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Taken 2006 from Manchester, England (Ringway International Airport) - MAN to Paris (Charles de Gaulle) - CDG

Manchester - Paris CDG on British Airways "Connector", a seemingly new brand which is not City Express, but may be a revamping of Cityflier. They use Embraer ERJ 145 and the BAE Avro 146 /RJ 85/100 family. The scheduled ERJ was replaced by a larger Avro to accommodate supporters of a rugby match in France. This one cabin aircraft was surprisingly sold in 2 classes and I unwittingly benefited from it, being seated in the aisle first row of coach and with no idea that the 4 rows ahead were Business class. No separation, nothing even to suggest it, such as more legroom or wider seats. As my row was full and the rows ahead were much emptier, I moved to the 2nd row (empty) in complete good faith, with no objection from anybody. I realized my good fortune when the sandwich cart bypassed me and I was offered a more complete tray and a bottle of champagne, not particularly good, but killing 20 minutes. Aside from the ticket flexibility and a little more privacy on that plane due to an almost empty business class vs a full coach, I saw nothing to justify the extra 200 pounds and certainly would not have paid them knowingly.

While many BA coach fares are competitive, especially with the unusual one way option, I increasingly find that their business product on short flights is not.