BA expects to fill its A380 run without cutting ticket prices

[flying.monkeyz]

http://www.todayonline.com/business/...-ticket-prices

[inix]

Well, as long they don't do a SQ who actually raised prices when their 77W came onboard...

[Jumbojet Lover]

"Singapore Airlines’ withdrawal of direct services to New York is also expected to benefit BA’s A380 service, as passengers looking to fly to New York now have no choice but to stop somewhere en route, he said."

Does anyone think that BA would benefit that much from this? After all, I would think that passengers who would have taken SQ's non-stop would be spread amongst the many one-stop options to NYC (SQ via FRA, CX via HKG to JFK and EWR, ANA via NRT etc.).

BA would be offering their newest Club World products though, on the A380 between SIN and LHR, and the 787 between LHR and EWR.

[Kyo]

It depends if pax who prefer to travel via Europe want to go via FRA (SQ and LH, both *A) or LHR. Comes down to price and journey duration, for most. Alliance matters for the frequent flying community, of course.

On a lesser note, I know plenty of folks in Asia who don't mind, and in fact even prefer, a stopover holiday in London over Germany.

Personally, I'd go with the shorter duration/best timings.

[Durian]

BA only will introduce the 380 only on 3 flights per week, the rest will remain on 77W/744.

[CarbonMan]

My primary driver for choosing a flight is the duration of the entire journey - the shorter the better. Unless I've a specific purpose for doing a stopover at a specific city, the choice of a "nicer" stopover city comes a far second.

Having said that the quality of the flight also weighs heavy in the decision especially on such long hauls.

But bring on the competition. Today SQ is charging as high as S$12K for a J seat to JFK, that's way, way, way too high.

[stargold]

"Singapore Airlines’ withdrawal of direct services to New York is also expected to benefit BA’s A380 service, as passengers looking to fly to New York now have no choice but to stop somewhere en route, he said."

I think their rationale is that people are more likely than before to choose BA with their lower fares in J over SQ, once the non-stop advantage is lost and you are having to compare 1-stop to 1-stop.

SQ is of course the better experience overall by far, but the price difference can certainly help persuade people to settle for the lesser product if the overall journey time/inconvenience is similar.

[Jumbojet Lover]

Interesting fact I came across while reading BA's "History and Heritage" page, from March 2008: "Engineers from British Airways handled maintenance for the first Airbus A380 to fly into a UK airport. The Singapore Airlines’ passenger service touched down at Heathrow."

About 5 years before they actually received their own, BA must have been eager to have some hands-on with the super-jumbo.