What is the point of fully-flexible tickets?
Sep 25, 2015, 2:27 pm
#47
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e-tickets are just an electronic implementation of paper tickets.
Sep 25, 2015, 2:33 pm
#48
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I've never bought a fully-flexible ticket myself - but did have one for an external review - it was business from BHX-FCO (back in the old days when BA flew somewhere useful!). The cost was 1500UKP (at the same time a 'cheap' business ticket was 120UKP); the meeting finished early and upon arrival at FCO the check-in staff put me on the next flight leaving in 20 minutes (HBO) - so useful for the flexibility!
Sep 25, 2015, 2:36 pm
#49
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Sep 25, 2015, 3:37 pm
#51
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How does that help
* people who travel at short notice or on busy flights
* people traveling for business who want to be home at the weekends
Often cheap tickets have Saturday night stay restrictions, or at least 3 day restritctions.
Short Notice
Say you need to pop over to Singapore for a couple of meetings on Wednesday and Thursday next week. You jump on the BA11 Monday night, which has availability in J, on a J1RT ticket. Your return on Thursday night means waitlisting (only available in YWJF) as BA is fully sold out, or you need to route via KUL.
Home at weekends
Say you want to fly to New York in Premium Economy Or Better, departing end of February (so plenty of time), leaving on the Monday, arriving int the afternoon, back to London on the Friday morning, and go direct. Plenty of flights on this route, but the cheapest you'll get is a fully-flexible WTP ticket (W1UKJB) for £2460 - across all carriers.
If you're happy with Economy you can get a ticket in the second highest "B" category on BA (£1132 return, £1052 on Virgin), although if you go out Monday back Tuesday night you're back in Y at £1689.
There are hoops you can jump through - flying half way round Europe to start with, bundling car hire or a hotel, etc. I can't believe that people do this in general though, and I can't believe that a lot of people aren't flying short notice, or avoiding Saturday night stays.
* people who travel at short notice or on busy flights
* people traveling for business who want to be home at the weekends
Often cheap tickets have Saturday night stay restrictions, or at least 3 day restritctions.
Short Notice
Say you need to pop over to Singapore for a couple of meetings on Wednesday and Thursday next week. You jump on the BA11 Monday night, which has availability in J, on a J1RT ticket. Your return on Thursday night means waitlisting (only available in YWJF) as BA is fully sold out, or you need to route via KUL.
Home at weekends
Say you want to fly to New York in Premium Economy Or Better, departing end of February (so plenty of time), leaving on the Monday, arriving int the afternoon, back to London on the Friday morning, and go direct. Plenty of flights on this route, but the cheapest you'll get is a fully-flexible WTP ticket (W1UKJB) for £2460 - across all carriers.
If you're happy with Economy you can get a ticket in the second highest "B" category on BA (£1132 return, £1052 on Virgin), although if you go out Monday back Tuesday night you're back in Y at £1689.
There are hoops you can jump through - flying half way round Europe to start with, bundling car hire or a hotel, etc. I can't believe that people do this in general though, and I can't believe that a lot of people aren't flying short notice, or avoiding Saturday night stays.
Sep 25, 2015, 5:52 pm
#52
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Sep 25, 2015, 9:12 pm
#53
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Sep 25, 2015, 10:08 pm
#54
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Where someone is prepared to thow away 2 days of their own time ( or actually has a reason/desire to stay away ) most people are going to require that they have a flight home
Last edited by Dave Noble; Sep 25, 2015 at 10:22 pm
Sep 26, 2015, 12:20 am
#55
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Not to mention it can make getting to your next location tricky, unless you are happy to not go home at all between trips.
Don't get me wrong, I do this from time to time when it suits me and the company, but they understand that it's an occasional favour rather than a requirement.
Sep 26, 2015, 1:19 am
#56
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OH
Recently I changed an "I" class return ticket on Europe-South America with less than 24 hours notice at a change fee of 300 EUR and a fare difference of negative 7 EUR: fortunately AA does not actively lock down "I" availability as BA does. True, had I insisted on the BA direct I would have had to upgrade to "C" class (which is not full flex but only semi flex). In any case, had I not, the ticket I bought was still flexible for upgrades at a fee of 300 EUR + fare difference. A full flex ticket would have cost me about 5000 EUR more than I paid and offered me nothing more than no change fee.
Recently I changed an "I" class return ticket on Europe-South America with less than 24 hours notice at a change fee of 300 EUR and a fare difference of negative 7 EUR: fortunately AA does not actively lock down "I" availability as BA does. True, had I insisted on the BA direct I would have had to upgrade to "C" class (which is not full flex but only semi flex). In any case, had I not, the ticket I bought was still flexible for upgrades at a fee of 300 EUR + fare difference. A full flex ticket would have cost me about 5000 EUR more than I paid and offered me nothing more than no change fee.
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B is not full flex, it's semi flex.
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No, but B isn't available. Monday to Friday cheapest tickets are BYW, on a wide open market like London JFK. Monday to Wednesday its just YW, at least on Ba.
On your specific routes which are wide open with your "buy in a and and sometimes change" tickets the. You don't need flex tickets. Many people aren't as flexible as you.
And staying a couple more nights can easily cost £3k, and piss off your employee more than flying them in Y.
Sep 27, 2015, 1:33 am
#58
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stewaran
I have never paid for a FF ticket, and like today have changed from thursday BA185 to wednesday's with no problem for £100.
I guess if i was going from wednesday to thursday night flight from US it would have been a different outcome!
Also, as long as i have internet connection i can work from anywhere. so if i couldn't change or it was expensive it would not affect me much, i would just work from a hotel (or whole foods where i am now!) instead of my desk
If you can work from anywhere, why do you travel?
(I usually fly fully flex as it's the only ticket available when I tend to book at t-36/48 hours, however on 2 of my last 4 or 5 fully flex tickets, I've moved the return parts, once after check-in due to a cancelled flight, once due to a new Hamas ruling. Currently booked for a trip home on Thursday. This may extend until Easter the way things are going)
Originally Posted by stewaran
I have never paid for a FF ticket, and like today have changed from thursday BA185 to wednesday's with no problem for £100.
I guess if i was going from wednesday to thursday night flight from US it would have been a different outcome!
Also, as long as i have internet connection i can work from anywhere. so if i couldn't change or it was expensive it would not affect me much, i would just work from a hotel (or whole foods where i am now!) instead of my desk
If you can work from anywhere, why do you travel?
(I usually fly fully flex as it's the only ticket available when I tend to book at t-36/48 hours, however on 2 of my last 4 or 5 fully flex tickets, I've moved the return parts, once after check-in due to a cancelled flight, once due to a new Hamas ruling. Currently booked for a trip home on Thursday. This may extend until Easter the way things are going)
Sep 27, 2015, 5:41 am
#59
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Sep 27, 2015, 5:46 am
#60
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