tim... wrote:


"Recliner" wrote in message
...
tim... wrote:

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
So, yet another all 'business class' (closer to premium economy) service
between a secondary London airport and New York has folded:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ight-canceled/

This must be at least the fourth or fifth all 'business' class service
to
New York from Luton or Stansted to fail.

It's a business model that just can't work

there isn't enough customers to support 4 or 5 flights a day

and business people, mined to pay business class fares, aren't keen to
fly
on an airline that has one flight a day (or less) because if it gets
cancelled they have a very expensive lost day.

The attraction with these services is that they're much cheaper than
normal
business class flights. But there's really no other benefit. They're not
as
good as proper business class, no frequent flyer programme, only one
route,
with only one flight a day, etc.

But it also shows that the business market from London is primarily from
Heathrow, with a limited amount from Gatwick.

I think it does nothing of the sort

It shows that price isn't compelling enough for the other disadvantages
(which as you say, are many)

Consider the market for this type of service.

Is it people who are paying the fare themselves (which may include small
business owners), are they getting any benefit for the two, three times
(whatever) over booking economy with a major airline? All they seem to be
getting is a bigger seat and perhaps better food. Is this enough?

I think this was intended as the primary market, but as you say, it
probably wasn't enough. Also, some of the less obvious airlines (eg, Air
India) offer very cheap deals on business class seats on the well-served
LON-NYC route.


Business people whose companies have entitled them to buy business class
tickets. Are they getting anything back from (from their company) by
booking a business class fare that is half the price of a normal business
class fare? My guess - no.

I agree.


Are there companies out there who will let their staff travel on these
business class only flights but not business class on a normal airline?
Perhaps, but as per my previous post, not once one of their staff has been
rendered inoperative by a flight cancellation, they will soon go back to
booking major airlines, with alternative flight options once that happens

I think it's worse than that. Larger companies already have relationships
with favoured airlines, and if they offer flights on a particular route,
other airlines wouldn't even be considered. Through the magic of
code-sharing, most major airlines have a LON-NYC offering, so it's hard for
an outsider to get a look-in.