Kinglobjaw's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘london’

US Airways’ first ever service to London’s Heathrow (LHR) begins on March 29, 2008 from Philadelphia (PHL). That same day in Toronto (YYZ), US Airways moves under one roof with Air Canada to Terminal 1 allowing for quick and convenient connections with the majority of Star Alliance carriers at Toronto’s Pearson airport. Is a US Airways- Air Canada codeshare now on the radar?

In Warsaw, Poland (WAW), LOT Polish Airlines launches Warsaw- Beijing, China (PEK) service on the 767. The service will operate on a weekly basis, and as soon as LOT takes delivery of their 787, it will be one of the first routes to see this aircraft. Good thing LOT has some codeshare agreements in Asia, and the flight is timed to ‘grab’ inbound connections from USA. EWR-WAW-PEK anyone?

March 29-30, 2008 is also the weekend a bulk of new LHR flights commence with a lot of first ever services provided by first-time-ever-at-LHR airlines. United’s Denver- LHR, Continental’s Newark- LHR and Houston- LHR, Delta’s JFK- LHR, Atlanta- LHR as well as Northwest’s Minneapolis- LHR are all new. American Airlines also brings Raleigh/Durham (RDU) and Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) nonstops to LHR as of March 30, 2008. Blue1 goes Helsinki (HEL)- LHR as of March 30, 2008. And while this may be an odd one, Air France will fly from LHR to Los Angeles (LAX) beginning on March 31, 2008. I honestly don’t think that will work out. Bon Voyage however!

Today, London Heathrow opened it’s fifth and newest terminal. Check it out here. Like it’s partners and rivals from the USA, British Airways also starts out new service on March 30, 2008, and may I add all from London Heathrow:

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

While I have heard about this for the past week, today’s Press Release issued by US Airways confirms that US Airways will indeed fly to Heathrow.

I think this is excellent news. Not only will it increase healthy competition on the Philadelphia-London market, but it will also make for convenient and timely connections to Star Alliance partners out of Heathrow.

For a passenger like myself, flying to Poland on US Airways currently invloves two seperate tickets and an overnight in London on the return, should I connect through London. Now, the new PHL-LHR flight times are set up perfectly for connections in both directions. On the way out, I get in at 11:05 A.M. No need to change airports, and I will make a connection to a LOT or Lufthansa flight going to Poland. On the way back, the flight to Philly leaves 12:50 P.M. Before, even if I took the earliest flight from Poland leaving at 6.A.M., I would still not make it in time to be able to change airports and connect to a US Airways flight from Gatwick. Now, I have 3 things working to my benefit: a) The Philly flight leaves almost 2 hours later than the US Airways Gatwick flights, b) I don’t have to change airports in London and c) By March of 2008 all Star Alliance carriers will co-locate at Terminal 1, meaning I don’t have to change terminal facilities. For those travelling to Europe, this is very exciting news!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark