Iberia to abandon Santiago-London route

[Peter Robins]

Main item in Galician press today, and there's an English item at http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1133809613.html
No great surprise, though Voz de Galicia reckons passenger numbers have increased recently despite competition from Ryanair.

 

[ivar]

This is not really a surprise... it was interesting to see that the article in La Voz (at least the paper edition) had numbers showing Iberia with a 4% growth on the Santiago - London route so far this year.

What was interesting was that La Voz had gotten this number from RyanAir (they were quoted as the source for the number of travelers on Iberia).

And to add to this, Iberia has announced that they will add 9 additional seats in tourist class without increasing the space. This will of course, make an Iberia flight more uncomfortable....

To me, cutting flights + less space per seat makes me look elsewhere when I travel to/from Santiago.

Ivar

 

[Peter Robins]

well, don't imagine you get lots of legroom on Ryanair either
The best of the budget airlines for space that I have travelled on is flybe.com, but they don't fly anywhere near Santiago

 

[ivar]

... I think you are right about that the space is not much bigger on RyanAir, but at least you pay less... with Iberia it looks like you will be paying more and getting the same service as the low cost airlines. I may be wrong, they may have started to change their business model...

My wife flew Air Berlin, Santiago - Hamburg (via Palma de Mallorca) two weeks ago and she was pleasantly surprised. They even got served free drinks and a sandwich on board.

Let's hope Flybe is one of the airlines that are in talk with Santiago about new services. It has been said that more airlines are in talks regarding new services to Santiago, but no names are mentioned. Of course, this may just be politicians talking... but we can always hope

 

[Fran]

As an aviation consultant I just want to say one thing about out national disgrace, Iberia. Never believe what Iberia says. Should they cancel a flight, they donŽt give any previous warning. We have to read between lines.

Iberia management has a deep and public conflict with the pilot trade union. The management wants to create a low cost to compete and the pilots simply says "no thanks". So managent always talk in the media for the pilots. "should you....we will cancel destinations, and less work for you". Yesterday as usual, they pointed that they wonŽt cancel the flight (as appeared on the news yesterday)

Other hypothesis are getting local funds as for Ryanair and thatŽs simply a kind of a public performance to get a bit of attention from the Regional Goverment. Like the North Koreans.... when the whine

And in third place, Iberia doesnŽt have any other flight over here except Madrid and Barcelona, and the other destinations with IberiaŽs codes are Iberia Regional operated by franchise Air Nostrum and they decide what to operate and what not to. Hard to understand for anyone not local. But donŽt worry no cancelations for the moment.

 

[Peter Robins]

interesting to read your views, Fran. It was noticeable that there was no official announcement from Iberia, just the boss writing in an internal company magazine. And there was immediately backtracking, saying they would not withdraw from any profitable route - leaving unsaid what 'profitable' means, as in the airline business it depends a lot on how you charge overheads.

Iberia might be disappointed if they think salvation lies in creating a low-cost subsidiary. Both BA and KLM tried that - and abandoned the experiment after a year or two, BA selling out to easyJet and KLM to Ryanair.

I see quite a few rumours that BA is interested in closer ties with Iberia, mainly because of its extensive transatlantic network.

 

[Fran]

Hi Peter;
ItŽs senseless Iberia creating a low cost. Airline structures should be single and unified. If pilots werenŽt as trouble makers as they usually are, they could allow the monopolistic and expensive structure (not really cost effective) to become much more flexible and suitable to modern aviation. It seems that they still believe that they are in the time were they rule and when AENA designed everything according to their plans. Hard to compete with Ryanair, but unless they can do it, Vueling, Ryanair or the other will eat the airline soon.

The most convenient thing to do, is allow Air Nostrum to purchase bigger aircraft and making two split brands. Air Nostrum as regional and a kind of Air Nostrum Light which could be a kind of FLYBE with bigger planes, more reasonable costs and of course lower fares. Remarking that Air Nostrum plans new services to London City Airport from Madrid, with leased Bae146. Great news.

 

[ivar]

Saw that Iberia is still backtracking, read in La Voz over the weekend that they will not cancel the Vigo - Madrid route after all.

I think you are right Fran, this move was to create some attention..

 

[Peter Robins]

low-cost Iberia

more on Iberia's plan to create a low-cost airline in today's Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/ ... 339351.ece

 

[Peter Robins]

more stats in today's Voz de Galicia
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/ed_santiag ... TO=4815208
Iberia's passenger nos Corunna-Heathrow up 20% Feb-April over last year Santiago-Heathrow. Prices also down substantially, with the writer of the article finding fares as low as €10 for September - Ryanair levels.

And with Ryanair's passenger nos in April increasing by 65% over last year, it's clear that Ryanair has not taken passengers from Iberia, but simply that low prices bring increased demand.

 

[Magnara]

Hi everyone
This is very interesting. We will be flying from Australia into Heathrow, and so far Ryanair from Stansted seemed the only reasonable way to get near St JPdeP and from Santiago back to the UK. But ater 24+ hours in the air from Australia if we can change planes and go on from Heathrow instead of going to Stansted that would be great. After that many hours in the air, price is not the most important thing but I haven't found anything connecting through Heathrow that isn't absurdly expensive. Maybe I don't know where to look. From these posts I'm a bit confused about Iberia and have never had any experience of any of the cheap
European/UK carriers. Can anyone who knows the airlines at that end give me some advice?
Many thanks
Magnara

 

[Deborah]

Easy Jet

Not sure where it flies, but have you tried EasyJet.com?

 

[Magnara]

Hi Deborah
Thank you for your response, I'll have a look at Easyjet. Any other advice from anyone would be very welcome. It's quite hard to get "real life user" info here in Australia for minor UK/Europe airlines, as compared to "website home page" info, but Santiago-today usually seems to be able to answer anyone's query about anything Santiago-related!
Regards
Magnara

 

[ivar]

Hi there,

Have a look at this link:
http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/low ... rlines.htm

... it mentions some more low cost airlines. You would have to check if they fly where you want to...

... at least something...

Greetings from sunny Santiago,
Ivar

 

[Peter Robins]

We will be flying from Australia into Heathrow, and so far Ryanair from Stansted seemed the only reasonable way to get near St JPdeP and from Santiago back to the UK. But ater 24+ hours in the air from Australia if we can change planes and go on from Heathrow instead of going to Stansted that would be great. After that many hours in the air, price is not the most important thing but I haven't found anything connecting through Heathrow that isn't absurdly expensive. Maybe I don't know where to look.

Most long-haul flights into London use Heathrow, but none of the budget airlines do, as it's too expensive. There are short-haul flights out of LHR but they are primarily for transfers and run on the charge-as-much-as-we-can-get-away-with principle. In addition, the budget airlines have introduced 2 new concepts:
- fly to smaller airports (cos they're cheaper; some of them even pay the airlines to use them), unlike the traditional carriers who mainly fly to the large cities, so from LHR for France you're limited to Paris, or possibly Bordeaux or Toulouse for the SW. There are a number of consolidator websites around to try and search for a cheaper fare; try for example http://www.cheapflights.co.uk The further ahead you can book the better, and winter months better than summer, as you may get some special offers at quiet times of the year.
- based on one-way fares, so from the UK it is easy to fly for example to France and back from Spain, which is ideal for long-distance walks. People from the UK who want to do this won't go to Heathrow. If you are flying into Heathrow, I would definitely recommend looking into coming back from Corunna with Iberia, but if you want to get to St Jean, you will have to change airports and/or use train/bus. I think the best is to catch the bus LHR-STN and Ryanair to Biarritz or Pau.

However, in your position, I would not bother with St Jean. I would find a cheap flight from Australia to Madrid and walk from there, catching the bus back from Galicia to Madrid. Much simpler.

From these posts I'm a bit confused about Iberia

I think Iberia themselves are a bit confused The rise of the budget airlines in Europe has played havoc with the margins of the established airlines on European routes, and they are thrashing about for a solution. I would guess that Iberia's Corunna-LHR route is intended more for Galicians looking to transfer to LHR's extensive long-haul flight network.

 

[Magnara]

Thank you so much!
Magnara

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I was due to fly Iberia Chicago to Madrid on April 19th, but ifcourse knew I would have to cancel it upon a return hime from vacation. I was informed yesterday that they have canceled my RT flight. I'd hoped it would make getting a refund easier, but NOT so far. I've made phone calls that hang up after a few options you can take. A recorded voice tells you to go online to "make a change". I don't need a change! Also tried Expedia and same thing...they both ask you to wait 3 days out. I have AIG flight insurance. A human voice told me to fill out an online form and each case is reviewed and decided upon. The person did verify that my policy does not have a clause denying coverage for disasters such as the virus so she "appeared" to be "hopeful" for me.
Anyone out there having better luck than me to get a refund, not a voucher?

 

[jungleboy]

15-year-old thread!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

15-year-old thread!

Ha, thanks for noticing, Jungleboy! Hope I can copy it to the newer one, that was a lot of typing on my phone.