British Airways to fly OAK - LGW

What kind of aircraft? They now offer A380 and 777 from SfO, and 787 from San Jose. Wondering what this service will be?

( I cannot open the link as it locks up my IPad ( older version),

The new OAK-LGW flights will operate four days a week using a Boeing 777-200ER

Maybe they will be very competitive with Norwegian Airlines and have some low cost flights.

They have good introductory sales

British Airways begins nonstop flights 4x weekly on 777-200 aircraft between Oakland, California OAK and London Gatwick LGW on March 28, 2017. To celebrate the launch, British Airways has introduced a special fare from Oakland to London for travel March 28, 2017 – May 11, 2017 and August 20, 2017 to October 28, 2017 from $599 in economy which includes all taxes, fees and charges. Premium economy begins from $1115. There are $694 round trip tickets available June to August.

British Airways is obviously going after Norwegian Air Shuttle who's flying the same route already. To compete, they must be using a very efficient airplane, as Norwegian's using brand new Boeing 787's on their flights.

It looks to me more like an effort to meet the heavy demand for flights between the Bay Area ( Silicon Valley) and London. They recently added a route from San Jose, using the 787. (We will be flying that one next September). For Oakland, they are as stated above using a 777.

I live a 10 minute drive from the Oakland airport, this is tremendous news--perhaps I'll be re-visiting London sooner rather than later. My first trip abroad was to London and I, ahem, had a thing or two to learn about booking flights--thinking it was great to fly from Oakland I had to make a connection in Seattle then Paris--yes, I know Paris is past London, but went ahead with it like an idiot--and coming home again went first to Paris then Los Angeles before Oakland. My friends still laugh about it.

You might want to fly this route in 2017, before they squeeze an extra seat into each row on Economy, making it 10-across.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-airways-ba-cuts-space-economy-passengers-toilets-seats-a7398251.html

Summary---BA 777 fleet based at Gatwick will have 10-across seating in 2018, meaning an additional 50 people on the plane---each with less seat space.

In that they are somewhat late followers of other airlines.

RE: 10-wide seating in 777 coach. Unfortunately, many airlines have already gone to this or will soon. In five years or less it will be the norm for this bird.

I am glad that more foreign airlines are realizing the immense wealth accumulated in the Bay Area. Hope more of them offer flights ex-SJC or ex-OAK.

The dates of the fare sale matched our RS Germany tour next fall! I was able to book two roundtrip tickets from Oakland to Gatwick for $1,195 plus a small fee for seat selection!! Incredible bargain! Now I just need to book short flights to get from London to Berlin! I don't usually book our airfare this far out but could not pass this up!

Great decision by Br. Air going OAK to Gatwick. That's the route the charter took on my first flight over in June 1971 . I like flying out of OAK, even better with the proper price as an incentive.