Combining HBO fare with non-HBO. How?
#1
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Gold, AF Gold, some hotels...
Posts: 547
Combining HBO fare with non-HBO. How?
Looking at booking a couple of short haul trips for my better half (BAEC Silver) and our family where for the 4 of them we only need 1 hold bag.
I would like to book 3 of them in an HBO Y fare, and my wife in a traditional fare, in order to save having all of them paying the normal baggage fare they do not need.
Is there any way I can group their reservation / try to seat them together after booking, bearing in mind none of them is Gold? Or can I only end up with 2 separate booking with the risk they are not seated together?
Thanks.
I would like to book 3 of them in an HBO Y fare, and my wife in a traditional fare, in order to save having all of them paying the normal baggage fare they do not need.
Is there any way I can group their reservation / try to seat them together after booking, bearing in mind none of them is Gold? Or can I only end up with 2 separate booking with the risk they are not seated together?
Thanks.
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mostly UK
Programs: Mucci Extraordinaire, Hilton Diamond, BA Gold (ex BD)
Posts: 11,209
Easiest option for 4 people with one bag, book 4 HBO fares and then pay the bag fee for one bag (do this in MMB).
Still works out cheaper than booking everyone with a baggage allowance and means all the bookings are linked.
Still works out cheaper than booking everyone with a baggage allowance and means all the bookings are linked.
#3
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Gold, TG Gold, HHonors Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 8,665
There is no guarantee that four people on one booking (PNR) can be seated together without seat payment. Two bookings do not result in any difference to one booking with regards seating. Without payment, you still have to same dash to select seats at check-in. Helps if you have two laptops side by side to select seats at the same time for the two bookings.
#4
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: UK
Programs: Mucci. And BA Gold – previous awards - Gold 11, Silver 7, Bronze 4.
Posts: 4,235
#5
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: London, Copenhagen
Programs: SK*G, BA Gold, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 969
#6
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, TK Elite, HHonors Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 7,691
Looking at booking a couple of short haul trips for my better half (BAEC Silver) and our family where for the 4 of them we only need 1 hold bag.
I would like to book 3 of them in an HBO Y fare, and my wife in a traditional fare, in order to save having all of them paying the normal baggage fare they do not need.
Is there any way I can group their reservation / try to seat them together after booking, bearing in mind none of them is Gold? Or can I only end up with 2 separate booking with the risk they are not seated together?
Thanks.
I would like to book 3 of them in an HBO Y fare, and my wife in a traditional fare, in order to save having all of them paying the normal baggage fare they do not need.
Is there any way I can group their reservation / try to seat them together after booking, bearing in mind none of them is Gold? Or can I only end up with 2 separate booking with the risk they are not seated together?
Thanks.
#7
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: London, Copenhagen
Programs: SK*G, BA Gold, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 969
I misread, my apologies. But his wife is silver, so can also reserve the 4 seats at the time of booking!
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London and Zurich
Programs: AA, BA, Mucci: Sir Roger des Directions Routières, PCR
Posts: 13,609
I did this yesterday for the two of us, both Silver. One person's baggage allowance is more than enough for us so booking one 'normal' and one HBO seemed ideal. The £30 difference in fares was persuasive.
Even booking one on Chrome and one on Firefox, logged in separately as Mrs Roger and me, backfired! We ended up with two 'normal' reservations.
I then booked an HBO fare for one of us and cancelled one of the 'normal' reservations using the 24-hour opportunity. A long way round. Unfortunately I didn't see layz's advice first. And keeping both on one PNR is more practical than two PNRs.
Next time I'll know. Thanks layz.
Even booking one on Chrome and one on Firefox, logged in separately as Mrs Roger and me, backfired! We ended up with two 'normal' reservations.
I then booked an HBO fare for one of us and cancelled one of the 'normal' reservations using the 24-hour opportunity. A long way round. Unfortunately I didn't see layz's advice first. And keeping both on one PNR is more practical than two PNRs.
Next time I'll know. Thanks layz.
#9
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, TK Elite, HHonors Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 7,691
If they decide to make 2 bookings then Silver won't be of any use to pre-assign seats (for free) for the other three passengers. Which is why it is best to make one booking, make use of the Silver status to pre-assign seats together for all four passengers and pay the bag fee. The only alternative (if they do not want to pay for either the bag or the seats) they could wait until OLCI to see if there are 4 seats left together.
#11
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Gold, AF Gold, some hotels...
Posts: 547
Sorry for the slightly OT post-scriptum but I do not want to re-start the same thread on the LX forum as I suspect the BAEC readership will know the answer anyway:
Same question for Swiss. When I do a dummy booking in HBO fare it says I can add luggage later in their MMB equivalent by rebooking myself in the non-HBO fare. I suspect, given airlines do not allow different fares on a single booking, that it will then rebook the entire family on the non-HBO fare rather than one person only, negating any price advantage. Anyone has any experience of LX HBO?
Same question for Swiss. When I do a dummy booking in HBO fare it says I can add luggage later in their MMB equivalent by rebooking myself in the non-HBO fare. I suspect, given airlines do not allow different fares on a single booking, that it will then rebook the entire family on the non-HBO fare rather than one person only, negating any price advantage. Anyone has any experience of LX HBO?