Sun Country starts selling London flights
By aeolos on Mar 15, 2010 with Comments 8
Sun Country Airlines has begun selling tickets on its seasonal flight between Minneapolis/St. Paul and London-Stansted, England (STN). Fares start at $399 one-way for the flights and are bookable on www.suncountry.com.
Sun Country’s service will be a once weekly for the summer season with a stop in Gander, Canada (YQX). The flights will stop in Gander for approximately an hour to re-fuel. The service will operate from June 11 to August 15.
SY 47 MSP 16:40 STN 08:10 SY 738 Fridays
SY 48 STN 12:00 MSP 16:55 SY 738 Sundays
Filed Under: Airline News
So how is DL going to react?
I’d say Delta would most likely point out that they offer direct service without the stop in Canada, along with going to Heathrow, the busiest London airport with the most connections and transit options into town. I guess if the one day a week schedule works out for people it seems like a good deal. Delta is charging $1037.20 roundtrip plus tax for the same days as the first Sun Country flights.
It should be noted that this service is probably not going to last for Sun Country. It has been stated that this service from MSP-STN is mainly for proving runs for Sun Country’s ETOPS certification. Sun Country has expressed interested in doing military charters for the DOD. The DOD requires a certain amount of ETOPS hours in order for the carrier to apply for these charters. Thus, the reason why Sun Country is doing these proving runs. I doubt Delta or any other airline will react to this. It has also been rumored that the frequency of this flight might suggest that Sun Country has a travel agency on board with these flights. The sales of the seats to the general public are just to fill the extra capacity that the agents will not use. I believe ATA did this as well when they did their Hawaii flights and marketed them through Southwest! Non the less, this is a pretty big step for Sun Country in recent years, though it will not be the first time they have ventured over the pond!
You wouldn’t expect Delta to react but they did. They lowered their same nonstops on Fridays and Mondays as Sun Country’s one stop via Gander to $399 each way.
I was able to find a rt on Delta for MSP/LHR for $957.30 for 7/16-7/25. They had the $399 sale on their website earlier this week.
I meant to type Fridays and Sundays in the first paragraph. Sorry.
Surprising that Delta is actually responding to this, I guess when people are looking for a good deal they will pick the cheapest. Not gonna lie, I would have rather spend the 300 extra and flown Delta direct into LHR with the PTVs and all that good stuff. I think the SY flight will be awful, no entertainment, just as you are ready to sleep, you gotta land and refuel again, rough deal! But I guess I am happy to see it lowered the fares a bit!
Too bad SY could not fly to London City Airport.(LCY) Much closer to central London and a much shorter ride on the tube than Heathrow.
British Air has an all biz class Open Skies flight from LCY to JFK that stops in Shannon where you can clear US customs during refueling.(LCY limits the amt of fuel during take off.)You would think SY could have found an airport where refueling and US customs could occur at the same time on the way back to MSP.
Well…yes, except I don’t think the 737-800 is certified into LCY, which is why they could not use that airport. LCY has very strict rules about aircraft operating into the airport due to the high rises in close proximity to the airport.
Also the Humphrey terminal is really not that busy when it comes to customs and every experience I have had, it has been pretty smooth and fast though the customs and immigration.
BA has this set up for two reasons, one it has to stop for fuel and because JFK can be a nightmare in regards to customs, it is a convenience factor for the passengers. Also, the clientele is different, BA is an all Biz class and for the most part, time is money for the passengers. Sun Country will have more of the tourist crowd, which are on a more relaxed schedule.