Another one bites the dust
 

In message , at 13:09:54 on Wed, 21 Sep
2016, d remarked:
I first started to always try to work with carry on only after a trip on the
Manchester shuttle to LHR.

I waited 45 minutes for my bag to appear and when it did it was one a a
total of 3 that the flight had carried!

By implication that means a lot of people on that flight were actually
visiting London.

The exact opposite. Most of the people on the flight will have been
connecting to another, with their bags checked through. That's the main
purpose of the Manchester flights.
--
Roland Perry

Another one bites the dust
 

On Wed, 21 Sep 2016 19:06:59 +0100
"tim..." wrote:
as a premium service - this was during the era when occasionally they would
fly concord on this route

Eh?? Was the concord maintenance base in manchester or something?

--
Spud

Another one bites the dust
 

In message , at 08:30:46 on Thu, 22 Sep
2016, d remarked:

as a premium service - this was during the era when occasionally they would
fly concord on this route

Eh?? Was the concord maintenance base in manchester or something?

Filton, more likely.

I expect a trip to Manchester would be a positioning move for a charter
flight later in the day.
--
Roland Perry

Another one bites the dust
 

On Thu, 22 Sep 2016 09:49:21 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 08:30:46 on Thu, 22 Sep
2016, d remarked:

as a premium service - this was during the era when occasionally they would
fly concord on this route

Eh?? Was the concord maintenance base in manchester or something?

Filton, more likely.

No, I don't think the BA Concordes were maintained at Filton. You
could see them parked at the Heathrow hangars (where one still lives).


I expect a trip to Manchester would be a positioning move for a charter
flight later in the day.

No, it was one of the Shuttle goodies (which British Midland couldn't
offer). If they needed an extra Shuttle flight, Concorde was sometimes
the backup aircraft. For obvious reasons, this wasn't usually
advertised in advance, but I wonder if some people heard on the
grapevine. I once just missed travelling on one.

From BA's point of view, it was probably a useful way for pilots to
get extra take-off/landing practice.

Another one bites the dust
 

In message , at 13:20:29 on
Thu, 22 Sep 2016, Recliner remarked:
as a premium service - this was during the era when occasionally they would
fly concord on this route

Eh?? Was the concord maintenance base in manchester or something?

Filton, more likely.

No, I don't think the BA Concordes were maintained at Filton. You
could see them parked at the Heathrow hangars (where one still lives).

Not for routine maintenance, but there indications that Filton was where
major spares were kept, and perhaps the aircraft flew there rather than
the spares being flown to Heathrow.
--
Roland Perry

Another one bites the dust
 

On Thu, 22 Sep 2016 13:20:29 +0100
Recliner wrote:
No, it was one of the Shuttle goodies (which British Midland couldn't
offer). If they needed an extra Shuttle flight, Concorde was sometimes
the backup aircraft. For obvious reasons, this wasn't usually
advertised in advance, but I wonder if some people heard on the
grapevine. I once just missed travelling on one.

Given concordes fuel economy especially at sub sonic speeds, they must have
made a heavy loss on those short flights.

--
Spud

Another one bites the dust
 

wrote in message ...
On Thu, 22 Sep 2016 13:20:29 +0100
Recliner wrote:
No, it was one of the Shuttle goodies (which British Midland couldn't
offer). If they needed an extra Shuttle flight, Concorde was sometimes
the backup aircraft. For obvious reasons, this wasn't usually
advertised in advance, but I wonder if some people heard on the
grapevine. I once just missed travelling on one.

Given concordes fuel economy especially at sub sonic speeds, they must
have
made a heavy loss on those short flights.

probably

it was a marketing gimmick, nothing more

tim

Another one bites the dust
 

wrote:
On Thu, 22 Sep 2016 13:20:29 +0100
Recliner wrote:
No, it was one of the Shuttle goodies (which British Midland couldn't
offer). If they needed an extra Shuttle flight, Concorde was sometimes
the backup aircraft. For obvious reasons, this wasn't usually
advertised in advance, but I wonder if some people heard on the
grapevine. I once just missed travelling on one.

Given concordes fuel economy especially at sub sonic speeds, they must have
made a heavy loss on those short flights.

No doubt, but it helped persuade people to use the BA Shuttle. Also, fuel
was much cheaper in those days (this was around 1980-85).

Another one bites the dust
 

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:20:29 on
Thu, 22 Sep 2016, Recliner remarked:
as a premium service - this was during the era when occasionally they would
fly concord on this route

Eh?? Was the concord maintenance base in manchester or something?

Filton, more likely.

No, I don't think the BA Concordes were maintained at Filton. You
could see them parked at the Heathrow hangars (where one still lives).

Not for routine maintenance, but there indications that Filton was where
major spares were kept, and perhaps the aircraft flew there rather than
the spares being flown to Heathrow.

It would probably be a lot cheaper to bring the spares to Heathrow by road.

Another one bites the dust
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 13:09:54 on Wed, 21 Sep
2016, d remarked:
I first started to always try to work with carry on only after a trip on
the
Manchester shuttle to LHR.

I waited 45 minutes for my bag to appear and when it did it was one a a
total of 3 that the flight had carried!

By implication that means a lot of people on that flight were actually
visiting London.

The exact opposite. Most of the people on the flight will have been
connecting to another, with their bags checked through. That's the main
purpose of the Manchester flights.

Not really

Back in the day it was definitely a point to point route.

Companies would buy carnets of tickets and you just turned up with one at
the desk 20 minutes before and walked on (well in theory, anyway).

I guess that this MO got killed by the need to add on an extra hour for
security clearance meaning that the time saving over the train to London
disappeared for all but a small number of final destinations.

tim