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A few bits and pieces of UK flyer news that I’ve noticed over the past couple of days that seem worth a mention – with Norwegian planning a new route from Gatwick and changing the timing of another, British Airways expanding meal selections and easyJet releasing seats today.
Norwegian Considering London Gatwick – Oakland (California) Service
Norwegian Air has been on a heater in the past few years and its services have been expanding rapidly. Not only do they have a good European route network which they operate using up-to-date Boeing 737 aircraft with fee wi-fi and live TV but they’ve got an ever-growing international network which they operate using brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Recently Norwegian was granted a full UK operating licence and they’re making the most of it by ramping up their services from London’s Gatwick airport.
The latest proposed route that Norwegian have filed is for a 3 x weekly service between Gatwick and Oakland California (just east of San Francisco).
The route would commence service on 12 May 2016 and would be flown by one of Norwegian’s 787 Dreamliners on the following schedule:
DY7073 LGW 13:00 – 16:00 OAK (Mon, Thur, Sun)
DY7074 OAK 18:40 – 12:45+1 day LGW (Mon, Thur, Sun)
Should this route come to fruition it would be a nice option for UK passengers looking for a lower cost option to the US West Coast. Thanks to the high aviation taxes in the UK it’s hard for Norwegian to offer the amazingly low fares to the US that it often does from other European countries, but, that being said, I still see Norwegian offering good low fares from Gatwick on a regular basis.
Norwegian Brings Forward Boston Service
Back in July I reported on Norwegian announcing a new service between London Gatwick & Boston due to commence in May 2016.
Well, it would seem like the airline is in a hurry to get the new route going because, according to the latest schedule update (HT: airlineroute.net) the first flight is due to take off on 27 March 2016.
The 5 x weekly schedule looks like this:
DY7147 LGW 16:50 – 19:05 BOS (Mon, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sun)
DY7148 BOS 21:20 – 08:40+1 day LGW (Mon, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sun)
The flights and fares have already been loaded in Norwegian.com:
A long weekend in April with no extras selected and hand baggage only (about as basic a ticket you can get) comes to £300.
Seat selection costs £25 in either direction as do meals and the first checked bag (second checked bag costs £30) so you can easily run up the cost of the ticket if you’re not careful.
Ticket prices rise steeply in the warmer months so it’s well worth comparing the prices to full-service airlines if you’re thinking of flying in the summer.
British Airways Sends 787-9 To Shanghai
Yesterday, British Airways announced that it would be flying its latest Dreamliners (787-9 variant), together with their brand new First Class cabin, to Shanghai from summer 2016. The aircraft will be replacing the 777-300 aircraft that currently operates flights BA168/169.
In addition to this, the route will see an increase in frequencies from 7 to 10 flights per week.
The schedules are as follows:
20 February – 26 March 2016:
BA169 LHR – PVG 14:05 09:25 Daily (777-300)
BA168 PVG – LHR 10:55 15:55 Daily (777-300)
BA161 LHR – PVG 21:00 16:20 Mon, Thurs, Sat (777-200)
BA160 PVG – LHR 00:40 05:40 Mon, Weds, Sat (777-200)
Then the schedule get in a bit of a mess!
27 March – 29 October 2016:
BA169 LHR – PVG 13:10 07:10 Thur
BA169 LHR – PVG 11:55 06:00 Tues
BA169 LHR – PVG 13:50 07:55 Mon, Wed,Fri, Sat, Sun
BA168 PVG – LHR 09:05 14:40 Fri
BA168 PVG – LHR 11:00 16:35 Mon, Tue, Thur, Sat, Sun
BA168 PVG – LHR 07:30 13:00 Wed
BA161 LHR – PVG 22:35 17:00 Mon, Thur, Sat
BA160 PVG – LHR 00:40 06:15 Mon, Wed, Sat
The new flights are already loaded in to BA.com and the first 787-9 flight is scheduled for 1 August 2016:
British Airways Extends Pre-Order Meals For Premium Cabins
British Airways is extending the option for customers in First, Club World (business class) and World Traveller Plus (premium economy) to pre-order their main meal to an additional five routes.
Image courtesy of British Airways
The complimentary pre-order service is now available from Heathrow to:
- Amman
- Baku
- Beirut
- Cairo
- Tel Aviv
These are in addition to all long-haul flights which have had this service for a while.
Reminder: easyJet Releasing Seats Today
Last but not least, just a quick reminded that, as of today, easyJet is releasing seats for travel through to 29 October 2016 so, if you have any travels ideas for Autumn half-term, this may be your best chance of a cheap deal.
Oakland is east of SF, not North 🙂
Whoops! That’s an embarrassing mistake 🙂 Now corrected, Thanks!