BA FROM TOULOUSE TO HEATHROW

[hakunamatata]

I havent flown with BA before but want a flight direct to Heathrow and think this is the only route for me. The question is am I better booking a flight now (for September) or will the cost go down if I wait a bit? I can get a return at the moment for under £200. Your advice will be most welcome.

[Pierre ZFP]

Generally speaking, for 'full service carriers' like BA, the price will only go up the nearer you get to departure plus of course the flight might get booked up.

If it's your only route I would go for it if it were me, if only for the peace of mind.

[dave21478]

I booked that route about a month in advance, maybe slightly less, and paid less. I dont know how much exactly as i booked right through toulouse- heathrow - aberdeen. I paid €150 for a one-way ticket.

[Cendrillon]

BA website will show you the cheapest days for travel and yes, I agree with the others the longer you wait the fares will only increase.

[Pierre ZFP]

Just out of interest I went to the BA website and plugged in 2 random dates in September

Prices are -

To Heathrow   97 euros  return    87 euros

same trip through to Aberdeen is out 144 euros return 134 euros

Why it is 10 euros more flying to Heathrow I have no idea - perhaps it's further to go [:'(]

 

[hakunamatata]

I have been looking today and you have to be quite careful on some sites as the outward route sometimes goes to Gatwick and the return from Heathrow and vice versa, so you have to read them carefully and make sure you are getting Toulouse LHR and LHR Toulouse. I will take your advice and book as soon as I can

[Cendrillon]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

Just out of interest I went to the BA website and plugged in 2 random dates in September

Prices are -

To Heathrow   97 euros  return    87 euros

same trip through to Aberdeen is out 144 euros return 134 euros

Why it is 10 euros more flying to Heathrow I have no idea - perhaps it's further to go [:'(]

 

[/quote]

Maybe it is to do with a difference in airport tax or landing fees.

[Tricia]

Margaret - are you sure BA fly Toulouse to Gatwick?

I thought they stopped using Gatwick last year.

I need to go to Gatwick, and used to fly with BA, but since they stopped now have to go with Easyjet, which is ok too.

[Cendrillon]

Tricia

Margaret wants to fly to Heathrow not Gatwick

[Scooter]

I fly with BA to Heathrow quite often.

They used to fly Toulouse to Gatwick but this route no longer runs it is only to Heathrow.

The sooner the better, prices only go up.

The good thing with BA is the price you see is the price you pay - no adding on taxes, luggage, etc and you get a glass of wine or G&T thrown in.

Great service, really relaxing and well worth any slight extra (although often they can be cheaper).

[hakunamatata]

I think it was a company called edreams who advertised the flight return for 92euros which I thought was a brilliant price for BA and then on looking carefully it was outward to Gatwick and back via Heathrow. Heathrow both ways came to £142 which is still good I think for BA

[Tricia]

[quote user="Cendrillon"]Tricia
Margaret wants to fly to Heathrow not Gatwick
[/quote]

Yes I know. It was just that she mentioned a flight that was one way Gatwick and the other Heathrow, which she now finds is not with BA.

Sorry , I didn't express clearly!

[hakunamatata]

Look at me when I'm talking to you!!!! The flight which includes Gatwick one way and Heathrow the other IS WITH BA!!!!!!!. It doesnt matter because I want Heathrow both ways but it does prove that BA do fly into Gatwick unless the site I was looking at for tickets has got it wrong.

[PaulT]

[quote user="hakunamatata"]Look at me when I'm talking to you!!!! The flight which includes Gatwick one way and Heathrow the other IS WITH BA!!!!!!!. It doesnt matter because I want Heathrow both ways but it does prove that BA do fly into Gatwick unless the site I was looking at for tickets has got it wrong.[/quote]

WE CAN ALL SHOUT

If you go to the BA site and try for Toulouse to Gatwick a box will come up saying:

'we do not operate a direct Toulouse to Gatwick service'

and it will provide a fare for Toulouse to Heahtrow

Perhaps you need to listen - perhaps the site that you used was useless and you would have been better using BAs site.

[hakunamatata]

I was joking and I realize that my sense of humour is probably not shared by everyone. OK so I must have got it wrong, nobody is perfect! You P2 are a little sensitive.

Sometimes I wish I just hadnt bothered asking a question at all.

[Kevinmc]

One way with Easyjet to Gatwick, withj baggage, most days in September - €50. 

Then book a limousine for €150 to take you to Heathrow.

BA fares will probably dip between now and June, before gently rising again.

As long as your date is after the schools go back, you'll get a decent fare

[Stefan]

Pierre

You asked "Why it is 10 euros more flying to Heathrow"

Firstly on a particular day there may be more demand Northbound than Southbound and in addition the UK Airport Passenger Duty loads up the Southbound fare .

BTW have we really really settled the issue over BAs TLS flights only going into/out of LHR or am I going to have to join P2 in shouting!!!

[hakunamatata]

Thanks Kevinmc. I have been quoted £146 return which I think is a reasonable fare and I will probably go with that if it hasnt changed by tomorrow!

[PaulT]

[quote user="hakunamatata"]I was joking and I realize that my sense of humour is probably not shared by everyone. OK so I must have got it wrong, nobody is perfect! You P2 are a little sensitive. Sometimes I wish I just hadnt bothered asking a question at all.[/quote]

I am not being 'a little sensitive' just trying to give accurate information and that is that BA only fly Toulouse - Heathrow - Toulouse. If anyone wants proof of this go to www.ba.com and try for a flight Toulouse - Gatwick and BA will inform you that they do not fly this route.

Others reading your post might think 'oh I can now go to Gatwick'.

It was a case until a little while ago the service was Toulouse - Gatwick - Toulouse but BA rearranged flights so that more operated from Heathrow, perhaps understandable as it is their main hub so, if someone from SW France wanted to fly to, say, NY then they would have had to fly Toulouse - Gatwick, then coach to Heathrow and then fly Heathrow - NY.

As I live right near Gatwick I view this as a very retrograde step and I now only have the choice of easyJet to Toulouse.

Paul

 

[Pierre ZFP]

Of course I was only kidding about it being further to Heathrow than the other way. 

I was just surprised that the to leg was more expensive as AFAIK Heathrow has the highest charges/taxes by far of nearly any airport so I would expect the return leg to be dearer.

 

[Stefan]

Pierre,

Ah I've re-read your original post and see what you mean.

Even leaving Passenger Duty to one side there's no reason why the fares out and back should be the same..the fares reflect demand as much, or more than, the costs of operating the flight. You often see evidence of this at a weekend, especially in the Summer. As an example close to my heart the LHR-TLS flight on a Friday night will probably be more expensive than the TLS-LHR flight, simply because there's more demand for seats (weekenders heading for their holiday homes down here) ...OTOH recently this winter it's often been the other way round as the French head up to the UK en-mass on a Friday night/Sat AM to go bargain hunting with their strong euros...

[baypond]

With the ongoing profitability issues at BA, I had read that BA would soon abandon their policy of keeping ticket prices at a premium level. Especially approaching departure dates when tickets remain unsold. We had a rediculous situation just before Christmas when our Easyjet flights was cancelled (due to snow), and with none available for at least 48 hours. We had no choice but to book with BA. Price was £250 each, which we stomached because of work commitments and proximity to Christmas. However, what was more difficult to work out was that on a jet that carried 180 people, there were 80 seats left unsold, despite a much larger list of people waiting for the next available easyjet replacement. What a great opportunity BA missed. It would have been great advertising for them to have lowered their prices to make them accessible to more people, and in the process they would have gained a significant income from the flight. Even at £100 they would have taken an extra £8000. Madness, that only ensures BA can not survive if they continue with their current structure.

[Stefan]

Um..interesting. Looking at BA.com recently I think they dropped any idea of premium pricing a while ago, I've certainly seen advance fares on the TLS-LHR route for well under £200 return, though I'd agree the suffer from being a pondorous legacy outfit and they're not the best at reacting a short notice and taking advantage of the sort of situation you describe. However to be fair to BA there seems to be a bit of a dichotomy now with the air travelling public... We've got people such as you ( and I) who on occasions have to accept paying three figure sums to travel, and then you have the £1 brigade...and there's not much between. You reach a point where there's no point in dropping the fare any lower, some folk who don't have to travel are utterly commited to their LoCo and won't pay a cent or penny more, even if it means a delay.

BTW a small point - I'm not sure about your 180 seat figure..as far as I'm aware in the configurations BA use their biggest Airbuses only have about 140 -145 sellable seats at the moment, not 180, so maybe the "underload" wasn't that bad.

[baypond]

[quote user="Stefan"]BTW a small point - I'm not sure about your 180 seat figure..as far as I'm aware in the configurations BA use their biggest Airbuses only have about 140 -145 sellable seats at the moment, not 180, so maybe the "underload" wasn't that bad.[/quote]

Hi, well I have only really seen BA use Boeings before, but on the day we travelled it was an AIRBUS 321. I thought they were only 319's and 320's. It was certainly a much larger jet than the usual easyjet ones. The 321 carries over 180 I think.

Edited to include this from airbus website:

'Typical two-class seating capacity for the A321 is 185 seats with 16 in

first class and 169 in economy, while the A321 single-class

configuation comfortably seats 199 passengers.'

[Stefan]

baypond

I guess we are risking straying into either commercial aviation trivia or worse still plane spotter territory, but FWIW:

BA have been using Airbuses (?sp.) on the route for a while, certainly since the route moved to LHR last Summer. The seating capacities you are quoting are generic Airbus figures but in reality each customer airline nominates it's own seating configuration when buying a batch of aircraft. Easyjet goes with single class, so probably does indeed have 180 seats, but BA has the Club Europe section upfront, which reduces the total seat number. Typically the larger BA Airbuses used on the LHR-TLS route have 156 seats, and that is further reduced by the fact that at the moment BA aren't selling the centre Club seats to give those Club customers they have got extra elbow room, hence my comment about 140-145 sellable seats..