BRITISH Airways has extended for another week the suspension of flight sales departing from London Heathrow.
Due to Heathrow Airport’s current flight limit, the UK flag carrier has decided not to sell short-haul flights.
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The airport is currently limiting their daily flights to 100,000, down from 104,000, until at least October.
British Airways has announced that it will resume sales on August 8th, and again on August 15th.
British Airways spokesmen stated that they had taken pre-emptive measures to lower our schedule this year in order to give our customers more certainty about their travel plans. This was also to help us build resilience to the industry’s ongoing challenges.
“When Heathrow introduced its passenger cap, we took a small number of additional flights from our schedule and to continue to comply with the cap, we’ve been taking responsible action by limiting sales or all the available fares on some of our Heathrow services to ensure more seats are available to rebook customers.
“We’ll continue to manage bookings to be within the Heathrow imposed cap so we can get our customers away as planned this summer.”
This will not only mean that Brits will have a hard time booking last-minute flights but also means that the prices of those on sale will go up due to demand. Those who are required to book a flight in case they miss a connection may face major problems.
Rob Burgess, Head for Points editor, warned: “Because the Heathrow capacity limit will remain in effect until at least 11 September – and we believe that it will be longer – it appears likely that BA will keep the caps in place until the end school holidays. This is due to the Bank Holiday at August’s end.
“Anyone who needs to travel on BA before 11th September (but after 15th August when tickets are currently still available) should book now before the rug is pulled out from under them.”
Paul Charles, a travel expert, has warned that the suspension could continue into September.
The Telegraph quoted him as saying: “I believe we’ll continue this until early September.”
“When you combine the 30,000 flights cancelled by BA already this year with the freeze on new short-haul sales, then it will have a significant impact on the previous perception that you could travel easily at short notice.”
Heathrow initially said airlines must stop flogging summer tickets with a view to cut 4,000 passenger departures.
To end the chaos that is engulfing the UK, the airport had previously ordered airlines to boot holidaymakers from flights.
A source told the Telegraph: “In effect, passengers face being bumped off flights that do take off.”
This is not just BA, Lufthansa saw a drop in their sales last month as well.
Thousands of flights and holidays have been cancelled amid travel hell in Britain, while droves of Brits have reported how airports are losing their luggage as a wave of chaos grips the nation’s terminals.
Further disruptions to holiday plans are possible due to strike action.
Ryanair crew in Spain are threatening walkouts until January while BA pilots are threatening to strike this summer.
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