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 3, 2015, 5:00 am
#511
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Singapore - the hot, little red dot
Programs: BA, SQ
Posts: 861
I do recall BA want the SH fleet to make a profit on it's own, so it appears that this is the only route to take.
Mar 3, 2015, 5:12 am
#514
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London UK
Programs: All Expired... :-(
Posts: 410
Erm, leaving a suspicious package behind in an airport will probably get you rendered. Or at least cause you an enormous amount of hassle.
Mar 3, 2015, 5:18 am
#517
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Near Edinburgh
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 9,034
Mar 3, 2015, 5:19 am
#518
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA GfL, Marriott PlatfL/Ambassador, TP Gold, IHG Spire
Posts: 1,656
Again, this shows that some people are getting the wrong of the stick, IMHO.
I couldn't care less about the 10 quid it costs to purchase a seat. What I'm really unhappy about is that BA is removing the convenience of being able to select a seat at any time on any part of the cabin without having to think about the fare that I purchase or having to get my credit card out, paying for it, and, perhaps expense it.
I also am not going to walk to a check-in desk to change my seat assignment every time I'm on BA. It's all about convenience and I think that is the thing that most GCHs value. BA should try to make the lives of people who spend a lot of their time at airports and planes easier and hassle free.
This is the same reason why sometimes I take a bag of crisps or whatever from a lounge - it's not because it's free but because it's convenient.
I couldn't care less about the 10 quid it costs to purchase a seat. What I'm really unhappy about is that BA is removing the convenience of being able to select a seat at any time on any part of the cabin without having to think about the fare that I purchase or having to get my credit card out, paying for it, and, perhaps expense it.
I also am not going to walk to a check-in desk to change my seat assignment every time I'm on BA. It's all about convenience and I think that is the thing that most GCHs value. BA should try to make the lives of people who spend a lot of their time at airports and planes easier and hassle free.
This is the same reason why sometimes I take a bag of crisps or whatever from a lounge - it's not because it's free but because it's convenient.
Mar 3, 2015, 6:22 am
#522
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: MAN/BHX
Programs: ABBA
Posts: 6,027
Ba are a poor LCC, and a poor full service carrier. Deal with it
Mar 3, 2015, 6:32 am
#523
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NCL
Programs: UA 1MM/*G. DL Gold for one more year.
Posts: 5,305
But I do think there's a bottom line here that BA has now crossed. Take BA vs SK in the the UK-Scandinavia market. Until now, it was generally thought that SK was scraping the bottom of the barrel, but soon it won't be so straightforward anymore:
Fare - about the same
Lounges - both have very nice ones at LHR, crappy ones in Scandinavia, a draw
Food and drink - free on BA, everything charged on SK, still big win for BA
Free luggage on cheapest fare - big win for SK
Frequent flier earnings - equal until changes implemented, then big win for SK
Seat assignments - everybody gets to choose a seat at T-23 on SK, big win for frequent fliers on BA until changes implemented, then big win for SK
I think many fliers, frequent or not, will now reach the point where the SK provision, although stripped bare in so many ways, is now an equal or better proposition to the BA one. Although the FF earnings on discount fares aren't as good on most continental carriers, the balance of the equations are shifting in the same direction. And that's just the other legacy carriers, the LCCs offer lower fares and other things such as free WiFi.
Last edited by Passmethesickbag; Mar 3, 2015 at 6:38 am
Mar 3, 2015, 6:36 am
#524
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 932
This post really goes to the divide I see in this forum between people who like to travel as well as they can while achieving the best value possible and those who resent the people who do that.
I see it time and time again with comments about "cheapskates" who take up lounge seats with ex-EU J fares, etc.
As one firmly ensconsed in the first camp, I don't see why how much I pay for my ticket and how much value I try to extract from are is any of your concern.
However, to this point, BA don't market this as a CHEAPSKATE fare. They market it as "Don't need to check a bag? Want to save a tenner?"
If they'd been telling us all along this was the bargain fare and priced it accordingly this would be slightly better received. But they've not done that. They continue to try to position themself as somehow better and classier than EZ while copying their business model.
I see it time and time again with comments about "cheapskates" who take up lounge seats with ex-EU J fares, etc.
As one firmly ensconsed in the first camp, I don't see why how much I pay for my ticket and how much value I try to extract from are is any of your concern.
However, to this point, BA don't market this as a CHEAPSKATE fare. They market it as "Don't need to check a bag? Want to save a tenner?"
If they'd been telling us all along this was the bargain fare and priced it accordingly this would be slightly better received. But they've not done that. They continue to try to position themself as somehow better and classier than EZ while copying their business model.
Where you do have a point, and one I did not appreciate when making my earlier comments in the thread, is that HBO fares are not all cheapo fares. Some of them are and charging for seat selection on an £80 rtn fare is fair enough to me, but there are also £380 HBO fares. Not allowing seat selection for those just seems mean to me.
Mar 3, 2015, 6:44 am
#525
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: near Heathrow
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL (OWE), SA LifePlat (*G), BD Gold to the end, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,916
As a shareholder (where the value is the highest for some 15 years) I can see BA getting a alot of extra revenue from this move as I suspect the majority of B, S and G cardholders will now move up a fare notch to be able to select a seat at time of booking or at T-7.
Smart move me thinks......
Smart move me thinks......
Taking away my seat choice, coupled with pathetic TP and avios on SH, removes my loyalty. I don't have time for the lounge at Heathrow or Gatwick in the morning and lounges elsewhere are mediocre at best by comparison.
On Easyjet, I can now get two pieces of hand luggage, change my return flight for free and eat in the terminal restaurant with my fare saving.
If Easyjet are really smart, they'll 'status match' BA Gold and Silver card holders with a free Easyjet Plus Pass card, giving free seat selection, 2nd hand luggage and speedy boarding. I predict they'll recoup their lost £149 in no time as BA travellers try them out.