British Airways to start London-Austin non-stop on 787!

[Swadian Hardcore]

I have the sad record of having flown in two aircraft that were later blown out of the sky by terrorists. They were
1. Pan Am 747 Clipper Maid of the Seas - the Lockerbie bombing. I flew on it from Hong Kong Kai Tak to Tokyo many moons back Pan Am 2.

2. Air India 747 Emperor Kanishka - the bombing off the coast of Ireland. I flew on it from New York JFK to Delhi Palam via London AI 102.

That's not great. What was the Pan Am flight going to? I think PA2 was the round-the-world that came from JFK and would have continued to SFO. Did they ever have SFO-NRT-HKG with a non-SP 747 or did they do SFO-HKG with a 747SP? I'm thinking about that HNL stop.

I have no clue where they flew or did not back then except for the flights I took. I flew Tokyo to JFK on a 747SP on that trip.

Yes, Pan Am 1 and 2 were the round the world flights.

Just out of interest, which one did you like more, the 741 or 74S? I've flown on them, but not with Pan Am. I was very young when Pan Am sold their SP fleet to United. By the early-1990s the lounges and other good stuff were gone, they just felt like regular 747s.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I wonder what our Devil's Advocate based out of that part of the country has to say about this

Alright Ill give it a shot...

Chris (DA) lives in San Antonio which is much Larger than Austin and has had International Flights to Mexico for years! Those not interested in going to London will still have to do the Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, New York Shuttle for International Flights to other places!

SAT has multiple daily non-stop flights to all the major hubs, so international travel is fairly easy from here. AUS is often cheaper, but rarely enough to make it a better value when its an hour or two of extra driving each way under the best of circumstances. There are no scheduled services between SAT and AUS.

I pass through LHR once or twice a month, and I don't find it bad at all. BA+AA have made changes between the terminals a rather painless process.

Its been years since I was traveling through LHR, but it was certainly a dump back then. Maybe T5 is nice but some of the other terminals were truly awful. Not to mention the extended delays, hyper-active security, scratched and discolored Plexiglas windows, disgusting moldy carpet, rude and indifferent staff, etc. When I tried to take a photo of a plane I found out they have a zero tolerance policy toward anything but shopping at the worst duty free stores Ive ever found.

If you want to see hell-on-earth in terms of a place to change planes, try CDG.

I'd rather transit at LHR than either the hell on Earth that is CDG

I agree, CDG is terrible!

Because?

Me thinks me glad I can't afford international travel.

That seems like a rather odd thing to be glad about.

This flight could also take up some traffic from San Antonio, Kileen, and the surrounding areas. The 787 is reportedly very good at countering jeg lag with it's new cabin pressurization system.

The only way for folks from San Antonio to take this flight is to drive there or connect through IAH/HOS/DFW/DAL, which kind of defeats whatever benefit this would otherwise give them.

LHR bad? Hell on earth? Yeah ok, I can go with that, as long as that festering 3rd world septic festering dump known as Chicago O'Hare has been wiped off the map.

LHR is like the garden of eden compared to that rancid tip.

Ive flown through ORD dozens of times without issue. What sort of problem does ORD suffer from that is not found anywhere at LHR?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

This flight could also take up some traffic from San Antonio, Kileen, and the surrounding areas. The 787 is reportedly very good at countering jeg lag with it's new cabin pressurization system.

The only way for folks from San Antonio to take this flight is to drive there or connect through IAH/HOS/DFW/DAL, which kind of defeats whatever benefit this would otherwise give them.

What I mean is that Austin is quite close to San Antonio, Kileen, etc., so people could drive from there or ride a Greyhound and connect to the BA 787 at AUS. It's a lot harder to get to DFW or IAH because you have to fly a Regional connection or drive/ride a lot farther.