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Just had an email to say our Gatwick flight to PMI has changed operator:
“We’ve made some operational adjustments to our schedule which means your flight will now be operated by Avion Express on behalf of BA Euroflyer”
We are booked in Euro Traveller so interested to see the seating arrangement/service if anyone has any experience?
Traveling as a family with an 11 month old.
You should be able to see the seating arrangements in MMB – our VIE flights were similarly changed (to Finnair, I think) and I can go into MMB and view/change our seats as previously.
Also Aerolopa is an excellent website for viewing aircraft seating plans.
“We’ve made some operational adjustments to our schedule which means your flight will now be operated by Avion Express on behalf of BA Euroflyer”
Same email here… at this rate BA at Gatwick will soon be wet-leasing from EasyJet!
Also had the same for our flights to Menorca at the end of the month. If I’m honest I’m not very happy about a) the late notice and b) it’s not going to a BA flight/aircraft and crww.
As per the email went to manage the booking online and there is no availability on other flights for the days we are due to fly. Who would of guessed with just over two weeks notice!
It’s all very well offering to change your flight, even possibly the departure airport…but when we’ve paid for non-refundable car parking, booked car hire for a partial time etc etc it isn’t really workable.
Think I’m going to call and see what BA have to say for themselves. Last time this happened to us (not with BA) the aircraft was old and the service onboard poor.
I did a MPL-LGW easyJet flight operated by Avion Express last year. Hideous legroom and bad seats. Awful flight.
Good crew though.
Hope you don’t get that aircraft.
Just had same emails for flights in early June and late sept. but can’t see any difference in MMB as still says operated by Euroflyer and seatmap looks same (including fee to prebook).
Assuming BA catering.
“Avion Express is the largest narrow-body ACMI operator in the world. In 2019 the company is operating 22 Airbus A320 family aircraft.” HQ in Vilnius, Lithuania
I’m not too fussed about the change for a quick AMS and back in Economy.
I mean… how much better/worse could their Lithuanian cabin crew be at handing out a bottle of water and a Nutri-grain bar compared to BA? 😉
Same for me. Malaga to LGW in August travelling in exit row ecomony seat. Was a 320 , is now a 320 – their planes are old and tired so it won’t feel/look the same but switching to another flight on that day won’t help me so will suck it up and deal with it.
Have a Finnair BA flight next week and had Iberia earlier this year so certainly trying everything.
Hey ho , it’s a first world issue and nothing to lose your sh1t over.
Well I was quite happy as once the change of aircraft appeared, so did the exit row seats which weren’t available at the time I booked the BA flights (late use of an expiring, old-style 241). I assume when they change the plane, everyone gets booted out of pre-selected seats. The pax who had originally booked the exit row seats must be rather annoyed 🤦♀️
@Roberto, tell us how you find Finnair!I take your points re it being a relatively short flight… however I still feel annoyed that we’re likely to be on an old plane, apparently with a less leg room and non BA crew etc.
We’re traveling with a three year old an 6 month old. Probably completely misguided but felt more comfortable flying BA.
…yet further damage to the already downtrodden BA reputation in my opinion.
Is it possible to have less leg room than BA on an A320?
I received a set of emails earlier on the week notifying our Gatwick to Tenerife flights in June were being operated by BA Euroflyer not BA (as per their public announcements), but today received the same as others notifying now would be operated by Avion.
My flights are part of a BA Holiday, what options do you think are realistic? As clearly flight needs to tie in to the hotel, airport transfers etc. With 2 young kids I’m most concerned about seat size/comfort etc.
I don’t think there’s any protection against equipment changes as long as you’re still travelling in the cabin you booked and paid for, unfortunately.
How does the Euroflyer compare to the usual planes? Are they like the Cityflyer ones (which are really quite pleasant to fly in, being 2 – 2 rather than 3 -3, IIRCAverage age of their aircraft is 15.6 years. The fleet is made up of Airbus A320-200. Not sure if any have had any cabin updates at all.
BA will move you onto a BA / BA Euroflyer / BA cityflyer flight +/- 3 days. However if that results in any changes to your other elements they’ll be repriced
The aircraft are fundamentally pretty much the same as a BA aircraft , CE will still have the blocked middle etc. Service will be as per BA standard. Ground experience / luggage allowance etc all as it would be on BA. So personally I wouldn’t go blowing up my plans to avoid them. Not sure if they’ve all gone back to Heathrow now but the ex-BMI A320 aircraft BA use on some flights were pretty uncomfortable so flying BA doesn’t guarantee anything much better!
Is it possible to have less leg room than BA on an A320?
From my flight I remember the seat backrest being quite thick.
Me too (LGW-LPA at the end of this month). I got the series of emails like Richo. My biggest grumble is that the seat map has evaporated.
The email says – and I quote – “However, if you do not wish to travel on this service, we have some options available to you, including changing to an alternative British Airways operated service.” The short story from the call centre was that there are no options. I declared my OW Emerald status and asked that they try again. No dice: I have to be on a BA-operated service.
(I suspect there are still some form of capacity caps at LHR due to strikes etc, as BA.com shows nothing to LPA after midday but IB and Google have all sorts of options. So that might be part of it.)
Rob, do you want a review of Avion? Looks like I have little choice in the matter. 🤬😆
Me too (LGW-LPA at the end of this month). I got the series of emails like Richo. My biggest grumble is that the seat map has evaporated.
The email says – and I quote – “However, if you do not wish to travel on this service, we have some options available to you, including changing to an alternative British Airways operated service.” The short story from the call centre was that there are no options. I declared my OW Emerald status and asked that they try again. No dice: I have to be on a BA-operated service.
(I suspect there are still some form of capacity caps at LHR due to strikes etc, as BA.com shows nothing to LPA after midday but IB and Google have all sorts of options. So that might be part of it.)
Rob, do you want a review of Avion? Looks like I have little choice in the matter. 🤬😆
I’d prefer to be routed via MAD on IB /BA
Come to the conclusion this is the equivalent of a bus replacement service. 🙄
“Avion Express is the largest narrow-body ACMI operator in the world. In 2019 the company is operating 22 Airbus A320 family aircraft.” HQ in Vilnius, Lithuania
Avion Express is a sister company of SmartLynx, which is a Latvia based ACMI service provider. Major customers include TUI, EasyJet, and numerous other airlines with significant seasonality in their operations or where fleet requirements exceed available crews and airframes. Both are subsidiaries of Ireland-based Avia Solutions Group, https://aviasg.com/
I’ve similarly had this email, with the guidance/suggestion that I can review, and/or refuse the change via MMB.
However when I log in the same flight (& seats I selected) is shown as operated by BA. I specifically choose exit seats for a reason so wouldn’t be happy with any changes, wondering if a blanket email was sent out to all LGW summer departures….
I’ve similarly had this email, with the guidance/suggestion that I can review, and/or refuse the change via MMB.
However when I log in the same flight (& seats I selected) is shown as operated by BA. I specifically choose exit seats for a reason so wouldn’t be happy with any changes, wondering if a blanket email was sent out to all LGW summer departures….
No, not all from LGW. My just said it was BA Euroflyer, no mention of Avion Express at all.
BA will move you onto a BA / BA Euroflyer / BA cityflyer flight +/- 3 days. However if that results in any changes to your other elements they’ll be repriced
The aircraft are fundamentally pretty much the same as a BA aircraft , CE will still have the blocked middle etc. Service will be as per BA standard. Ground experience / luggage allowance etc all as it would be on BA. So personally I wouldn’t go blowing up my plans to avoid them. Not sure if they’ve all gone back to Heathrow now but the ex-BMI A320 aircraft BA use on some flights were pretty uncomfortable so flying BA doesn’t guarantee anything much better!
Same email for us, so they do have Club Europe then? My BA online hasn’t changed to show the new carrier.
I was on that flight and it was rubbish. I can’t believe British Airways would degrade their brand like this. The seating was awful. I’m not a tall person and my knees were right up against the seat in front of me.
I was on that flight and it was rubbish. I can’t believe British Airways would degrade their brand like this. The seating was awful. I’m not a tall person and my knees were right up against the seat in front of me.
So like BA seats in the back? 🤣
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