Why are British Airways flights SO expensive?

[andafalonia]

10 years ago I would more than gladly pay the extra, because you'd have gotten food, and drinks, AND hold luggage on an economy ticket.
Now you get none of them, and so is basically a more polite version of Ryanair.

What makes them £100+ more than easyjet/thomascook/tui etc?
Granted that most of their flights go from nice London airports like city/heathrow and not shit ones like Stanstead or Luton.

Granted that most of their flights go from nice London airports like city/heathrow and not shit ones like Stanstead or Luton.

Nope, struggling to think of why their flights are more expensive.

Maybe they pay there staff more. (I don't know, but it's one thing I thought of)

Their!

I do not live in the UK, but they do operate here as well, both for international and domestic flights. They are the most expensive option when booking domestic flights. I rarely hear of anyone using the airline internationally as there are usually other airlines coming in way cheaper.

The thing that i have noticed the most about BA though, is the delays. I have flown quite a bit lately and every time I have flown, i see on the board that BA is delayed. Both domestic and international. Both of these being delayed constantly is a huge issue. Domestic as those people flying are probably going for work meetings or catching a connecting flight. International for the same reason, but delaying long haul flights often is not a good advert for future business.

Nice airports will be some of the reason why.

You've answered your own question there. Airports like Heathrow charge the airlines more to use them so that is one reason why flights cost more.

Other reasons could be that BA use more expensive slots - the airport charges more for daytime slots than those at unpopular times.

I think BA staff are paid better and have better T&Cs than some of the budget ones.

But what do you mean about City or Heathrow being nicer than Luton or Stansted? Would you really rather pay an extra £100 to use a 'nicer' airport. Of the ones you've mentioned I've only ever been to Luton and it seemed fairly standard, certainly similar to Leeds, Liverpool or Manchester.

The only airports I've been to that might be comparable to Heathrow are Schipol, Brussels or Charles de Gaulle and I'm not sure being forced to walk through a giant overpriced shopping centre to get to your gate is something that's worth seeking out.

@BarbaraofSeville

I'm not that fussed about facilities of the airport in the UK as they're all decent. However, you try getting out to Luton or Stansted versus City or Heathrow if you live in central London. The experience of getting to Heathrow is much nicer. Hop on the tube and you're there, versus some crappy bus. If you are coming from the West of the country too, they are even further than London.

Depends if you're flying long haul or not.

We flew short haul to Istanbul with BA. No delays, no checked baggage, bigger seats, more room, less sales pressure from the stewards/stewardesses.

We're flying long haul in July, checked luggage, meal, and snacks all included in the ticket price?

The flight times to Istanbul and back, and also for our flight later this year are far far better than other providers.

It's also worth noting parking charges and stuff. It's more expensive to park at Manchester than heathrow for example. So take into consideration all costs, not just obvious ticket costs.

DD flies BA regularly from Scotland to Heathrow. It's cheaper than Flybe most of the time.

BA is a rubbish budget airline without the budget price. I've flown twice with them in the last 3 years and both times things went wrong, losing cases and 6 hour delays. I wont fly with them again.

As someone who works for an airline (not BA) I can confirm their staff are not well paid at all. It’s a shame our flagship has gone so down hill over the last few years.

IME whether they’re actually more expensive depends on things like the route you’re flying & when you book.

We flew BA to Rome last Oct, booked 6 months ahead; I just checked with Ryanair now for the same dates, but currently 4 months ahead, & with equivalent baggage & seats, Ryanair is more! (Also they fly to the other Rome airport, but I’ve no idea of the relative city centre journey time).

I’ve only ever used Ryanair for one round trip & didn’t like it; normal preference is easyJet, but they don’t do Manchester-Rome, hence BA this time. Flights were via LHR; our first-leg return flight was delayed, we missed our connection & next flight was next day - BA gave us a chauffeur-driven car back to Manchester! I don’t think Ryanair or easyJet would do that

I don't find them to be if booked early enough. I got amazing prices on flights to Canada in August - three flights for just over £1300. Other lines were more expensive. I booked direct too.

I regularly fly London to Scotland and the 2 options from my airport are BA or EasyJet. I have never flown BA because they are always much more expensive. Same airports, same route.

I am flying to the US in October though and I’m flying BA then as they were the cheapest option.

Virgin cheaper and better and flies from same airports. Plus their economy premium is a lot better than BA’s. And you can convert Tesco points to Virgin air miles (upgraded three of us to premium on flight back from US)!

I’ve just been booking flights to Bahrain and BA has the cheapest direct flights.

Maybe the have to pay extra wages to their charming and customer focussed checking and flight staff (not - never met a more rude bunch of snotty cows).

BA I have only found reasonable if booked way ahead

If you travel from eg Stansted LGW or Luton and drive the car parking fees are astronomical so if you work this into the cost as opposed to a tube fare maybe they aren't that much more

I find EasyJet better on quality and service than BA these days