Atlantic Joint Business (AJB) carriers American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and Finnair currently offer unbundled Economy fares for sale on selected routes between Europe and North America (and vice versa). These fares are branded as Basic Economy on American Airlines and British Airways, Basic on Iberia, and Light on Finnair.
So before purchasing these fares it is important to understand what is included and what is not.
Included- A hand baggage allowance of one carry one plus one personal item
- Allocated seating when check-in opens. Seats are allocated by the airline.
Note: customers travelling with infants or those with additional needs will still be able to choose their seats for free at the time of booking. Family seating rules are applied to seat allocation, meaning children will be seated with an adult when booked in the same reservation
- Changes for a fee
- Avios and Tier point collection
Not included and other aspects to be mindful of- No checked baggage allowance
- No free seat selection. Fee to choose a specific seat
- Tickets are non-refundable
- Final boarding group
There are however additional benefits available to Executive Club Bronze, Silver, and Gold card holders such as free seat selection, free checked baggage but these are not offered across the board and do vary depending on which airline you book with and travel on.
These are outlined in the charts below. The general premise being free seating is driven by the operating carrier whereas checked baggage benefits is driven by the marketing carrier.
Other Tier benefits such as priority check-in, fast track security, lounge access, Avios tier bonuses apply in much the same way as they do with standard fares.
Where you see a credit card symbol in the charts below, this means there is an option to pay for the additional service.
On a positive note, armed with tier status with the Executive Club and a firm grasp of the variable benefits contained in each airline's offering, it is possible to cherry pick the 'freebies' to your advantage. The following table outlines the combinations of free baggage benefits according to operating and marketing carriers.
Other resources and related threads
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...announced.html [archived]
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...er-thread.html [hosted in the AA forum]
Light fares to North America [hosted in the AY forum]