I thought I would share my recent experience flying BA in a different way, using BA staff companion premium standby tickets. Sorry for the long post in advance.

A good friend of mine is a BA staff and she added me to her travel companion list some time ago, so that I could travel on BA staff standby tickets. I’ve always been quite reluctant to use these type of tickets mainly because I am a risk adverse individual and I like to know for sure the date/time I’m leaving A to reach B and the date/time I am leaving B to go back to A (unless BA cancels a flight of course, more about this further down).

I decided to spend a few days in Doha, very last minute, and looking at BA.com fares on the dates I had in mind were north of 7k for a return in J. No way I would have spent that cash, and of course Avios availability including jokers was equal to zero. So I talked to my friend and for way less cash I was ticketed on premium standby to DOH from LHR and then from DOH to LGW back. Note these bookings were made 3 days before the actual outbound flight. She explained how staff travel works including how to change the listing on the BA staff webpage using my PNR. Business class availability as of the date of booking was ca. 8 seats on the way out and 5 seats on the way back. The other point to factor in here is standby seniority because BA staff have different levels of priority depending on the date of joining, function, role, etc., I guess. I was told her priority was pretty good and on both flights I was among the first 3 staff on standby. Note all this can change quite rapidly as staff can list themselves on flights until very close to departure. Because I was less flexible with the inbound from Doha to London she also decided to book me a backup standby on QR, but I understand this can only be done in Y. Which was fine with me.


LHR/DOH – 772 – BA Club Suites

On the day of my outbound I arrived at LHR T5 2.5 hours ahead of my flight, pretty much as usual. The previous two days I was checking both seats availability and number of staff on standby on my flight let’s say 2-3 times a day (it’s a very quick process) however I have to admit that the level of anxiety became higher and higher as I was realising how quickly both availability and number of BA staff on standby can change, in both directions.

Being GGL I went straight to the First Wing to check in (I was hand luggage only) and I was very pleasantly surprised as the agent handed me a boarding card with a confirmed J seat for my flight straight away. Before checking-in, I checked the system for the last time and I could see 6 seats still for sale in J. Also managed to grab a window suite, which was a nice plus. With that boarding pass I went straight into the Concorde Room (although staff travel , the boarding pass was still mentioning GGL, same as a “normal” boarding pass) and everything went as usual. After a few drinks and a bite in the CCR (I quite like the new buffet idea on the terrace) I headed to B gates for boarding, via the walking tunnel. Upon boarding, when the agent scanned my boarding pass I have to admit I got a bit nervous as I thought things could have maybe changed but I got the green light and boarded the aircraft as usual. Before take-off the IFM popped by to introduce herself and – with a smile – she said something like “Mr 81romeo, what’s going on here? You’re a GGL on staff standby!!!!”. I explained her the circumstances and that it was my first time on a standby ticket. She smiled and wished me a pleasant flight. Crew were great, only difference if compared to flying on a revenue or Avios fare I guess was that I did not get my first choice of meal but I was expecting that anyway and it was of course absolutely fine. I got addressed by first name during the entire flight which was very nice as well, it added a personal touch. We landed on time in Doha.

I had a very good time in Doha but soon enough it was time fly back to London. I already predicted that the way back was going to be more tricky and nerve wracking because commercial availability was close to nil on all BA flights scheduled for three days in a row.



DOH/LGW – 772 – BA Club World

Drama.

I decided to try and not to check too much loads, priorities and number of BA staff on standby on my flight back during my time in Doha but this didn’t really work well. I got very anxious the day before my planned trip back. As mentioned earlier, commercial availability, priorities and number of standbys can go up and down up until the time the flight is closed. The day before my flight, I remember seeing something like J4, W4, Y0 on my flight (I’m omitting all other fare buckets, this is just to give you an idea). Although I was ticketed as premium standby, I was also more than happy to fly back in W or Y, as I had to be back in London during that weekend. All QR flights were showing commercial availability close to nil, in all classes, for three days, too.

On my way to the airport, 4 hours before my planned departure, I decided to check loads for the last time whilst in the taxi and here the drama began: everything was zeroed out. All 6-7 QR daily flights to London for the following 2 days were zeroed out too. It gets worse.

Whilst still in the taxi to the airport, I get an email saying that my inbound flight LGW-DOH was delayed by 25 hours, it eventually got then cancelled. I was tempted to tell the taxi driver to go back to my hotel and spend the night there (it was already 10pm), but I continued to the airport. Once at the airport I thought my first priority would have been to check flights with QR as the BA flight was already heavily delayed/cancelled anyway. QR have a staff travel desk at row 10, but I didn’t know that and went straight to row 3, which is the one for OneWorld customers. The agent kindly bounced me and advised to go to the staff travel desk at row 10, which I did. I queued there for a few minutes and went to se the agent. She checked my ticket and advised that all flights to London were “minus” (=overbooked?) for the following two days. At that point I asked her to check any other flights leaving Doha that night to Europe, as I thought it would have been easier to reach London the following day from Europe, rather than from Doha.

So she did and she advised the only flight to Europe that night with some Y commercial availability was a QR to Dublin. Good, I thought – “could you please list me on that one in Y standby, changing my ticket?” – I asked. She said that unfortunately the only person who could have made that change was my BA staff friend, no chance at all to change my flight at the airport. Further drama materialised as my friend was unreachable that night (I knew that in advance).

So what to do? I was quite desperate (iPhone battery was low, no lounge to charge my iPhone etc., terminal chaos – all very different feelings if compared to flying on a confirmed ticket) and decided to give the GGL line a call to check whether they could help somehow. It turned out to be a brilliant idea.

A very nice, calm and reassuring GGL agent confirmed he could not process the QR ticket change to fly on standby to Dublin instead, and that all other flights were full etc. etc. However, he offered to check whether there were any Avios seats available on flights from Doha to anywhere in Europe that night and after some research he found a J seat on the QR Doha-Manchester service which I confirmed immediately. I would have NEVER EVER thought that given how busy everything was that night there would still be Avios seats available, to travel less than 2.5 hours later. So I was booked on the QR to Manchester, went through the J and F check in area and straight into the lounge. I needed a drink, desperately.

So I was going to make it to Manchester that night however there were no Avios seats on any MAN-LON services the following day. So I texted my friend before take-off and asked her to list me on the first available MAN-LHR service on standby. After a few hours, whilst I was en route to Manchester, she replied confirming I was listed on the first service to LHR but the flight was oversold. Oh dear, again. Less drama though as I thought I was going to be ok anyway as there are 5 flights a day to LHR from MAN and that somehow I would have made it back to London in time.

The QR flight was amazing, (I didn’t realise that on their newer 789s they have a J product which is a mix between QSuites and the A380 J seats, with a door). We landed in MAN ahead of schedule and I made my way to T3. It was my first time at MAN and I wasn’t expecting the airport to be that huge! Took me good 15 minutes to walk to Terminal 3. I made it to the BA counter 55 minutes before the LHR service departure I was listed on and the lovely lady at the desk wished me good luck with a smile, as the flight was oversold and there were further 3 BA staff ahead of me, with higher priority. Nevertheless she printed me a boarding pass without seat number and told me to make my way to the gate, “as no-shows can always happen” she said.

My boarding pass said “fast-track” which I was allowed into however security was a real mess, took me 30 minutes to clear and 99 hand luggage bags out of 100 were selected for further inspection. I made it to the gate 25 min before departure and to my extreme surprise I was granted a jump seat, which was a funny new experience (I guess funny as it was only a 45 min hop!!). All crew were lovely, they welcomed me in the rear galley and explained me how to use the 4-points seatbelt. All of a sudden I was sitting on a jump seat in the rear galley of an A320 Neo, on my way to LHR. The take-off feeling felt a bit odd, probably because I am not used to sit that far in the back but everything went well and we landed at LHR ahead of schedule.

Now – the million dollar question – would I travel on staff standby again?

Probably not, it’s too nerve wracking for me but I am very grateful I managed to spend a nice few days in Doha booked last minute, spending quite a small amount of money. I am also very pleased I got to try a jump seat, which felt quite extraordinary.

Thank you all for reading 😊

81romeo