Gadling

I saw this on the news last night. This pisses me off. Such a waste of fuel. not to mention the harm is does to the environment...

my blog: http://curiousread.com

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What a bunch of idiots at British Air. Instead of everybody writing notes (like me) about them why don't we just stop supporting them and fly another airline??? Then all of their planes can be empty and they will be out of business?. Stupid policies from Stupid, highly paid CEO's

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Souldja boy.. tell em.. crank dat..

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crazy it may appear to some but if the people that set up the rules didn't penalise BA if they don't use the slots they would not fly phantom flights.
BA still have the cheapest flight across the pond with the BEST service. frequent BA flyer Atlanta - London

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Neo: The name of the airline is British Airways, not British Air. And Ted is right. B.A. don't make the rules.

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I flew B.A. a few years ago. There were maybe 45 people on a transatlantic flight on a 757. It was great. everyone took whole rows for themselves to stretch out and sleep on.
I love British Airways, they have the greatest service anywhere.

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I would fly them all the time if I could. Can't beat a row to yourself with free booze and permission from the steward to help yourself to the fridge! Now that is customer service.

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I agree with what Neo had to say. Airlines Pers. should also listen to the silent sufferer I stopped flying BA years ago because of their ungenerous business attitude. What did they lose by my actions? My Money,
Huge, huge mistake BA.

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Actually I once worked from United Airlines and people used to say we could fly our international flights without any passengers and they would still make money. Its all about freight people. FEDEX and UPS fly no passengers. So what's the big deal. The airlines need to make a profit like any other business. How they do it is their business. This is "much ado about nothing" IMHO.

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Fact is that the crew that operate from London to the other city (say N.Y.) , spend the night before coming back. This means that there is a load of people and a crew waiting in N.Y. to take the return leg back to London. They don't fly it empty round trip to conserve the slot as they would have to not use the slot 5% of the time before they would lose it. If they don't move the airplane and the crews as much as they can then everything (crews and airplanes) end up out of synch. It is best to keep the machine moving to keep it working at it's best.

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All of you guys raving about B.A. are absolutely wrong. I fly from Boston to London several times a year for my job. I've tried EVERY airline that flies there from Boston direct. The two British airlines, Virgin Atlantic and B.A., both offer free booze in coach. The US airlines do NOT offer free booze in coach. Out of all of the airlines, Virgin Atlantic has the absolute BEST, most modern services and amenities, their planes are among the newest of any airline in the world, but, their coach fares are often the most expensive. B.A. has average service and amenities, and their airfares are among the cheapest. However, both B.A. and Virgin have very tight leg room. They try to cram as many people as they can into their planes like cattle. (That's probably why they offer free booze, so that you'll be so drunk you won't notice you can't move your legs.) I am a petite-sized woman, but I usually get seated between two men who usually hog the armrests, and spread their legs as wide as they can, into my leg space. It's not comfortable and the leg room issue makes getting up to go to the bathroom a nightmare. Taking everything into account, the overall best airline to fly to London is American Airlines. A few years ago, on all of their planes, they took out a few rows of seats, so now ALL of their coach seats have more legroom. Now, American Airlines' legroom in coach class is VERY generous, and their service is just as good as B.A.'s. Also, American's airfares are quite cheap. No, you don't get the free booze, but that shouldn't be a big deal to the average person. American Air and B.A. usually have the cheapest airfares, they're often priced almost exactly the same. So, I usually fly American Airlines and enjoy the generous legroom, and then just bring a few bucks in my pocket to buy my own drinks if I want them.

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Such a waste of energy resources! The trucking industry does stuff like this also, such as picking up Florida oranges and taking them to CA, and then picking up CA oranges and bringing them back to FL. And like hauling toilet paper from MS to NY then papertowels(which is also a paper product) from NY to MS. All of this adds $$$$$ to the the consumer , plus uses diesel fuel. ALL IN THE NAME OF COMMERCE and ?PROGRE??SS.

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Is 13 hours from London to Bangkok serving nothing but coffee and water good service? That happened to my wife and I. I also had to threaten to sue B.A. e few years ago just to get someone to respond to another customer service issue. 13 months of phone calls, emails, letters, for one person to take responsibility. National carriers are government subsidized, money losing, and shameful.

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They need to lower their prices, they are extortionate.

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It's simply legalized crime.

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Must agree with Ted....if the Airlines were not threatened about losing their spots, I'm SURE they would not do this! I'm not sure I agree with this practice as the Green Movement will probably hurt the Airlines overall in the future and losing a slot or two probably wouldn't be bad overall. With the price of fuel (have we hit Peak Oil yet?), it won't be long before none of us can afford to fly! Better buy stock in the railroads and Greyhound....they will flourish in the next few years!

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I've flown on BA about a dozen times and found them to have the worst service and worst equipment. On one flight the person in front of me couldn't keep his seat upright because the arm-rest was broken off the seat and hanging on the floor.

I have the same problem with SouthWest airlines. Too busy making jokes and throwing people off flights for no reason to cover up their excessive overbooking practices. I watched them give away a woman's seats because her husband wasn't at the podium with her to get her boarding pass, he was in the restroom. When she complained they said that they felt she had been drinking and would have to come back the next day.

My best experiences have been with American Airlines. So now when I want to fly to Las Vegas from San Diego (a 60 minute flight with SouthWest) I book with American Airlines (a three hour flight with an extra stop).

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This practice has been going on for a while now and is the norm rather than the exception. All we can do as consumers is take our business elsewhere. This too is easier said than done - many bark, few bite.

Next time you fly - remember this and be proactive in supporting your beliefs.

JK

http://www.RememberYourStuff.com
Because Stuff Happens!

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