British Airways knows the way to San Jose ….. (new California route)

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British Airways announced yesterday that it will start services to San Jose in California from 4th May 2016.

This will utilise one of the brand new Boeing 787-9 aircraft – so new that British Airways hasn’t even received its first one yet! – which means that it will be a four class service.

(I actually had an article about the new 787-9 fleet ready to go today before this news was released. I will run it tomorrow instead and it will tell you all you need to know about these new aircraft.)

The flights will operate seven days a week.

The outbound will leave Terminal 5 at 15.15 (arrives 18.05) with the return leaving San Jose at 20.00 to arrive at 14.05.

This is, fundamentally, the ‘silicon valley’ flight. Expect it to be full of Google and Apple employees shuttling back and forth. Amazingly, it is the first direct flight from anywhere in Europe to San Jose.

This announcement should open up some excellent Avios availability for next Summer.

Remember that BA guarantees to open up four World Traveller and two Club World seats on every flight. In theory, this new service should see these seats open up immediately from May 4th to mid August 2016. If you have struggled to find Avios seats to California for next Summer, this could be your chance. A quick connecting flight will get you to anywhere else in the region.

Flights were not due to be loaded on ba.com until this morning, so I can’t tell you at the time of writing if Avios redemption seats have already been loaded or not. Someone has probably posted in the Comments section by the time you read this!

PS. Remember that BA has also just announced flights to San Jose in Costa Rica. Don’t book the wrong one ….

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Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

James67 says:

27 Aug27 August 05:40

Seems an odd choice given they fly to SFO and you think of the alternate cities they could possibly have chosen in States. However, good for avios as you say. I am not sure the aircraft makes much difference, same old BA on board.
- Paul says:
  
  27 Aug27 August 06:33
  
  Yep same old dayed products though there is a rumour about a new F. Won’t get me off AA J which is as good as BA F. Have two QR sectors this weekend on A350 and 787 and very much looking forward to QR stellar service.
  - Danksy says:
    
    27 Aug27 August 10:04
    
    I second that AA J was easily as good as BA F when I flew last month!
- Will says:
  
  27 Aug27 August 07:50
  
  Why? It’s not like those at Waterside have woken up and just decided to start this new route on a whim. Months of research, meetings, lobbying will have taken place.
  
  This route is no different to other routes that are heavily influenced by business (think RDU and the CAmbridge Gothenburg route which are both, on the whole, due to the pharmaceutical industry).
  - James67 says:
    
    27 Aug27 August 08:06
    
    Don’t have a problem with it. Would have used it myself in my Ca commuter days. In back of my mund BA or some other airline flew direct to San Jose many years ago.
    - Col A-B says:
      
      27 Aug27 August 08:30
      
      American launched SJC-CDG many moons ago, it failed due to 9/11 shortly afterwards.
The_Real_A says:

27 Aug27 August 05:52

Great new for me. San Jose is very easy to drive to and from
Paul says:

27 Aug27 August 06:28

The is just 37 miles from SFO to San Jose so this is an interesting development. Wonder where the got the slot from… Perhaps a further cut in the domestic operation.
- Mark says:
  
  27 Aug27 August 18:37
  
  The consolidation of Vancouver flights probably helps, plus it is likely that BA will be getting the Virgin Little Red slots back, unless there are any other takers for the limited destinations to which they can be used. There is also the cessation of routes to Entebbe and Almaty, so overall a few slots being freed up.
Kipto says:

27 Aug27 August 07:29

Nothing showing on the site as yet. Saying that BA doesn’t fly the route.
Polly says:

27 Aug27 August 07:31

Bet you it’s been sponsored by google and apple together!. They just can’t be bothered with a 27min drive to SFO to depart. Bit like that other sponsored BA flight out of Cambridge to Gothenburg they launched last year …? V weird choice of location, but another option to mid California for us seat hunters…
cpdc1030 says:

27 Aug27 August 07:33

This flight is a dream come true for me as I fly to San Jose every six weeks or so, usually via DFW. It’s a much nicer airport than SFO and you can get in and out very quickly. For me it is less than a 7 minute drive up to I-880 to the office. That’s compared to 45 mins + from SFO, plus the faffing on the train to get a hire car, and the long queues at immigration. I’m sure this flight will be successful.

Remember AA has flights from San Jose to Los Angeles so this could be a good option for some.
- Lady London says:
  
  27 Aug27 August 11:40
  
  I was just about to say all that! Except for the bit about having to fly to San Jose every six weeks or so, lucky you. SFO is a p in the a especially that long train and all the pfaff around the hire car location there.
Redkitty says:

27 Aug27 August 07:38

Well as of 0738 hours this morning, not loaded as search for flight using Avios rewards turned up no availability for this flight random dates for May, June, July 2016. Tried with booking paid for flights also no joy for this route yet.
Bruce says:

27 Aug27 August 08:19

About time BA extended the opening times of the arrivals lounge with lots of the Cslufornia flights arriving around 14.00