Originally Posted by
Calchas
It seems to be mostly a technical experiment to prepare the way for using a single bucket to represent multiple cabins.
We may see BA allow the use of the F bucket for AONEx fares, as that seems to be the plan for BA's own A- products.
Does moving to one inventory class in First mean only flexible fares are available in the GDS?
No. We will be maintaining semi-flex fares which will maintain the A-class fare basis code but will now be bookable in F (the only remaining RBD in First). The availability of these fares will depend on the availability in the Club World cabin, as will some of the new Fully Flexible fares which will have an F- Fare Basis Code.
(My emphasis.)
https://www.britishairways.com/asset...aul-bosdxb.pdf
I'm unclear how BA benefits from eliminating A inventory. I understand that BA can easily say that Axxx fares now book into F, and that maintains the price discrimination and RM's ability to set the Axxx availability as they wish, but I don't see how this benefits BA (it keeps things as they are). Allowing AONEx fares to book into F would be nice for us, but means that if there's an F seat for sale, it can be booked with a (potentially cheap) AONEx fare, whereas as it is they can set A lower than F.