British Airways

Tag Archives for British Airways.

BA farewells 747s

“Sad Day for All” the understated words of an Air Traffic Controller at Kemble/Cotswold Airport summed up how I and so many 747 enthusiasts felt as the very last two British Airways Jumbo 747-400s departed the fleet. British Airways Boeing 747-400, G-CIVB and G-CIVY took off from London Heathrow Runway 27R on Thursday 8th October at 0646am and 0711am respectively. The airline had planned for the two Boeing 747s to have departed side by side from the airport’s parallel runways. As a result, of terrible weather, this spectacular double departure did not occur. G-CIVB (Negus…

Continue Reading »

American ditches Fleet, Network and Frequency

  Sunday evening March 15,  I fly to Dublin, Ireland with American Airlines. Little did I know when I booked my trip that this would be the very  last day for that flight until at least May.  Flights from Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix  to London Heathrow, Dublin  and Manchester  will be suspended on March 15 and the return trips back to the USA will be flown  March 16.   These are part of a 75% cut in American’s international capacity which will be accompanied by a 20% cut in its  domestic capacity in April and…

Continue Reading »

Eighty Times around the World

Jules Verne’s character Phileas Fogg traveled by steamer, train, elephant and horse around the world to demonstrate it was possible to do so. It took eighty days. Today, I completed my 80th navigation of the globe. This is a touch over two million miles (3.2 million kilometres), a feat which has taken me just over half a century of flying. This is what it looks like: I have flown to 62 of the 80 countries, I have visited. The rest I have reached by bus, train, car and in one case foot. Importantly, my travels…

Continue Reading »

Who has flown every One World Carrier?

I am curious to know how many people have flown at least one flight with every one of the 13 member carriers of the One World Airline alliance? There cannot be many fliers who have can claim to have checked off every One World Airline. As of now, I have now traveled with every One World airline except for S7.  This alliance has taken me 37 times around the world, a a total of 1.5 million kilometres (968,000 miles). Altogether, that has been aboard 582 flights. From Hobart to Helsinki and Hawaii to Hong Kong…

Continue Reading »

Upgrading my Qantas experience-How I get Top Elite status in three round trips (almost)

I was sitting down to lunch a few years, with the family when my airline called to tell me my flight to Auckland was cancelled and I would miss my connection to Samoa. As a  result, I would get to my holiday  24 hours later than planned. The good news was if I could get to the airport within the hour they could get me into the earlier flight.  My brother in law drove me very quickly through Sydney streets to ensure I made this flight. Not only did Air New Zealand book me onto…

Continue Reading »

British Airways Magic Tear Jerker grants disabled child wish

No words for this. Christmas has come early with the help of British Airways for 12-year-old Scottish soccer fan, Finlay Sangster, who has cerebral palsy. British Airways has a program called #BAMAGIC which surprises and rewards people the airline views as special or deserving. This is the latest installment.    

Continue Reading »

Laughing through the new British Airways Safety Video -for a good cause

Just watched the new British Airways safety video which will be rolled out onto their aircraft on September 1st, 2017. This safety video was produced in collaboration with Comic Relief, who are a major charity based in the UK, with a vision of a just world, free from poverty. Ten British celebrities are depicted auditioning for a coveted part in the new BA safety video in front of comedian Asim Chaudhry character Chabuddy G. There are eight sketches advertising the safety features and procedures on the aircraft. It starts with Chiwetel Ejiofor, who was nominated for…

Continue Reading »

The airlines that vanished in 2015

Over 50 carriers failed in 2015. Many of them, frankly won’t be missed. I have flown none of them (and in some cases it seems no one else flew them either!). There were some very long standing airlines that went under and a couple that lasted just a short time including one that had planes in the air for under month. Man dream of being a Richard Branson but for every successful startup there are hundreds of shuttered dreams. To survive, I believe an airline needs to have seven things: A demonstrated diversified real market. “build it…

Continue Reading »

Transaero Terminated

Out of the 90 carriers I have flown, none have been Russian.  I had wanted to try private Russian airline Transaero’s legendary Imperial First Class with its gold embroidered seats, cotton sheet sets and special China! Its First Class came 16th in the world’s First Class cabins. Alas not to be for the airline closed their doors on 26 October 2015, days from their 24th Birthday on 5 November. Transaero had aimed to keep flying through to 15 December but its operating certificates were revoked after Russian banks withdrew support. The safety authorities then determined that Transaero’s massive debt posed a hazard…

Continue Reading »

$2015 US to London- BA Business Class Sale

Right now British Airways has roundtrip business class travel to London from $US2,015  from  Atlanta, Boston, Chicago,  Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC.  The  sale is only for October 15 and 16 for travel from November 16, 2015 through August 31, 2016 (although blackout dates apply on some routings). This is a great chance to fly the BA A380 or 787 product! The sale applies on British Airways code-shared flights operated by American Airlines. (although given the choice between BA and American…) You can reduce the cost by booking through AARP. Membership is only $16 and gives you an extra $400 off Business Class.…

Continue Reading »