UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is under fire for flying United Airlines instead of British Airways from Washington to London last week.
UK Foreign Secretary Flies United Instead Of British Airways
On Thursday evening, Raab flew UA918 from Washington Dulles to London.
When news emerged that he flew United Airlines instead of UK flag carrier British Airways, some expressed outrage. Brian Strutton, General Secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA), told The Independent:
“Maybe it’s too much to expect but I would like to see our foreign secretary travelling with a British airline rather than spending taxpayers money on an American one. There were alternative British flights available so what’s the excuse? It’s about time the UK government started showing a bit of support for UK aviation.”
My instinct is to dismiss this story as much ado about nothing. UA918 leaves Washington at 6:20pm, arriving into London Heathrow at 6:45am. Meanwhile, BA292 does not leave until 10:20pm, arriving at 10:35am. Four hours is a lot of time and the United flight allowed the Foreign Secretary to go home, shower, then still put in a full day at the office. Maybe he had morning meetings?
It could also be that the UK secured far better pricing with United than British Airways. Although the published fare on BA was slightly cheaper for a business class ticket, corporate contracts routinely lead to sizable discounts over retail.
Or maybe Raab preferred United’s business class over BA’s? United has been running retrofitted 787-8 on UA918 with its latest-generation Polaris seat. The picture above is from the same aircraft type Raab flew to London.
Symbolism Matters?
But symbolism matters and at a time in which thousands of British aviation professionals are losing their jobs and British Airways continues to face weakened demand (less than 20% of 2019 levels), the optics of a senior government minister flying on a foreign airline are not exactly helpful to the national conversation.
There should be nothing wrong with choosing flights based upon schedule, but in a hyper-partisan time marked by economic turmoil, even little choices like this bear consequences.
Raab’s office has not yet commented. British Airways has also declined to comment. The cost for his entire two-day U.S. trip is reportedly about $25,000. Maybe that’s the greater outrage?
Oh, and that wasn’t the only controversy. Raab’s police protection officer left his loaded 9MM pistol in his seat when he left the aircraft. That officer has been suspended and is under investigation.
CONCLUSION
The USA already has the equivalent in the form of a “Fly America Act” which requires government travelers to fly U.S. carriers. But that too has loopholes. Whether this is a tempest in a teapot or a more serious issue, UK transparency laws will not compel specific disclosures until next year on flight pricing.
Should government ministers stick to carriers from their own country, when possible?
Are US politicians even allowed to fly foreign carriers when on official business? I know there is that odd JetBlue/Emirates deal. However, the money “goes” to JetBlue which is a US carrier. I’m surprised the UK government doesn’t have something similar.
Maybe he preferred a hot meal over a boxed lunch?
That trip sounds cheap. Anytime a high ranking US admin official travels it seems to run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more.
As a former Government SES Executive with the DOT, travel on foreign airlines is perfectly OK only if it is code-shared with a US airline or within the US airline specific alliance (Star, Oneworld or Skyteam). Done that many times with ANA, TAP, Iberia, LH etc. American/BA, Delta/Virgin Atlantic would work here, but the oddity is that UA has no such direct US-UK arrangements that I am aware of. Not sure of any UK guidance in this area.
Hi Matthew, Small Typo – UA918 arrives into LHR at 645am, not 645pm.
The author is incorrect about the “06:45 pm” arrival for UA. it is of course, 06:45 am.
Also, Raab must have really been in a hurry because an arrival at LHR of 06:45 can by agony of jetlag ( 01:45 eastern ).
Ooops. Sorry. Someone already just made the comment re timing 🙂
Hi Keith, maybe I’m half asleep, but I don’t see the error.
NM. I see Kyle fixed it. Thanks for the correction!
I’m guessing he didn’t just prefer United’s Polaris seat. On weekdays during it’s Covid schedule, BA seems to be using its A350-1000 on the Dulles-Heathrow route. These planes have BA’s new Super Diamond reverse-herringbone business class seats with doors. Matt: I think you’ve flown in both of these seats – would you go out of your way to choose the Polaris seat over the Super Diamond with a door?
This situation isn’t comparable to anything the US does. Keep in mind that this is the UK’s Foreign Secretary – the equivalent of the US Secretary of State. The Secretary of State doesn’t fly on foreign airlines when traveling on official trips because the SoS doesn’t fly commercial airlines on official trips. He takes one of the Air Force’s VIP transports – usually either a modified 757 or 737, depending on the trip.
Isn’t BA pretty much just British in name only?
As IAG majority owner Qatar airways holds 25.1% of the “Anglo-Spanish” conglomerate IIRC it’s actually a Spanish registered entity.
Pretty trivial. The revenue loss of one seat is insignificant to the airline. And unless it is a common thing who cares?
As another poster said, US government people are supposed to fly US airlines (which I did). I do recall a big mess with United many years ago. One flight took off too steeply and touched the tail on the runway causing it to return and be canceled and we were stuck overnight. Then the next morning’s flight was overbooked and we ended up flying Virgin which was a much better experience. My one and only trip on Virgin.
Go Dominic!
This rather childish argument is diverting attention from the real story which is how the heck did one of Raab’s PPOs leave his Glock in the toilet on this flight? This isn’t the first time something similar has happened, in February 2020 one of David Cameron’s PPOs left their Glock in the toilet on a BA flight and I remember a previous incident where a female PPO left their weapon in a restaurant (or was it motorway services?) toilet, and to me it’s unbelievable that supposedly highly trained officers can do this. I’ve carried a handgun when working outside the UK and (a bit like making sure you’re zipped up) it’s not exactly something you’re not going to miss if it isn’t where it should be.
So he was able to come to the US and return to London –no Quarantine??? Who is on all of these flights daily????
Clearly, the pandemic is making people do odd things. Because in the pre-Covid times, I would have preferred BA IAD-LHR for the better lounges and better (Do &Co) food and beverage. The Polaris seat is nice, but not so much nicer that it was better than the upper deck of the 747.
But I suspect it was the schedule that influenced this decision.
Also, pre-Covid I routinely saw government employees I knew on AF and LH. One of them explained to me, early on, that they could do that as they were DL and UA codeshares, and they much preferred them over UA and DL, especially as they were in economy. Sensible.