That is now 3 people I work with (all BA Gold) that are planning to their change flight patterns as a result of this change. They are all heavy users of the HBO domestic fares with all of them flying 80+ domestic sectors per year with 2 also having occasion Europe and long haul flights on BA.
- One colleague is going to join me on Little Red flights for domestic (was firmly in the BA only camp).
- Another colleague has got Travel to agreed to pay for Easyjet Plus and he will now use them to fly to Gatwick (it is an easier commute for him compared to LHR and saves the company money)
- More worryingly for BA, a person from a partner company who earns Gold solely through flexible HBO domestic tickets at ~£600 return and very rarely changed flights. This must be a great earner for BA! He is going to stop flying BA if he cannot choose his seat or expense the fee to choose his seat. Although not expicitly stated, his travel policy appears to exclude paying for seat reservations but he is waiting to find out.
My company allows us to choose our own flights including carrier and time but will book the lowest fares for the flights chosen. They book HBO for day trips, overnight trips. Flexible fares are only allowed with suitable justification and "so I can choose my seat" will not work!
For info, I changed to Little Red for domestics and Virgin Atlantic for some of my long haul flights after the last round of devaluations/enhancements. I may now change my inter Europe flights to other carriers if I’m going to get stuck in a middle seat.