BA cabin staff went on strike in november 1971 - 11 hour flight took 2.5 days.& I had paid £212 = £4000 today!

In work I flew say 2 x month for 30 years & I avoided BA except maybe a dozen occasions

It is a pity they lost the plot. They were good once and can be again with the right leadership. When I lived in the North and had to fly anywhere it was much easier and sometimes cheaper to fly to Amsterdam and use KLM. Very good airline. For long haul stuff too it worked well. Otherwise manchester is a really good hub. Agree about LHR or LGW. Such a trek to get in and out of. Badly thought out strategy. When I used to visit our London office I would use the train.

Cheers Concrete

Flying from Manchester (it is my home airport, within a 30 minute drive and also via tram and train), I never fly BA unless the times and the flights are 100% perfect for me. I usually fly either direct (if possible from Manchester) or via a European hub, which in the case of many of my flight, are so efficient it only adds about 90/120 minutes to the overall trip and is usually a lot cheaper. Flying via Heathrow (of course you cannot fly to gatwick anymore from MAN), the treatment of pasengers who are not Business or First Class is disgusting (stand there, not here thats for Business Class, sorry no food).

Last time I flew BA, I was stuck by a window next a huge bloke who smelled, the legroom was crippling (I am only 5'7") and the flight was late - it was only heathrow to Manchester as well. Never again - not after last weeks fiasco.