a long weekend (arr Charleston 21:30 Thurs evening, dep midnight-ish on Sunday). As Mr Pulaski says, hopefully will lead to daily flights in future.

Pulaski

That schedule works fairly well in the opposite direction too, for a few days on business in the UK - leave on Sunday, Monday - Wednesday for meetings, fly back Thursday.

civilservant

That article is a little odd in that it seems to imply that it thinks that a Triple 7 should be flying the route. The 787 was designed with long and thin routes such as this in mind, I can't believe Charleston would really have the capacity for a much larger aircraft, even at only twice a week.

$1400 for a regular economy fare though!

jack172

civilservant

Yes because that's totally why BA is doing this... sentimental value

Fact is the 787 was designed from the ground up with just this sort of route in mind. If it made more sense to fly a Triple 7, they would. Hell if the load factors appear to support it, I'm sure they would change it, but by only doing 2 sectors a week it suggests to me that they aren't sure if there is even enough demand to support that small commitment.

TheKingOfHearts

You're forgetting that almost 50% of international passenger routes rely on cargo as their primary revenue generator.

In such situations it may even make sense to fly a 777 at 60-70% passenger capacity if the cargo between SC and LHR is sufficient to make up the difference.

jack172

newadventure

Hi Jack,
Welcome aboard. I believe the current timetable runs until October. I appreciate it is very early days, but any clues as to what BA intends to do at that point, or when that decision will be made?

jack172

Steerpike

Presumably that fare can be found heavily discounted? Otherwise, I just can't see anyone paying it. Who pays $1400 for an economy seat?

I just booked a trip to Manchester, Nonstop from SFO with Thomas Cook for about $750 next month. That's my kind of price! It was the only non-stop flight available to MAN so not only was it cheap (at short notice), it was convenient also.

Pulaski

People who live in the Carolinas.

Finding anything much less than $1,500 out of CLT is a challenge - there are occasional flash/24 hr sales, but unless you get lucky, flights out of CLT start at $1,500. As far as I can tell, Atlanta isn't much better, and DC is usually only around cheap enough to make going up there a break-even proposition, though we did drive there once and netted a saving of about $1,200 (aggregate for three of us) after car rental night in a hotel and extra meal.

I haven't seen a CLT-LON ticket under $900 in at least a decade and I usually pounce on anything in the $1,100 - $,200 range. For $750 PHX-LHR it might be possible to save money, on the ticket price at least, by flying CLT-PHX-LHR return.

Steerpike

So what about NY/NJ? Can't you get cheap tickets through those locations? Recently, I've been flying to MAN through Philadelphia, because that's a major AA hub, and seeing similar prices. Can't you get a good price through PHL? I haven't paid OVER $900 for a UK trip 'ever', and that's from the West Coast! Is this a west coast phenomenon? I've traveled to MAN 6 times in the last 18 months (sick mother) and used IcelandAir, Thomas Cook, AA, BA, United. Usually 1-stop as MAN isn't a typical destination (though Thomas Cook do it non-stop).

scrubbedexpat091

CLT is 90% controlled by one airline and thus fares even when connecting tend to be high.