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, 10:51 am
#571
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
What would it take for you to start avoiding BA?
Mar 3, 2015, 10:53 am
#572
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
Mar 3, 2015, 10:53 am
#573
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lewes
Programs: HiltonH. Gold Starwood Gold BA BLUES! Mucci.
Posts: 4,833
This is great from a BA perspective because we have all stopped grumbling about the new cabins! next! What will it be I wonder, single bag unless in CE ? BOB if you want more than a soft drink? Strap hanging?!
Mar 3, 2015, 10:55 am
#574
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 935
Mar 3, 2015, 11:02 am
#575
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: RTM
Programs: DiamondClub (rip), Currently an Alliance Treble Champion (BA, A3, AZ)
Posts: 1,786
This has been my suspicion for awhile. They really want to exit this market as they dont see it being competitive as a stand-alone business. They want the business flyers. They want to feed into and from major European markets to connect to their LH services.
they don't seem the least bit interested in serving that market otherwise. You can tell in the significant difference in service and offer compared to LH. You can also tell by the fact that they opup to CE so infrequently.
I'm starting to think the reason they want Aer Lingus is that they want to use it replace BA SH alltogether and focus on the BA brand as a traditional LH flag carrier.
they don't seem the least bit interested in serving that market otherwise. You can tell in the significant difference in service and offer compared to LH. You can also tell by the fact that they opup to CE so infrequently.
I'm starting to think the reason they want Aer Lingus is that they want to use it replace BA SH alltogether and focus on the BA brand as a traditional LH flag carrier.
If you can no longer differentiate your short-haul offering you will be reduced to price competition with the LCC and we know from history of schedulled airline failures in the LCC market that BA (legacy carriers generally) just cannot compete on a price basis. This will lead to customer losses as there is no longer anything to keep SH traffic loyal and a reduction in utilised capacity on the SH routes will result. This will further erode profitability, lead to route or schedule cuts and I can't see any way that they could recover from that downward spiral..
LH & KL have been very successful (it seems) in running a regular, regional differentiated feeder service out of the UK. Why can BA not make it work? There will be some calls to say it's all LHR but that's not the entire story, surely?
Mar 3, 2015, 11:06 am
#576
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Londinium
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 930
BA has no need to buy an Irish airline to do that. They could ask their parent company to let them use VY's branding. Or they could start an el-cheapo operation (let's call it BA Connect—or GO!)—but unfortunately repeated experience has proven that BA is incapable of running a shorthaul low cost sidearm.
Vueling is a true leisure airline, while EI operates in the middle ground that BA need but want to get out of.
BA aren't alone in their inability to run a low-cost subsidiary. The brand identity is difficult to split. I remember a business school marketing lecture where the guest from Heinz was talking about competing againt Tesco Value, etc.. Some Frenchy asked "why don't they just start a low cost line of ketchup?"
The collective gasp from the audience almost reduced oxygen levels in the room to dangerous levels. The problem is in the case of BA SH, it doesn't have to be Heinz. In fact, BA would rather it be someone else.
Mar 3, 2015, 11:06 am
#577
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,774
For the remainder of us who either pay for our flights ourselves and/or whose companies will only pay the cheapest fares, it's a big deal!
Mar 3, 2015, 11:13 am
#578
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Buckinghamshire
Programs: BAEC Gold Guest List, Hilton Honours Diamond, Accor Gold
Posts: 2,303
My Facebook feed is overflowing with people saying they're abandoning BA after their upcoming bookings, as this news of the changes sinks in.. Young professionals and some in their middle ages. BA have dropped a clanger on this one.. If there's more to come, they'd better be absolutely sure of lemmings who will take those seats.
Mar 3, 2015, 11:20 am
#580
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
I never understand this obsession with pax cramming everything into the cabin and at most airports there is rarely a wait of more than 10 minutes at the carousel. This is because at least 15-20 minutes have passed by the time you have got off the plane, walked a good few hundred metres, up and down a few escalators and queued at Immigration.
This was the third time that happened in the same year—every time with BA, it doesn't happen with KL/AF/AA/US/DL/AZ, but I accept that is bad luck.
If BA gave a cast iron guarantee that your bag would be waiting for you before you got to the carousel or your money back, I would consider it more often.
Or if bags could be gate checked and promptly delivered back to the gate, also fine.
But the fact is that you check a bag and it's another thing out of your control, in the hands of someone who couldn't really give a stuff if you are delayed for 60 minutes. That is not something I want to pay for. I would pay money to avoid this.
Mar 3, 2015, 11:27 am
#581
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,855
10 minutes would be good at T5 (though not impossible), at LGW or AMS somewhat unlikely. At both airports it can easily take longer for the bag to be delivered than the actual flight time. I had the misfortune to accompany a colleague to AMS 2 weeks ago, unable to HBO on a 2 night visit (suspected shoe fetish) and we waited 45 minutes in baggage reclaim. She put the time to good use (texting, emailing, Book of Faces), I just fumed! I am nearly unable compute a really regular traveller doing anything other than HBO.
Mar 3, 2015, 11:28 am
#582
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: London. Or a plane.
Programs: "Only" 50,000 TPs until BA GGLfL
Posts: 2,779
Mar 3, 2015, 11:29 am
#583
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
10 minutes would be good at T5 (though not impossible), at LGW or AMS somewhat unlikely. At both airports it can easily take longer for the bag to be delivered than the actual flight time. I had the misfortune to accompany a colleague to AMS 2 weeks ago, unable to HBO on a 2 night visit (suspected shoe fetish) and we waited 45 minutes in baggage reclaim. She put the time to good use (texting, emailing, Book of Faces), I just fumed! I am nearly unable compute a really regular traveller doing anything other than HBO.
