BA started business-class-only flights from JFK to London City Airport yesterday. Inflight Internet access, full-recline seats, aimed at a niche market of go-bag executives. As in “It’s called a go bag because I keep it in the trunk of my car (NCIS)”
Club World London City is our Business Class only service, with just 32 seats on board, flying between London City and New York JFK.
Your entire journey has been designed to minimise airport travel time and check-in times whilst maximizing your productivity on board with OnAir capability allowing you to send emails, text from you mobile phone and connect to the Internet throughout your flight.
It is, in short, the most productive way for you to travel Business Class between the heart of London and New York.
Book your ticket now and be one of the first to experience this new service, for travel from 29 September.
Wow, that’s a tiny amount of seats for the price they’re charging for a ticket with a change fee. Check out one likely set of roundtrip flights (they have 2 conveniently-timed departures each way):
1 BA 2I 20OCT T JFKLCY SS1 640P 715A 21OCT W /DCBA /E
2 BA 1I 27OCT T LCYJFK SS1 1230P 615P /DCBA /E
20OCT DEPARTURE DATE-----LAST DAY TO PURCHASE 03OCT/2359
BASE FARE TAXES TOTAL
1- USD4000.00 544.90XT USD4544.90ADT
XT 32.20US 5.50YC 7.00XY 5.00XA
2.50AY 127.00GB 39.20UB 322.00YQ
4.50XF
4000.00 544.90 4544.90TTL
ADT-01 IRCLC2S
NYC BA LON2000.00IRCLC2S BA NYC2000.00IRCLC2S NUC4000.00
END ROE1.00 XFJFK4.5
REFUNDS/CHANGES RESTRICTED/NO VALUE AFTER FLT TIME
VALIDATING CARRIER - BA
BASE FARE TAXES TOTAL
1- USD9746.00 544.90XT USD10290.90ADT
XT 32.20US 5.50YC 7.00XY 5.00XA
2.50AY 127.00GB 39.20UB 322.00YQ
4.50XF
9746.00 544.90 10290.90TTL
ADT-01 CRLCS
NYC BA LON4873.00CRLCS BA NYC4873.00CRLCS NUC9746.00
END ROE1.00 XFJFK4.5
VALIDATING CARRIER - BA
CHANGE BOOKING CLASS - 1C 2C
So for the penalty fare, it’s about $4500.00 roundtrip with a $500.00 change/cancel penalty, and a hefty $10290.90 for the fully refundable fare. I’m thinking they’re planning on making a fair amound in penalty charges, since this product appeals most to the type of traveler whose plans chnage constantly. With the inflight wireless, you can start using your mobile phone and connecting to the Internet once reaching 10,000 feet… or within 10 minutes of takeoff.
I may even book a few of our East Coast guys on this once in a while. The flight numbers are easy to remember – the old Concorde numbers (BA001, BA002, BA003, BA004). Some of them are just “go-bag” enough to need the extra convenience and connectivity.
Very interesting to see if BA makes a go of it (or not) since it’s a lot fewer seats than I expected from the aircraft. The cool thing is the flight makes a “refueling” stop at Shannon airport in Ireland on the way to the US, and all passengers clear US customs there instead of JFK… so they come into the Domestic part of JFK and avoid the scrimmage.
Oh, and First class is even higher. I didn’t go there.
