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BA Connect Passenger Reviews and BA Connect Customer Trip Reports
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BA Connect - by Philip Lamb
1 November 2006
I have now used BA Connect twice (Southampton-Manchester return) and
have been entirely satisfied with all aspects of the flights. Although
the service is not hugely better than the competeing Flybe one, which I
have used several times, I'm going to continue to use Connect — easier
check in at both airports and a roomier aircraft sway it for me. There's
little difference in price, I'm not overbothered about food (one should
expect to pay these days) and on such a short flight — if you don't want
to, then you don't have to do you? The convenience of getting to
Manchester in such a short time is the most important consideration for
me — not the catering as it seems it is for so many who comment here!
Well done BA!
BA Connect - by Richard Campbell
27 October 2006
BRS-GLA-BRS Return trip cancelled for second consecutive time on this
trip. A flight to Birmingham with a bus to Bristol at the other end
offered instead. Reason appeared to be purely commercial as ground staff
admitted that Bristol flight was 2/3 full but there was enough space on
Birmingham flight to accommodate all Bristol passengers as well. On
previous occasion arrived at Birmingham to find no-one had told ground
staff there to arrange bus. Declined flight to Birmingham and
transferred to Easyjet. This was last straw for me. Will not use BA
Connect again and will try and avoid BA whenever possible.
BA Connect - by Val Becque
27 October 2006
Birmingham/Lyon return. Full Embraer145, left on time and arrived 15mins
early. Quick cabin service - who minds paying £5 for breakfast when fare
is £85 return inc £51tax etc. Return, only 15 on board, left 15 mins
early for quick flight back to Birmingham. For the first time in my life
the luggage was delivered before me. Would not hesitate to use BAConnect
again for leisure, cheap prices and efficiency on European routes from
Birmingham.
BA Connect - by Jeremy Weaver
15 October 2006
Manchester-Belfast City £333 and buy your own cup of coffee. If like me
you have to book at the last minute because of work schedule they could
at least offer you a meal voucher like flybe does for its premium
passengers.
BA Connect - by David Howe
10 October 2006
I dont mind paying for quality food, a full hot breakfast on a 35 minute
flight MAN-GLA. In Canada we only get cold sandwiches to buy on five and
six hour transcon flights! Service was cheerful and efficient. I really
enjoyed BA Connect and remember when North American airlines offered
similar service. In Canada fares have gone up while service has gone
down, the reverse is the case in the UK. Well done BA Connect.
BA Connect - by Eric Bateman
16 September 2006
Edinburgh to Paris on 6th September. Restrictions on hand baggage meant
that I could only take a briefcase on the Embraer 145 aircraft, and that
I (seemingly like everyone else) had to check my bag into the hold. This
is where the problems started. On arrival at the chaotic scene which is
BA at CDG, it soon became apparent that around 20 of the Edinburgh
passengers' baggage had not arrived. No-one in Paris could tell any of
us what had happened, it took an hour of queuing to even file the
baggage report. No-one at BA Paris answers the telephone so continually
calling the next day was a waste of time. I travelled on from Paris to
Zurich then Hamburg and arrived in Edinburgh on the Sunday evening - and
decided to ask the BA baggage people for some kind of update. "There
were over 15 bags delayed on the Paris flight. If the Embraer is full
and everyone has baggage checked in, it is too heavy to take off so we
had to leave 15 bags behind. The bags were probably taken to Paris the
next day, but they have hundreds of unclaimed bags there so it could
take up to 6 weeks to get your bag back". So BA, as well as charging you
for a cup of tea, deliberately take off and leave your bag behind,
refuse to answer the phone, then tell you that it will take up to 6
weeks to get your bag back. This was a direct flight and I checked in 2
hours before the flight went.
BA Connect - by Peter Cullen
22 August 2006
BRS-FRA Certainly not cheap (over £120 single), at that price I find it
deplorable that one is expected to pay for food and drink and am
delighted to report that virtually nobody did on my flight. Perhaps BA
Connect will get the message. Apart from that, no real complaints: the
online check-in worked very well, departure was on time and the RJ145
was fine - I like them, if they are not full, it almost feels like you
are in an executive jet (I guess!). So it makes it even more annoying
that one feels the airline is penny pinching, it is not a low cost
airline in its operations or pricing structure, so why act like one in
certain areas; a free newspaper and drink would cost less than 2% of the
price I paid for my ticket but would have delivered a lot more in
goodwill.
BA Connect - by Geoff Lawrence
3 August 2006
BHX-MAD on RJ100 - we did on-line check in the night before - excellent
check in at BHX. The flight was comfortable, decent seat pitch for low-
cost, the cabin crew were really friendly and there was a good choice of
meals & drinks to buy. It is great that BA use the amazing new T4 at
Madrid (will LHR T5 be any where near as good?) - but there is no Metro
link from T4 - you have to catch a bus to T3 to get the metro.
Hopefully that will be improved in the future.
BA Connect - by Nathan Fotheringill
24 July 2006
GLA-BRS-GLA. Flights were bought prior to the BA Connect re-branding at
a very reasonable price, similar to the Easyjet alternative but at time
that was more suitable. Tried to use the online check-in but there was a
problem that necessitated me utilising the very helpful check-in staff
at Glasgow who sorted things out. Outbound flight was half an hour late,
the return was perfectly on time. Both flights utilised the E145, an
aircraft criticised by some but one I've always found comfortable. There
is a lack of overhead bin space but the 'valet' service helped. Tried
the onboard catering on the outbound flight - it cost about £4 for a
reasonable baguette and a soft drink. Being a late flight, though, meant
that many items on the menu were not available. Didn't bother on the way
back and neither, seemingly, did anyone else. At all times, from check-
in to disembarkation, BA's staff were polite and friendly. The bags also
made it to the belt before I did. Overall I was happy with the flights.
However, the only real advantages over the Easyjet alternative on this
route are allocated seats and the ability to check-in online even if you
have hold baggage. Whether this is worth paying a significantly higher
fare is up to the individual concerned.
BA Connect - by Harold Halliday
11 July 2006
Belfast Harbour - Manchester. Flight clashed with World Cup final, so
was less than half full (or had BA Connect's fares driven passengers
away - flights on a Sunday evening are normally virtually full?).
Departed and arrived on time. The problem with BA Connect is that there
is now virtually nothing to distinguish it from its competitor on the
route, expect price. Lose on this, and the customer is gone too. It
looks like being a hard slog and so far the omens do not look good.
BA Connect - by Colin West
5 July 2006
Cheap or not so cheap - fully flexible BAConnect GLA-MAN-GLA £295 - no
food, uncomfortable DHC8s, often late. Fully flexible BA mainline MAN-
LHR-GLA £283 - hot breakfast and nice new jets. And just to make it
easier - GLA-MAN-GLA is 388 mls, MAN-LHR-GLA is 496 mls! So much for a
cheap carrier - come on BA and own up to the fact that you couldn't care
less about regional routes.
BA Connect - by Anna Rowe
21 June 2006
BHX - EDI return. Just had my first experience of BA Connect, and the
whole experience was neither positive or negative. I often fly on the
BHX-CDG route, so the smaller RJ-145 was a shock, with the lack of
locker space, so I had to utilise the Valet service - and then watch my
bag tumble off the luggage van on to the tarmac, luckily no damage to
camera. Both flights left on time, and the usual 20-30 mins early
arrival. Bit annoyed at paying usual price, but no drinks etc. Booked
3 weeks in advance, and paid £70, which I didn't think was too bad
BA Connect - by Colin Kay
18 June 2006
EDI-MAN-EDI. Paid over £250 for this flight. No food or drinks
included and it was an hour late on the return leg. BA Connect offers
budget airline standards at full fare airline prices. I won't fly them
again unless I have no other option.
BA Connect - by Mike Davies
10 June 2006
Manchester - Belfast City return. Paid £191. Booked one week in advance.
Under the old regime of BA regional, this would have entitled me to use
the business lounge in MAN and Belfast , plus something to eat on the
plane and free drinks. Now I don't get any of that. Apart from that, the
flights were pleasant and efficient. The Dash 8 seats are not the widest
in the world, but for a 60 minute commuter flight its ok. Prefer Belfast
City to the International due to its location.
BA Connect - by Angus Gilmore
3 June 2006
Further proof that BA Connect's pricing is a joke. Total fare for three
people LGW-NCE return in Club Europe = £580. Total fare for three people
with a flexible economy ticket (remember no onboard catering etc) IOM-
LGW return £1,057. And these for flights in September! Every time I have
tried to book BA Connect I have found it as expensive, if not more so,
than the previous offering with worse service. What a joke! And now
apparently they are expanding this concept to all flights out of the
regions (GB Airways etc included). How long before this ridiculous farce
is rolled across the mainline, London based routes? As a long standing
BA fan I worry that they are going to alienate a lot of customers (as
they appear to have done judging by the postings on this forum).
BA Connect - by Kenneth Bedgood
1 June 2006
Fly every week between Edinburgh and Paris and welcomed what I thought were going to be cheaper
fares when BA Connect was announced. Reality is that fares are more expensive for a poorer service.
Also seem unable to redeem my remaining BA miles on direct flights, even trying to book weeks in
advance. Now fly Air France on this route who offer free inflight catering,
cheaper fares, flights contributing to tier points on Flying Blue and a choice of airports (CDG, ORY).
BA Connect - by Neil Woodcock
29 May 2006
The BA Connect service on the LCY to EDI route plumbs new depths with
each passing week. I have used or attempted to use BA8714 - the 1900
departure - on the last 4 consecutive Fridays and it has either been
cancelled or severely delayed. The airline staff appear demoralised and
the people handling departures at LCY are at their wits end dealing with
angry and frustrated passengers. I was told that the former aircraft
used had been sold to Swiss, and that the airline is left with a series
of aircraft which are inherently less reliable and difficult to
maintain, and worse, that the airline is stuck with them for another 2
years until the lease runs out. I will be using Gatwick in future - at
least there is a terraces/first class lounge there where you can sit out
any delays in comfort, unlike City Airport.
BA Connect - by F McLaughlan
15 May 2006
EDI-BHX, Originally booked before the "BA Connect" announcement and
didn't receive any correspondence regarding the change. On speaking to
the duty manager - was offered lounge access, but informed also to write
to customer relations. Received standard response (exact same as
everyone else), but decided to push for a clearer answer. Eventually
informed by BA customer relations that they are not allowed to give
refund via BA Miles - but offered a cheque for £10. Not much, but the
person did apologise - stating that everyone who booked should have
received some correspondence from BA.
BA Connect - by Denzil Williams
6 May 2006
I have been commuting IOM to Southampton for a while and have been using
various routes (direct on Eastern, via Liverpool on FlyBe & Euromanx or
BA via Manchester). To be fair to BA Connect they invariably beat the
other 2 routes for price - and that is the combined cost of 2 flights
(IOM-MAN, MAN-SOU). Service and punctuality OK and schedules are quite
good for me. Sadly no points towards lounge access when using BA Connect
- which is a real shame for the frequent, connecting traveller. With the
online check in (free seat selection and bags - not like FlyBE who want
£5 + £2 for this) BA Connect has been a very competitive option for me.
That said I'd use Eastern direct if their SOU-IOM flights were not in
the morning (hence losing me a day's work).
BA Connect - by Colin West
30 April 2006
Following up on my comments of a few weeks ago - I have just had a reply
from BA Customer Services - sounds like Standard Letter 'B' - sorry you
were disappointed, trying harder, etc. The whole story of BA Connect
gets even more annoying when we learn, last week, that London passengers
are to get cheap fares and still retain full service, clearly British
Airways needs to be renamed London Airways - and to add insult to
injury, the fare between GLA and MAN has gone up another £20 taking it
to just under £300 return - for a round trip of 388 miles! I wonder if
BA ever reads these pages??
BA Connect - by Angus Gilmore
26 April 2006
Like Julian Potts I baulked at having to pay the same amount as before
(£300 plus) for a trip to London on business to receive an inferior
service. This time I went to LCY with Euromanx for £140. In the City
within 25 minutes of landing, and both flights more or less on time.
Sorry BA but while you continue with this absurd inferior service for a
superior price you have lost my business!!
BA Connect - by Julian Potts
22 April 2006
Gatwick - Isle of Man. despite having booked through fares to New
Zealand and return long before the change to BA Connect was told that no
free refreshments available, even though we had paid a higher fare. The
fares to / from the Isle of Man incidentally are no cheaper than
previously other than one or two exceptions at unpopular times, and
never during school holidays. BA need to be careful, as free food is
only reason a lot of people choose Gatwick as opposed to London City.
The latter flight timings are far more convenient even if with the
dreaded Euromanx and new DLR connection also attractive.
BA Connect - by Martin Brown
2 April 2006
BA Connect MAN-GVA-MAN. According to BA they have made some flights BA
Connect in response to customer feedback. My question is, who exactly
were these customers and were they idiots or was it BA just didn't
listen to what they said? Okay, yes the food (which compared to
Easyjet or Ryanair) isn't 'that' expensive and actually the all-day-
breakfast and the baguettes were tasty and better than the free food
they gave before. I can see BA's logic in that most people who will use
these flights are on business and as such on expenses so will buy the
food, but why not just increase the price a little and give better food
for free. I agree with the previous comments that the price doesn't
appear to be lower. I disagree with BA saying Connect is a budget
airline, it isn't, it's a normal airline where you pay for food. The
plus points are that the crew are certainly more helpful and pleasant
than Ryanair and Easyjet, you don't get the scramble for seats and there
is very good backup for when and if things do go wrong and for that
reason alone, I will continue to use BA Connect The planes are even a
better colour inside and out! It seems most airlines are going this way
on short haul so in the end it won't matter who you go with.
BA Connect - by R Liddle
2 April 2006
EDI-TXL via Birmingham- 3 of the four sectors on Embraer, OK although not particularly cheap, 4th
sector on a BAe 146. The worst seat pitch ever, although I didn't measure it. Handed a shiny food
menu. On all sectors popular food choices sold out in the first few rows and only pizza and all day
breakfast left for the back rows. This is just annoying. Easyjet starting Glasgow to Berlin soon. I
see no reason to continue to choose BA in its Connect guise although for the moment still prefer BA
on the EDI- London routes.
BA Connect - by Colin West
1 April 2006
GLA-MAN - Like many others I had been fooled by BA's hype about the
brand new concept 'BA Connect'. My regular morning flight from Glasgow
to Manchester no longer serves a free breakfast, no longer has
newspapers on boarding, has been downgraded from a jet to a prop - and
guess what - the fare hasn't changed! Infact I ahve just booked next
week's flight and it has gone UP! bmi operate the same route - they also
do not serve breakfast but they can be at least £100 cheaper and they
operate an all jet service - BA should remember that we do have a
choice! I eagerly await a response from BA Customer Relations!
BA Connect - by Richard Miles
30 March 2006
I frequently fly between Southampton and Manchester on business. There
have always been two competing flights: BA flying out at 7am and FlyBe
flying at 7:15. Both take an hour. The BA flight invariably costs £100
more but has two advantages: (1) you get breakfast on the plane, not
brilliant but better than a sandwich in the waiting area; (2) the plane
taxis right to the terminal saving about 15 minutes mucking around at
the airport compared to FlyBE. It is rarely going to be worth £100 for
breakfast and a 15 minute saving. Upon hearing of BA's new rebranding I
eagerly went to their website to see if I could now get the same
advantages but without the extra £100: you can't ! The same flight now
operates at the same cost but doesn't serve breakfast. That's it, no
other changes.
BA Connect - by Nick Inkster
30 March 2006
MAN CDG. The new Connect product is hard to figure out; have flown this
sector at least once a week for the last 18 months. The catering on
board has become a farce: yesterday it took the crew twenty five minutes
to set up and start serving. Luckily I was in row 3 so they got to me 30
minutes into a 60 minute flight. They had their cash float in a plastic
drinks tumbler and my receipt was handwritten on a piece of plain paper.
Difficult to tell who was most embarrased, the crew or the passengers.
BA Connect - by John Lloyd
25 March 2006
I've travelled out of BHX with BA for the last 15 years, and enjoyed a
whole range of memorable flying experiences. Rugged BAC1-11s; strange
HS.748s with German signage; semi-retired 737-200s; gorgeous brand-new
A319s.....all with that special BA service. But now this! Cramped RJ-
145s and hopeless RJ100s. Over the years I have come to know many of the
ground-staff and cabin crew, and I have never seen such a demoralised
bunch. They try their best, but their senior management seem to be
intent on closing down their BHX operation. I didn't mind paying for a
fully-flex fare when I got the appropriate service, but I feel that I
will be short-changed with the BA Connect aircraft and service.
BA Connect- by Pierre Deblace
15 March 2006
Manchester - Paris CDG on British Airways "Connect", a seemingly new
brand which is not City Express, but may be a revamping of Cityflier.
They use Embraer ERJ 145 and the BAE Avro 146 /RJ 85/100 family. The
scheduled ERJ was replaced by a larger Avro to accommodate supporters of
a rugby match in France. This one cabin aircraft was surprisingly sold
in 2 classes and I unwittingly benefited from it, being seated on the
aisle in the first row of coach and with no idea that the 4 rows ahead
were Business class. No separation, nothing even to suggest it, such as
more legroom or wider seats. As my row was full and the rows ahead were
much lighter, I moved to the 2nd row (empty) in complete good faith,
with no objection from anybody. I realized my good fortune when the
sandwich cart bypassed me and I was offered a more complete tray and a
bottle of champagne, not particularly good, but killing 20 minutes.
Aside from the ticket flexibility and a little more privacy on that
plane due to an almost empty "business class" vs a full coach, I saw
nothing to justify the extra 200 pounds and certainly would not have
paid them knowingly. While many BA coach fares are competitive,
especially with the unusual one way option, I increasingly find that
their business product on short flights is not.
BA Connect- by Ed Machin
13 March 2006
GVA-LCY (C Class). Professional, friendly and competent service
complicated by the poorly enforced rules regarding carry on luggage on
the small BAe-146. Bar service after take off, followed by meal of
salmon, prawns and salad with additional drinks. Then a further round of
coffee/drinks. All efficiently done with a smile on this 1hr 30 min
flight.
BA Connect- by Glen Oldham
5 March 2006
MAN-MAD-MAN. Delayed take off time due to weather and late inbound
aircraft, service was excellent throughout. Arrived in Madrid at the new
T4s, a nightmare!! Bussed to terminal and then you take a train to T4
arrivals - if you can find your way there!! Returned on the same day.
Departures the same, bussed to aircraft, signage all over the place in
departures - try and find your gate!! Used online check both ways
excellent no problems with that. Only gripe with the service is that
they should put a larger aircraft on the route - full to the brim both
ways not a lot of space on an Embraer 145, although legroom was
excellent. Excellent value for money £97 return. Choose them over
Easyjet because of the service given.
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