So, yet another all 'business class' (closer to premium economy) service
between a secondary London airport and New York has folded:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ight-canceled/

This must be at least the fourth or fifth all 'business' class service to
New York from Luton or Stansted to fail.

Even the genuinely premium BA flight from LCY to JFK has been cut back to
one flight per day.

On Tue, 20 Sep 2016 15:06:58 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:

So, yet another all 'business class' (closer to premium economy)
service between a secondary London airport and New York has folded:

http://onemileatatime.boa
This must be at least the fourth or fifth all 'business' class
service to New York from Luton or Stansted to fail.

Even the genuinely premium BA flight from LCY to JFK has been cut
back to one flight per day.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
So, yet another all 'business class' (closer to premium economy) service
between a secondary London airport and New York has folded:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ight-canceled/

This must be at least the fourth or fifth all 'business' class service to
New York from Luton or Stansted to fail.

It's a business model that just can't work

there isn't enough customers to support 4 or 5 flights a day

and business people, mined to pay business class fares, aren't keen to fly
on an airline that has one flight a day (or less) because if it gets
cancelled they have a very expensive lost day.

tim

tim... wrote:

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
So, yet another all 'business class' (closer to premium economy) service
between a secondary London airport and New York has folded:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ight-canceled/

This must be at least the fourth or fifth all 'business' class service to
New York from Luton or Stansted to fail.

It's a business model that just can't work

there isn't enough customers to support 4 or 5 flights a day

and business people, mined to pay business class fares, aren't keen to fly
on an airline that has one flight a day (or less) because if it gets
cancelled they have a very expensive lost day.

The attraction with these services is that they're much cheaper than normal
business class flights. But there's really no other benefit. They're not as
good as proper business class, no frequent flyer programme, only one route,
with only one flight a day, etc.

But it also shows that the business market from London is primarily from
Heathrow, with a limited amount from Gatwick.

On 20.09.16 16:55, Recliner wrote:
tim... wrote:

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
So, yet another all 'business class' (closer to premium economy) service
between a secondary London airport and New York has folded:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ight-canceled/

This must be at least the fourth or fifth all 'business' class service to
New York from Luton or Stansted to fail.

It's a business model that just can't work

there isn't enough customers to support 4 or 5 flights a day

and business people, mined to pay business class fares, aren't keen to fly
on an airline that has one flight a day (or less) because if it gets
cancelled they have a very expensive lost day.

The attraction with these services is that they're much cheaper than normal
business class flights. But there's really no other benefit. They're not as
good as proper business class, no frequent flyer programme, only one route,
with only one flight a day, etc.

But it also shows that the business market from London is primarily from
Heathrow, with a limited amount from Gatwick.

Well, that route is sort of going from Q to Z, when indeed you needed A
to B. Luton is a ways out, and Newark is not the closest to Manhattan.

Well, that route is sort of going from Q to Z, when indeed you needed A
to B. Luton is a ways out, and Newark is not the closest to Manhattan.

Actually, Newark airport is closer to midtown than JFK is, and the bus
and train options work fine. La Guardia is even closer but it doesn't
handle international flights other than precleared ones from nearby
Canada.

I think the problem with these airlines is that they're chasing the
market of people who want a better than coach seat on an international
flight, but fly so infrequently that they don't care about the lack of
onwards connections or a frequent flyer program. That doesn't sound
like a very big market.

Also, if you want something better than coach on the relatively short
flights from the UK to the eastern US or Canada, several airlines
have a premium coach that is OK.

wrote:
On 20.09.16 16:55, Recliner wrote:
tim... wrote:

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
So, yet another all 'business class' (closer to premium economy) service
between a secondary London airport and New York has folded:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ight-canceled/

This must be at least the fourth or fifth all 'business' class service to
New York from Luton or Stansted to fail.

It's a business model that just can't work

there isn't enough customers to support 4 or 5 flights a day

and business people, mined to pay business class fares, aren't keen to fly
on an airline that has one flight a day (or less) because if it gets
cancelled they have a very expensive lost day.

The attraction with these services is that they're much cheaper than normal
business class flights. But there's really no other benefit. They're not as
good as proper business class, no frequent flyer programme, only one route,
with only one flight a day, etc.

But it also shows that the business market from London is primarily from
Heathrow, with a limited amount from Gatwick.

Well, that route is sort of going from Q to Z, when indeed you needed A
to B. Luton is a ways out, and Newark is not the closest to Manhattan.

Huh? Luton is hardly any further out than Gatwick, and Newark is the
nearest trans-Atlantic airport to Manhattan.

On 20/09/2016 23:07, Recliner wrote:

wrote:

Well, that route is sort of going from Q to Z, when indeed you needed A
to B. Luton is a ways out, and Newark is not the closest to Manhattan.

Huh? Luton is hardly any further out than Gatwick, and Newark is the
nearest trans-Atlantic airport to Manhattan.


Indeed. A friend who does this with some regularity prefers a Newark
arrival over JFK.

On 2016-09-20 22:07:54 +0000, Recliner said:

Huh? Luton is hardly any further out than Gatwick, and Newark is the
nearest trans-Atlantic airport to Manhattan.

A lot of people are put off Luton by the bus connection, sufficiently
so that LBC are looking at building some kind of rail shuttle thing.
Which is actually counterintuitive, as to some gates at Gatwick you
walk almost as far as the bus goes (well, probably not quite, but it
feels like it), there's the inter-terminal train, and at Luton bags are
returned far, far quicker than any other significantly sized airport
(the reason for which is the simplicity of the baggage system - it just
involves two blokes and a flatbed Transit).

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
tim... wrote:

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
So, yet another all 'business class' (closer to premium economy) service
between a secondary London airport and New York has folded:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ight-canceled/

This must be at least the fourth or fifth all 'business' class service
to
New York from Luton or Stansted to fail.

It's a business model that just can't work

there isn't enough customers to support 4 or 5 flights a day

and business people, mined to pay business class fares, aren't keen to
fly
on an airline that has one flight a day (or less) because if it gets
cancelled they have a very expensive lost day.

The attraction with these services is that they're much cheaper than
normal
business class flights. But there's really no other benefit. They're not
as
good as proper business class, no frequent flyer programme, only one
route,
with only one flight a day, etc.

But it also shows that the business market from London is primarily from
Heathrow, with a limited amount from Gatwick.

I think it does nothing of the sort

It shows that price isn't compelling enough for the other disadvantages
(which as you say, are many)

Consider the market for this type of service.

Is it people who are paying the fare themselves (which may include small
business owners), are they getting any benefit for the two, three times
(whatever) over booking economy with a major airline? All they seem to be
getting is a bigger seat and perhaps better food. Is this enough?

Business people whose companies have entitled them to buy business class
tickets. Are they getting anything back from (from their company) by
booking a business class fare that is half the price of a normal business
class fare? My guess - no.

Are there companies out there who will let their staff travel on these
business class only flights but not business class on a normal airline?
Perhaps, but as per my previous post, not once one of their staff has been
rendered inoperative by a flight cancellation, they will soon go back to
booking major airlines, with alternative flight options once that happens

tim




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