Aug 7, 2015, 5:53 am
Last edit by: NWIFlyer
Hand Baggage Only fares (HBO) are available on domestic and EuroTraveller routes. They are offered at a lower price to those able to travel without checked baggage on point to point journeys only - they are not offered with connections, stopovers or with Club Europe. There isn't a special fare bucket for HBO, it's just a discount to all domestic/ET fare buckets, so even expensive flexible tickets offer HBO. The discount varies depending on route. For example, going HBO on LHR-DUB gives a £10 discount; £15 on LHR-PRG; and £20 on LHR-ATH. Online Travel Agents often book into these fares (including building stopovers) and are sometimes less than transparent about the baggage restrictions during the booking process. HBO fares do not earn OnBusiness credits.
BAEC status passengers from Bronze upwards get advance seat choice with these tickets.
How to get seat allocation if HBO and without status:
- Pay up. You can pay up at OLCI if you don't like the seat. Costs vary from £7 to £21 per sector as a minimum, with differential pricing employed for better seats (e.g. an exit row on LHR-DUB was £23 in June 2017). Usually, but not always, this invalidates the cost saving of HBO. You can also pay up in Manage My Booking (MMB) before OLCI.
- Cancel OLCI at the "confirm contact details" stage. Go in again and/or later and you may be offered another seat.
- Corporate travel bookings still offer seating to HBO in some cases. Sometimes this ability is temporary and doesn't stick.
- Ask check-in or the lounge agent for a better seat, so far this seems to be possible. Lounge agents won't be able to assist where they aren't part of the ground handling for BA (e.g. LBA).
- If your airport has a Self Service Check In (SSCI) machine AND you do not print your boarding pass (see below) then you can select another seat there provided check-in is still open, typically up to 46 minutes before take off. So if you are being allocated a rotten seat and you can see better seats available, you can take a risk and complete/commence check-in later.
SSCI machines are available at: LHR, LGW, LCY, MAN, EDI (on the general purpose airport machines, but only those by the BA check-in area), NCE, BRU, OSL, BLL, AAR, MUC, AMS.
They are NOT available at: ABZ, BHD, GLA, LBA, NCL, DUB, CDG, ORY, SVG, DUS, TXL, MAH, CFU, OLB, CTA, CAG, FDH, ANE, UIP, BIO, HER, SVQ, PMI, BRI.
You can also do this operation the night before at LGW and LHR, details here.
By "printing boarding pass" we mean not selecting that option at OLCI, or saving, emailing, faxing and/or downloading the boarding pass on the App.
HBO fares - Have to pay to select seat in advance [free for GCH/SCH/BCHs @ 14 Jun 17]
Mar 2, 2015, 9:50 am
#226
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: London, UK
Posts: 5,656
Mar 2, 2015, 9:53 am
#227
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 932
I am all for rewarding frequent fliers, but giving them an open-ended benefit like lounge access at all times for them and a guest has always struck me as overly generous. It can't make sense for BA as each trip to the lounge bar eliminates the slim profit on a RFS or cheap fare. It also degrades the experience for those who actually stump up for a business class fare and disincentivises status passengers from purchasing business fares when they will get lounge access anyway.
Why not reward frequent flyers with a limited number of lounge passes per year. Recognise their custom but keep the costs manageable (and the lounges less busy).
Mar 2, 2015, 9:54 am
#228
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,076
The reality is that this £39 comes on top of thousands of pounds previously spent by a GCH to get the status, which is more than enough to subsidize that glass of champagne and bowl of chili con carne in the lounge...
Mar 2, 2015, 9:56 am
#229
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,364
As regards credit card fees, BA is usually more expensive on cheap fares, since it is a fixed fee whereas Easyjet and FR charge a 2% fee. You need to have a fare higher than £250 for the BA credit card fee to be cheaper than either Ryanair or Easyjet.
Mar 2, 2015, 9:56 am
#230
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
As pointed our earlier they have probably figured out that an 'elite' on an HBO fare doesn't make the airline any money....
Mar 2, 2015, 9:57 am
#232
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: BAEC Silver, LH FT, Accor Plat
Posts: 235
I was thinking the same thing, but then I couldn't think of any way that BA could spin this as a positive, which shows how much of stupid idea it is.
Mar 2, 2015, 9:57 am
#233
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London UK
Programs: All Expired... :-(
Posts: 410
Perhaps BA just need to get on with it ... draw a curtain across the back third and call it 'super economy' (I suspect 'third class' might not go down well) - hand baggage only, board after everyone else, no free food or drink, no miles or TP, reduce the seat pitch even further and no seat allocation.
M.
M.
Mar 2, 2015, 10:00 am
#234
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
Possibly. Or maybe you have reached Silver with 50 flights instead. A weekly commute to somewhere in Europe, on the cheapest fares. You have the status, BA makes no money.
Mar 2, 2015, 10:01 am
#235
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,676
What does interest me - in contrast to the other exec changes - is that this directly discourages people to fly BA.
The exec club changes discourage people from crediting to BA. Indeed - if you read the thread - of those threatening to leave a good proportion are considering migrating to another OW programme. BA win in this circumstance - yes - they still have to pay for your lounge costs - but the rest of it - the avios liability (for example) goes away.
This, on the other hand, appears to be trying to chase people off BA s/h in the first place.
On the lounge access side of things - it wouldn't surprise me to see them go down the AA route of locking out people on 'domestics' (or in our case - short haul). The fundamental problem they have there is that the people who fly enough to cause sufficient cost on that will simply credit to another OW programme and get access through the OW rules.
The exec club changes discourage people from crediting to BA. Indeed - if you read the thread - of those threatening to leave a good proportion are considering migrating to another OW programme. BA win in this circumstance - yes - they still have to pay for your lounge costs - but the rest of it - the avios liability (for example) goes away.
This, on the other hand, appears to be trying to chase people off BA s/h in the first place.
On the lounge access side of things - it wouldn't surprise me to see them go down the AA route of locking out people on 'domestics' (or in our case - short haul). The fundamental problem they have there is that the people who fly enough to cause sufficient cost on that will simply credit to another OW programme and get access through the OW rules.
Mar 2, 2015, 10:02 am
#236
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 85
I just checked and BA is showing Malaga on a non HBO discounted fare at £69 (8th Sept 2015) so the fundamentals of this ad remain the same! The £69 fare still retains the seat choosing and the checked in bag as before.
The HBO equivalent for the same flight is £50.
Mar 2, 2015, 10:02 am
#237
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Londinium
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 930
I've just stumbled across this...this may the most hair brain scheme they've come up with yet.
I grinned and bore the BAEC changes, but this is utterly ludicrous. I'm a GCH looking to fly from LCY. No lounge. No fast track. Yet they want me to pay £7 to select my seat????
Why bother? FlyBe will be getting my business on this flight. This crock of you know what needs to be fixed immediately!
I grinned and bore the BAEC changes, but this is utterly ludicrous. I'm a GCH looking to fly from LCY. No lounge. No fast track. Yet they want me to pay £7 to select my seat????
Why bother? FlyBe will be getting my business on this flight. This crock of you know what needs to be fixed immediately!
Mar 2, 2015, 10:02 am
#238
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,839
Not sure what I think of this, but I do think it is unrealistic to expect BA to offer lounge access to the status passenger who does lots of RFS or low cost economy travel and just 2 return CW trips and who just scrapes silver.
I am all for rewarding frequent fliers, but giving them an open-ended benefit like lounge access at all times for them and a guest has always struck me as overly generous. It can't make sense for BA as each trip to the lounge bar eliminates the slim profit on a RFS or cheap fare. It also degrades the experience for those who actually stump up for a business class fare and disincentivises status passengers from purchasing business fares when they will get lounge access anyway.
Why not reward frequent flyers with a limited number of lounge passes per year. Recognise their custom but keep the costs manageable (and the lounges less busy).
I am all for rewarding frequent fliers, but giving them an open-ended benefit like lounge access at all times for them and a guest has always struck me as overly generous. It can't make sense for BA as each trip to the lounge bar eliminates the slim profit on a RFS or cheap fare. It also degrades the experience for those who actually stump up for a business class fare and disincentivises status passengers from purchasing business fares when they will get lounge access anyway.
Why not reward frequent flyers with a limited number of lounge passes per year. Recognise their custom but keep the costs manageable (and the lounges less busy).
Mar 2, 2015, 10:03 am
#239
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: London, Babylon-on-Thames
Programs: BAEC Blue (back to Earth)
Posts: 1,508
I say Hillier old chap, what could we do just to hack off everyone even more with no upside whatsoever? #nailedit
No point whatsoever to me in being loyal anymore, easyJet here I come.
No point whatsoever to me in being loyal anymore, easyJet here I come.
Mar 2, 2015, 10:04 am
#240
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,479
I'd also doubt, if on a weekly commute, that fares are always going to be sub-£50 - there will be some times of year when they're much, much higher and the gross margin percentage will be enormous.
Last edited by NWIFlyer; Mar 2, 2015 at 10:11 am Reason: Typo