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 ?

Caledonian Sleeper

You can board the train from 830 pm. I found my berth  - not too bad on first sight, as these things go. Much on par with the berth on the Kirkwall-Aberdeen overnight ferry crossing. 

I've had another trip between London and  Orkney. Ive had a bit of a falling-out with BA about their south-north flights .  NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flights  are detailed here.

So for the return trip  I thought I'd try the overnight train.  The plan was the train from Euston to Inverness and then the 0945 flight from Inverness  to Kirkwall.

First impression -  corridor was *very* narrow - good I suppose because there's more room for the sleepers.
The berth is a bit  narrower than on the ferry  - a couple of feet perhaps








And there is a lounge . With plug-in powerpoints so lots of people used it as an opportunity to charge phones etc. The 'host' ( ticket inspector on other trains ive been on ) came and asked for unchecked tickets. Only mine , in a lounge of a dozen people. I should have got my tickets checked before I got on the train - nobody told me , and it wasn't obvious in Euston. All my fellow passengers would seem to be regulars  then , who knew the ropes.

They do food as well. Pubgrub type  menu . Reasonably priced - certainly much more reasonable than East Coast Trains. I didn't try the menu but I might next time. And there is a bar. 1/2 bottles of wine seemed very popular.

I went to bed just after 10pm - reckoned that I might not get much sleep , so best start early.
I slept through to  after  midnight, when there was a lot of clanking and banging . I think this must be when the train splits - according to the timetable that was at Preston.
There seemed to be another stop at about 330am. Not sure whether it was the lack of motion that woke me or noises.  I woke again at 530  didn't get back to sleep  and  then got up at 6am  ( not an unheard of waking time in the summer months).

Breakfast was provided.  It would have been brought to my cabin  if I was still there at 730. Breakfast whilst watching the scenery was quite pleasant .

 The rest of the journey was through the Scottish highlands  with the potential for some nice  scenery if you are 1 - interested and 2 - paying attention

So we arrived in Inverness at 835am.  A taxi to the Airport go me there at 905am , after a fairly slow journey behind a car towing a tin tent. As I had checked in online and had no hold luggage I went straight through security to the departure lounge. Back in Kirkwall at 1015 and in at work  at 1030 am .

Would I travel again this way ?

Certainly.
For flying back in the evening the last flight into Kirkwall lands at 1930 leaving Aberdeen 1840. So with a time between flights and a 90 minute flight from London, You have to check in at ~ 1500. So leave Central London 1400-1430. This way you can attended things in the afternoon and evening and then travel. And  flying back in the morning  the first flight is from Gatwick at 7am. So get to Gatwick at 6am.......... And with connections its easily lunchtime before you are  in Kirkwall.

The downsides

• Sleep - but next time Id probably have a glass of something to help me sleep (as the regulars seemed to be doing).
• With a delayed train I'd miss the flight connection at Inverness, and there are only 2 a day to Kirkwall.  I chose Inverness as it was likely to be a good deal quieter than the alternatives, and therefore  easier for security etc.  
• The train hasn't got WiFi. I could have check up on the morning papers whilst having breakfast and speeding past Pitlochry and Blair Atholl

So perhaps its the Caledonian Sleeper to Aberdeen or Edinburgh next time. Someone has tried the Caledonian Sitter 

There are more alternatives as well - Easyjet Gatwick to Inverness, B&B in Inverness...............

NABAFWBAFNFWBACF - the return check-in

There is a bit of a problem with  some BA flights NotABAflightwithaBAflightnumberforwhichBAcollectfare (NABAFWBAFNFWBACF for short ) as described here and here and here.

Briefly

• A flight with a BA flight number that is booked, and the fare paid to BA  through the BA website is not a BA flight.
• Online check-in is not available through BA website  for non-BA flights.
• BA don't tell you how to book online for a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF

So I have a journey  in 2 steps

• BA3296 from London (City) to   Aberdeen
• BA4040 , a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF from Aberdeen to Kirkwall.

I couldn't check in through the BA website for the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF travelling down to London. This is the screenshot.
And coming back ?

You can !.

Just to check , I logged in to the Flybe website, with my BA booking reference

and the flight is listed. And I have the option to check in online for this NABAFWBAFNFWBACF.

Check in for the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight through the BA website ( which BA Customer Relations have told me I can't do, or check in through the BA flight reference put into the FlyBe website ?

 ,

So I checked in for the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF, through the BA website. It seemed to be OK. They gave me the option of printing off a Boarding pass as well.

And  having completed that I went back to the BA fight reference login the FlyBE webite on the FlyBe website , and I'm checked in.

 

So the online check-in is different if the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF is the first or second flight .

Confusing ?

Whats the chance that I get any sense out of BA Customer Relations  when I point this out to them ?

NABAFWBAFNFWBACF - the return

So where might one find the NotABAflightwithaBAflightnumberforwhichBAcollectfare (NABAFWBAFNFWBACF for short ) on the return journey.

So the one we are looking for is the online check-in facility for the ABZ -KOI stage of the journey ?

I'll start on the BA website, with the flight reference login.

Flight details say LON-Aberdeen. Its listed but im looking for the ability to check in online.

So I'll look in the Flybe website.
For residents of the Scottish Islands there is the Air Discount Scheme. I can login in to (the same) ADS through the Flybe website or the BA website

 I've got a Flybe account. The previous  NABAFWBAFNFWBACF appeared on the Flybe website.
So I login to the Flybe website and look for a flight

  It says no flights.

So I log out of that and log into the the Flybe website , with my BA flight reference. Remember, this is a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF booking.
 And Flybe can list both the BA flight and the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF.

So I think I've found it.

See , in 36 hours , where the online check-in can actually happen ?

Checking in for NABAFWBAFNFWBACF

So the time has come - what happens when you try and check in  online for NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight.

Log in to the BA website

 On-line check in is open - for the flight that is listed

Departs Kirkwall Fri 20 Jun 17.25 

Arrives Aberdeen. 

But remember this is NABAFWBAFNFWBACF. Its not a BA flight. 

But I can't check in  to the flight that is listed ( the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight). They tell me I have to go to the airport. 
But i can check in for the BA flight 

So I now have a boarding card for a BA flight. But BA  tell me that for the check- in and Boarding card  for a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight I have to go to the Kirkwall airport.

But  the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF flight is provided by Flybe.  So what happens if I put by BA  booking reference number ( 7xxxxxC ) into the Flybe website ?

It logs me in !

And I haven't got a BA booking reference, I've now got a completely different Flybe booking reference.

And the Flybe website tells  me that I have to  check in for my Aberdeen -London flight at the airport.

And heres the proof - a Boarding card for a NABAFWBAFNFWBACF, produced from the Flybe website with the BA flight number listed 

BA expecting me to turn up at Kirkwall airport  to check in is not unreasonable ( even though i don't have to ).

Flybe expect me once Ive arrived in Aberdeen 

• to go to the baggage carousel  to retrieve any hold luggage
• leave the departures area and go to Aberdeen Arrivals hall 
• Go to a BA check-in Desk 
• Go back through security
• Go and wait in the Departures area that I have just left. 

Joined up thinking and planning to make travelling easy ? 


We shall have to see what happens on the way back when the NABAFWBAFNFWBACF is the second stage of the journey.