David Laws is, however, fully aware of the issues with BA, and the constant cancellations by BA are hardly LBA management fault anyway. They have been doing all they can to persuade BA to provide a reliable and more frequent service. David is a very approachable chap though and I have no doubt at all that he would be happy to hear views if put in writing. He seems considerably more open to hearing views and keeping the public informed than his predecessors.
That's good to hear. When John Parkin was at BRS I found him very 'hands on' in the sense that he would reply to letters under his own signature (he may not have written them of course) and actually answer points raised rather than give a generalised 'corporate-speak' reply. I found that to be the case with the most recent CEO at BRS who is now at LCY, albeit he had many admirable qualities but personally dealing with correspondence from the public was not one of them. Neither was ensuring that his staff actually addressed issues raised when replying on his behalf.

I'm surprised to learn that JP seems to have taken a backward step with those responsibilities during his incumbency at LBA.
 
He said he'd moved to within seven minutes drive of the airport so he could get a feel for how the roads are locally. You'll probably find him somewhere like the White Cross on an evening.
 
Not having ago at anyone here.

This is problem with technology, people have become lazy. 10 Years ago it wouldn't have been a problem putting pen to paper and writing a letter?


You are so right.These days many firms can`t handle snail mail letters and don`t bother to reply unless via e mail or social media..Sky for instance are no longer able to accept payments via cheques apparantly....I`m told its called progress!!
 
I have already had email correspondence back from David Laws although if I write to him I usually send it to his secretary first and she passes it to David, or one of the other directors, depending on which of them is best placed to handle the enquiry. I cannot think of a single occasion where I have done so and not had a response of some sort.
 
Looks like I will have to write a letter then. At least it wont be a waste of time if he replies to me.
 
Have to say written to John Parkin and Philip Meeson in the last three years and got immediate replies, find if I email a major boss a complete waste of time, probably goes in to their spam account.
I would suggest with David Laws just in his seat a good time to write. I had written to easyjet a number of times about speedy boarding and disabled passenger with no reply. When Carolyn McCall appointed sent her all the previous correspondence and she responded immediately and in fact put new steps in place.
New bosses want to make their mark so will get behind projects that will enhance their role and this topic will be near the top of Laws to do list.
 
Stray FM are reporting on the loss of 50% of BA flights from Leeds Bradford Airport.

"To now hear the services are being severely reduced is extremely disappointing. We have already heard from several local businesses who know this will limit their options when travelling, and reducing this important link can only discourage new businesses from moving into the Harrogate district."

Full story: https://www.strayfm.com/news/local-news/2489969/concern-for-harrogate-after-ba-flights-decision/
 
So it's less than two months until we have to endure the new schedule on the LHR run and now we have become used to the situation we seem slightly less animated. I don't doubt for one minute BA will fill their main connecting flights, or at least increase the LF on these but it's still very short sighted. KLM have chosen not to cut much at LBA re the AMS slot restrictions because they know BA are there for the taking by maintaining frequency. If BE do come on CDG then that would have an AF code-share so expect further leakage to occur. I know everyone has to try and run their business cost-effectively but at the expense of customer loss does not help that situation. BA have and always will be a law unto themselves. It's the BA way or no way at all. If that means the LHR route is cut altogether then so be it but BA will only get a small percentage of their current pax flying with them from MAN instead. Mainly those that can't see beyond BA! They have rested on the laurels of their name for far too long and are having to realise too many other players are stealing the market they believed they had a Devine right to
 
Wow - just tried to book BA to LHR for a Wednesday in May using a comparison site...

Leeds option - one flight 11.05am not useful for my needs

"Why not try another local airport option?" (MAN) - choice of EIGHT flight times!!!:

7.00, 8.40, 9.45, 12.10, 14.00, 15.55, 17.55, 19.50
 
Remember the trains are virtually every 20 minutes from 6 am through to 8pm to Euston so what BA is picking up isn't primarily about getting hordes of traffic into London - past studies indicated around 60% to 70% of passengers on the BA shuttles were transferring.

To me, it looks like BA wants to be seen to be competing at MAN...it's not just 3 KL flights a day to worry about out of LBA which means they can decide to play around with the LBA schedule. It's the 3 EK A380s, 2 EY 777s, up to 6 KL, 5 LH to FRA and 3 to MUC, 7 combined AF/BE to CDG etc. To cede completely the market from northwest England would not go down well with the relatively high frequent flyer base they have nearby (who they have referenced previously in relation to the BACityflyer ops that have started) and they might switch allegiance to other carriers. If there were no LHR services, I wonder if they really would decide to hop on Virgin Trains to Euston and connect to LHR Express or drive down if "time is money" for them as doing one-stop via AMS/FRA/MUC is just as easy as the current one-stop via LHR.

I've done a look at the numbers but I'm not too sure what the frequency was in November but I've gone with 10 return flights Monday to Friday and 8 at weekend. That makes something like 568 sectors flown. They carried 58,600 passengers so averaging around 103 per flight (That's 4 passengers per flight fewer than in 2016).

For Yorkshire traveller, they may have determined the frequent flyer base is already making use of KL and there's not enough prospects to get people onto their service to make it worthwhile to maintain schedules (which leads to the chicken and egg conundrum in that a 6am to 7am departure ex-LBA with a return arriving around 9pm to 10pm probably would see some more passengers switching from KL allegiance to BA)
 
I've just checked—In at LHR for this eveings 17:30 BA1344 to LBA, can tell you the wasn't many free seats available to choose from. I'll try do a head whilst onboard.

Reasonably full but BA are still willing to sell quite a few seats

J9 C4 D1 R0 I0 Y9 B3 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0N0 Q0 O0 S0 G9

I suspect the lack of options you have may be partly related to theoretical seating and status related seat blocking (blocked seats are the ones shown with an X, occupied are blue) rather than because seats are genuinely occupied.

OjLxgc.png


The problem is of course with no nightstopper the southbound is always fairly low on load and this evening is no exception:

BA1345 J9 C6 D3 R9 I0 Y9 B6 H6 K3 M0 L0 V0 N0 Q0 O0 S9 G9
 

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9 trips in 9 days done 70 miles walked and over 23-00 photos taken with a large number taken at 20mph or above. Heavy rain on 1 day only
5 trips done and 45 miles walked,. Also the RAF has had 4 F35B Lightning follow me yesterday and today....
My plans got altered slightly as one of the minibus companies had to cancel 3 trips and refunded me but will be getting nice discount when I rebook them.
wondering why on my "holidays" I choose to get up 2 hours earlier than when going to work. 6 trips in 6 days soon coming up with 3 more days to sort out

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