Why the stop in Cyprus when flying to Tel Aviv?

Q I saw your article saying that British Airways is returning to Tel Aviv from April but with a stop in Larnaca in Cyprus along the way. Why?

Josh C

A First, the background: British Airways plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv from London Heathrow on 1 April. Like all non-Israeli airlines, BA dropped flights to Ben Gurion International Airport after the attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023. Other European airlines, including Air France, Lufthansa and Ryanair, have already resumed flights to Tel Aviv from various points in continental Europe, and Wizz Air is flying from Luton to Israel once again.

Before the attack, British Airways flew two long-haul Boeing 787s each day between the UK and Israel.

Yet when BA flights to Tel Aviv start again, a single short-haul Airbus A320 will operate four days per week. Business travellers have expressed their displeasure at this arrangement because of the downgrade in comfort: the seating on the A320 is all-economy, with Club Europe distinguished by having the middle seat folded down in each row of three and better inflight catering.

This is the same arrangement that applies to Cairo, a similar length flight; British Airways used to fly a daily Jumbo jet between Heathrow and the Egyptian capital.

Now to tackle your question. BA has a very unusual schedule. The flight will depart at 6.40am and stop in Larnaca in Cyprus for 45 minutes for a crew change. The whole trip is scheduled to take six hours and 25 minutes, which is an hour-and-a-half longer than the non-stop flights operated by El Al. The reason is: a crew change. Tel Aviv, which is 2,240 miles from London, is at the limits of the timing that crews are allowed for a round trip. To solve this problem without pilots and cabin crew having to stay overnight in Tel Aviv, a full crew will be flown out in advance to Larnaca, and take over the flight for the onward 210 miles to Tel Aviv and the return trip to London. It is difficult to see any appeal in the outbound flight when El Al goes nonstop. So too does Wizz Air, which flies from Luton; the crew remain the same throughout the round trip.

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Q My airline wants £55 each way for a simple name change for a flight that doesn’t depart until May. Is that normal? It certainly doesn’t seem like a fair charge.

Mark H

A I am aggrieved by airlines that apply charges for “extras” which are way above the cost of providing that service. For example, next month (specifically 20 March) easyJet will sell me a seat from Barcelona to London Gatwick for £20. If I want to take a roll-along case into the cabin, the fare doubles. And for a 15kg bag checked into the hold, the airline will add an extra £24. When, 18 years ago, Flybe became the first major airline to introduce fees for checking in luggage, a 25kg case was priced at just £2.50. I think it would be more honest for airlines to push up the basic air fare and reduce these fees to something closer to the actual cost.

Yet I think the airlines can make a plausible case for applying high charges for amendments or cancellations of bookings made a long way ahead. That is because their business model is based on filling as many seats as possible on each flight. To do this each airline will sell at a wide variety of fares, depending on the time before departure and the amount of flexibility required. Those who book early at well below the average fare must accept some harsh conditions. On the other side of the coin: people who buy just before departure will typically pay many times more.

Now consider what happens if the high penalties for early bookers at low fares are removed. The whole model is undermined: passengers could book on the off-chance they might want to fly on a particular date safe in the knowledge that they could cancel shortly before departure for a full refund, leaving the airline with lots of empty seats.

A similar principle applies to the high charges for name changes. Before fees were applied, unscrupulous agents would buy in-demand Friday and Sunday evening flights as soon as they went on sale. When a desperate passenger needed a short-notice flight, the agent would change the name and sell it at a huge profit. No wonder the airlines cracked down and the name-change charges went up.

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Q Three days ago we booked a tour in Peru (with no international flights) for next December, some 10 months away. We then realised that we had booked the wrong month. It should have been November. The agency we booked through will not let us change the dates. We paid a deposit of £1,400. If we cancel, the refund is just £151. Surely this is unfair. Any advice?

Barbara K

A Many travel companies impose very high charges for cancellations or amendments. Sometimes these are justified. As mentioned in yesterday’s question on amending tickets, airlines can argue that imposing harsh conditions on low fares booked well in advance is an essential component of their business models. In your case, though, I doubt the agent you booked through can make the same argument.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) publishes useful advice for consumers like you who agree to buy goods or services but change their minds. For a start, the CMA says: “Non-refundable deposits should be only a small percentage of the total price.” If the agent you booked through applied a much higher deposit, it is already on the back foot. Next, the authority says a business can ask you to pay a cancellation charge only if it is fair. “A charge is not fair just because it’s in the contract you signed,” the CMA says. “It needs to be reasonable.”

As you will know, “reasonable” is one of those tricky legal terms. Thankfully, the authority makes it clear the cancellation charge must reflect the business’s direct loss. And how much is that, I wonder? I am sceptical that the agent has already paid your deposit to the operator in Peru, and that only 11 per cent can be returned to you. If that is the case, the firm will need to demonstrate the financial hit it has taken.

Even then, the agent is obliged to take “reasonable steps” to reduce the loss. In your case that would mean re-selling the tour, which at this distance from December looks entirely feasible. In short, unless the agent can prove it has irretrievably lost well over £1,000 as a result of your decision, you are due a large slab of your money back.

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