BA -again

BA are certainly not my favourite airline   - NABAFWBAFNFWBACF
is one reason .   And ive managed to avoid givign BA more money for 2 years or so - FlyBe going to London City Airport and I've discovered that the Caledonian  Sleeper is a reasonable  way of travelling north

 But I need to travel again ,and Fly(May)Be don't go to London City in November, so BA it is after a 2 year hiatus .

So i try and choose a flight and I need to  be back on monday morning . Im not going to spedn hours  getting out to Heathrow and hanging around , so saturday , and London City it is.

And why does coming back on  a saturday cost twice as much as travelling south on a tuesday ?. Because they can charge that , and get away with it .

Selecting dates gives you the option of being flexible . Does it matter ? Well I think it does . Im still trying  to work out what buttons do what on flight choices and prices, but this is the situation at the moment ( I think)

heres a screenshot . If you  tick flexible dates , the price of saturday flights is a bit lower than if you say the dates are fixed.

 

Depending on which outward flight you choose, the price of the   return flight can vary. Its either £188, 194 or £195

£194 return flight

£195 return flight

It is not possible to see the  return flight and the outward flight  on the same screen - the list is so long , you have to scroll.  And when you select the outward journey, the prive for the return one changes .

And they do it with some javascript .

So they charge depending on how desperate to travel on a particular day .
'Dynamic pricing' means one price changes depending on what else you choose.
They design their website to obfuscate what they are doing .

And has BA gone up in my estimation ?

Not a BA flight , or NABAFWBAFNFWBACF for short

When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.

So what is 'a BA flight' ?  Here's the screenshot from the BA website of flights from Kirkwall to London, via other Scottish airports. 
 

The flight from Kirkwall to Edinburgh or  Aberdeen is listed, along with the onward connection. It is possible to book flights from Kirkwall to London through this website ,and BA collect the fare.

And although operated by AN Other ( Flybe is the insignia on the plane)  the flight has a BA flight number

KOI to EDI at 07.45 is BA4060

KOI to ABZ at 07.50 is BA4101

etc etc etc. 

So you might think this is a BA flight.

WRONG

Although it appears on the BA website , BA have collected the fare, and it has a BA flight number  by which you can refer to it, it isn't a BA flight .

A 'BA flight' is one operated by British Airways.

It becomes relevant when you start to get details of online  check-in and if  flights like this appear in a BA itinerary and its possible to check in online, yet BA say the facility is only available for BA flights. All may become a bit clearer over the next week or so .

I think its very misleading but so far ive managed to establish after a series of emails with BA Customer Relations that these flights arent BA flights and they cant tell me if online check-in is available.

So  what can we call them ?

I think they should be labelled 

Not a BA flight with a BA flight number for which BA collect the fare .

or, for convenience,

NABAFWBAFNFWBACF

Our first Ba

Over about the last week or so the shops and houses in the streets around the Cathedral  were getting added Christmas decorations
And then there was an article in the local paper about the Ba accompanied by a notice from the Council and a note of thanks from the Ba Commitee

 

The  goal for the Uppies is  Mackesons corner, a  gable end that happens to be situated on the road on the way to work. So would they be closing the roads, I asked. After all , up to 300 men and a Ba would be quite an obstacle to get around. Or alternatively I'm told if my car  happened to be in the way they  are likely to go over it. Silly me , of course they wouldn't close the road. it could be seen as some sort of encouragement or endorsement of the activity. 

A few minutes before 1pm the Uppies arrived  .

So we found a vantage point. Wind we were all expecting and were dressed appropriately . What we weren't expecting  was the intermittent horizontal sleet.

 So the players waited for the  1pm chimes and the Ba to be thrown. 

an then the pack settled against the Town Hall door and stayed where it was or about 15 minutes 

If you are watching from near the scrum you need to be pretty quick and agile - if it breaks and they all start coming towards you , they aren’t going to wait for you to get out of the way - and quickly.  The pack moved down  and across the Road, but after 30 mins ended up almost where they started 

And it seems to be important that you taper your shoes onto your legs - or perhaps your trousers to your shoes . 

Wet, cold and  shivering  and wet, we left after about 90 minutes. They were still on the Green outside the Cathedral. So home for lunch and then followed the progress  on the  Radio Orkney Facebook  page. 

There are some accounts of the Ba on a number of websites ( try google)

 the Stromness Dragon has an account from the Mens Ba in 2012 and there are lots of photos on the Bagame website

We'll be back in on january 1st ,  and dressed for the sleet as well as the wind