To book or not to book...that is the question...?

[WELSH WIZARDS]

Last Dec. 28th I spent in New York Airport trying desperately to book a flight home at 11. o clock in the night after being totally abandoned by Maxjet. Undeterred I then booked with Silverjet , [ who I had previously flown with and greatly admired ] , for a now not to happen flight home from the USA next Dec. I am now concidering using Openskies or L'Avion ....as it is just as easy for us to fly home from Paris to Cardiff Wales airport , as it is to get home from London...and here comes the question.....am I mad ? :)

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Open skies has a better chance of staying afloat because of their BA partnership but in general all business class/first class airlines over the pond have failed.

[Globaliser]

I am now concidering using Openskies or L'Avion ....as it is just as easy for us to fly home from Paris to Cardiff Wales airport , as it is to get home from London...and here comes the question.....am I mad ? :)

I think you already know that l'Avion is becoming part of OpenSkies? But I wasn't entirely sure from the wording of your post.

Open skies has a better chance of staying afloat because of their BA partnership but in general all business class/first class airlines over the pond have failed.

OpenSkies is not an all-business class airline. It has premium economy and standard economy products on board as well.

 

I don't yet know whether OpenSkies will change l'Avion's product to match the OpenSkies mix - I may be a bit behind the news on this one. But not only are you right that OpenSkies has a better chance of staying afloat, it's also unlikely that passengers would be abandoned in the same way were it to close down, as BA could not dissociate itself from the operation and a sudden shutdown with no customer support would be very damaging for the main BA brand.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

My limited understanding lead me to think that l'Avion was now owned by Openskies, is this not the case ?

If they are not owned by Openskies, would I not be in a more stable position by booking with Openskies than L' Avion. ? I cannot see BA letting their company go under so early in the game.

My dilemea is that I would get a much better seat with L'Avion for not much more outlay.

[Globaliser]

My limited understanding lead me to think that l'Avion was now owned by Openskies, is this not the case?

OpenSkies is buying l'Avion, but I'm not sure whether the transaction has yet completed.

[Globaliser]

OpenSkies is buying l'Avion, but I'm not sure whether the transaction has yet completed.

In fact, the purchase completed on 25 July 2008. The news release says "L'Avion will operate as a subsidiary of British Airways and will become fully integrated with OpenSkies by early 2009." The last report I saw says that the l'Avion fleet may well be configured to OpenSkies' three-class configuration, though this has yet to be decided.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

Thank you Globaliser... as always.

Does that mean if I go ahead and book with L' Avion now, I will be covered by having a flight with Openskies, or BA , if they go pear shaped, provided they will still be in business also. ?

Another question is...on L'Avion's booking site it says you can book a flight from Newark or JFK to Paris due to an arrangement with Openskies, but I have tried and tried and although the time table is displayed there is no access to it. Any ideas. ;)

[Globaliser]

Does that mean if I go ahead and book with L' Avion now, I will be covered by having a flight with Openskies, or BA , if they go pear shaped, provided they will still be in business also?

I don't think there's any chance of l'Avion going pear-shaped on its own now, as it sounds like it will be assimilated into OpenSkies rather than standing on its own as a separate brand.

 

If OpenSkies goes pear-shaped, then in theory you might be in the same position as if any other airline went bust. However, as a matter of commercial reality, I don't think that BA would just abandon OpenSkies passengers, because it would be too damaging to the main BA brand. If OpenSkies were to shut down, I would expect to see an offer which included rebooking on mainline BA via London, or full refund.

Another question is...on L'Avion's booking site it says you can book a flight from Newark or JFK to Paris due to an arrangement with Openskies, but I have tried and tried and although the time table is displayed there is no access to it.

I have never been able to get to a booking page on the l'Avion website. I thought it was my computer setup, and I've never been interested enough to fiddle with it to see what was wrong. It sounds like I'm not alone.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

I do not have any problems at all with navigating or booking on their site, indeed it even gives the option to fly next Dec. and fly back in April 2009, great for both my Summit and Solstice TAs I have planned. It just says you can book from ALL New York airports due to an arrangement with Openskies, and then provides no way to do so. At least not one I can find. :rolleyes:

I

[WELSH WIZARDS]

Thank you all with the help with my question. I have finally taken the plunge .

We have booked today to fly with Openskies, the new BA airline. We fly from JFK to Amsterdam , and then to Cardiff in Dec. home from our Summit TA , and from Cardiff to Amsterdam , then to JFK , and on to Fort Lauderdale.

Openskies only opened these flights USA to Amsterdam beginning from today, [ they also fly to Paris] and have a special opening price off $3184 for two, for the return. These are for a flight with only 82 passengers, and Premium reclining seats.

 

prem+ (OpenSkies Premium )

+ Space, comfort and legroom–standard with every seat .

+ Seats recline to 140° with a 52" seat pitch and exceptional legroom .

+ Only 82 seats .

+ A universal power plug-in for your computer or personal electronics .

+ Personal entertainment system with over 50 hours of audio and video .

 

It is just as easy for us to fly from Amsterdam to Cardiff Wales airport as it is to get from London. We think this is a good deal for this type of seat.

I hope I do not prove to be a jinx to Openskies...as my last two [ planned :rolleyes: ] flights across the Atlantic were with Maxjet and Silverskies.

No one can say I am not an optimist. :D

[SelectSys]

...Openskies only opened these flights USA to Amsterdam beginning from today, [ they also fly to Paris] and have a special opening price off $3184 for two, for the return

 

Congratulations, this is an awesome deal! Two TA cruises! Introductry airfare in traditional business class! My daughter would say that "you're livin the dream!"

 

It is just as easy for us to fly from Amsterdam to Cardiff Wales airport as it is to get from London.

 

Is this on KLM? Just curious as to the service options.

 

 

I hope I do not prove to be a jinx to Openskies...as my last two [ planned :rolleyes: ] flights across the Atlantic were with Maxjet and Silverskies. No one can say I am not an optimist. :D

 

With BA's backing I would assume this is a very safe bet. Have a great trip and remain optimistic!

[WELSH WIZARDS]

Is this on KLM? Just curious as to the service options./quote]

Both KLM and BMI baby run services between Amsterdam and Cardiff. KLM has 3 flights a day on their service, [ called "Hopper " ] but when we just priced it it was $500 + each [ ? !! ] and BMI runs one flight most days, but two some days, which was £16.66 . and which ended up about £126 total for us both, with booked seat and extra leg room. Will you need three guesses to pick which one we opted for ? :)

[Globaliser]

Introductry airfare in traditional business class!

I think that WELSH WIZARDS knows what the deal is, but I should point out for other readers that Prem+ is actually premium economy not business class, even if it is somewhat better than most mainline premium economy products out there. OpenSkies has a real business class product on board the aircraft as well, rather irritatingly called "biz".

[Globaliser]

OpenSkies is not an all-business class airline. It has premium economy and standard economy products on board as well.

Funnily enough, OpenSkies has now taken a step along the road to becoming an all-premium airlines: It's announced that it's removing the economy cabin entirely from the aircraft, and fitting more premium economy seats instead. It appears that this will be with effect from 1 October on the Paris route, and from launch on the Amsterdam route.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

Funnily enough, OpenSkies has now taken a step along the road to becoming an all-premium airlines: It's announced that it's removing the economy cabin entirely from the aircraft, and fitting more premium economy seats instead. It appears that this will be with effect from 1 October on the Paris route, and from launch on the Amsterdam route.

I was just about to inform you of this , and then your additional post popped up. They stopped selling all Economy from the 1st. August. I guess they were not selling Economy , [ or lots off Prem+ ] and I can understand why , because what was the point ? When I inquired they said the seats were only 18 inches wide. Virgins Premium Economy to Heathrow is 21 inches wide, important if you have a large derriere like me, :D and just about the same price. But I am not quite of the same opinion about the Premium + as they call it , as this is a 140 reclining seat, and I cannot find anyone else's Premium Economy doing anything close to similar. I do not think the term Premium Economy is going to be much in evidence. It will probably be Premium and Biz.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

I am sorry, I appear to have posted some misinformation. :eek: .

In my last post I wrote that Openskies has stopped taking bookings for Economy. They appear to be taking booking for Sept., but stop some time in Oct. Please accept my abject apology. :D

[Globaliser]

No problem! However, if anyone is thinking of flying between New York and Paris right at the end of September, then OpenSkies may offer a real bargain. The fleet will take some time to reconfigure, but this must be done by 1 October. So it is possible that if you book OpenSkies economy for travel very late in September, you may be on an aircraft that only has biz and prem+, so you'd get a prem+ seat for your economy fare.

 

This happens quite often on other airlines when there is a forthcoming major configuration change. I had trips in BA's World Traveller Plus for free when the cabin was being installed, but I was flying on routes on which the cabin was not yet being sold. And I understand that some Qantas economy passengers may have had the QF premium economy seat when holding economy tickets, too.