BRITISH AIRWAYS plans to follow in the tracks of trains — and offer onboard upgrades to passengers.
The Sun can reveal the airline is close to rolling out a trial where customers will be able to splash the cash to move up a cabin.
Pricing has not yet been worked out. But it is part of a series of improvements planned for 2013 — including feedback on catering.
Last week it emerged BA was going to start allowing passengers on long-haul flights to watch films from the moment they take their seat until they land. But yesterday union chiefs at UNITE expressed “bitter disappointment” at BA’s plans to cut 400 jobs — as revealed by The Sun.
Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said: “It will be a blow for loyal staff who now face an uncertain Christmas and New Year.”
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Originally Posted by Swiss Tony
BRITISH AIRWAYS plans to follow in the tracks of trains — and offer onboard upgrades to passengers.
What next? CSDs walking through the cabin shouting 'tickets please'.
Actually I quite like the idea. For example, Mrs PtF is currently in the air on BA154. Despite expertflyer showing F4 A2 at T-25 I couldn't upgrade her from CW. If, after the door is closed, there are empty seats in a 'better' cabin why not allow a passenger to upgrade on board? Ideally either with cash or Avios.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil the Flyer
What next? CSDs walking through the cabin shouting 'tickets please'.
Actually I quite like the idea. For example, Mrs PtF is currently in the air on BA154. Despite expertflyer showing F4 A2 at T-25 I couldn't upgrade her from CW. If, after the door is closed, there are empty seats in a 'better' cabin why not allow a passenger to upgrade on board? Ideally either with cash or Avios.
Hopefully they won't be trying to upsell regardless. If this is about selling any AUPs which were not sold at the airport then it's a great idea - connecting passengers and those with hand luggage only may not be aware of them. If it's an AA style "fill the seats" then it would seriously damage the premium seats' product.
Perhaps the upgrade offers in MMB have been successful. I know I have taken advantage of it
on more than one occasion. But I wonder how much more the upgrade might be.
I know other airlines have offered this - and the 'return' in the title suggest BA did it in the past. But how does it work in practice?
Is it down to the pax to ask? Do you have to find the right person to ask or is some kind of announcement made? What if there are more takers than seats?
As I recall (from discussion here, not personal use) the onboard upgrade required the CSD to open some special packet and process a credit card payment based on a tariff.
Now, it certainly wasn't cheap - IIRC, it was more than the airport upgrades we hear about now were processed for.
Whilst I'm sure they can get some extra money out of the equation, aren't you better off handling this at the airport? Catering is easier, and if it frees up a seat further back on a busy flight, you then have the potential to re-sell that.
Oh, and you just know that you're going to get seat 13E
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Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said: “It will be a blow for loyal staff who now face an uncertain Christmas and New Year.”
How in the **** is offering a small section of staff the option to volunteer for redundancy (which the union itself wanted to be made available to all crew) going to lead to "an uncertain Christmas and New Year" for people?
And unions wonder why they are marginalised in British society.
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It'd be quite funny to think of people heading forward to see what's available in the next cabin - is there a baby/fat snoring adult/stag party etc in seat(s) around the empty one(s) before requesting the upgrade.
Might be interesting, but I'd have thought they'd do better to advertise the AUGs more, as suggested. I've talked to quite a few people who had no idea such things were routinely available and thought asking about upgrades was tantamount to asking for a freebie. Sometimes there are little signs up at bag drop but more often than not there's nothing.
I can imagine this creating a bit of ill feeling. Someone is in CW on a £4k fare and they hear an announcement saying paid upgrades from WT+ are available for £300 or whatever and 5 minutes later someone sits down next to them...
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I wonder how they would handle this if there were more people wanting upgrades than the number of upgrade seats available.
Who gets priority?
BA Status?, Oneworld Status?, cash tickets?, the guy in the shirt and tie? dutch auction?
I think this would be better handled at check in or at the gate personally. Why not pro actively offer paid upgrades at check in rather than you having to ask.
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Will this lead to a reduction in opups? Since they're apparently seats BA was happy to fly empty, perhaps not; but then again, if the scheme is wildly popular, won't the probability of someone seeking a paid upgrade onboard reduce the chance of BA offering an opup?
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I do not speak on behalf of British Airways, which is unsurprising as I don't work for them.
I work with someone that used to play international rugby and he assures me that if you slyly slip the check-in girl a few quid you will always be upgraded.
I've never tried it as I couldn't handle the fall-out if it failed.
