benjyyy

It all depends on the price point. I really don't think its going to be good news. Is it not usually better to have 6 options rather than 3?

henkybaby

Value judgement aside, that is a good point. I assume you can't 'add a bag' to your HBO fare. At least it isn't mentioned. So if you decide that you need to bring a bag after all, you are forced to upgrade the entire fare?

That would not be good.

checkerboard

This.

Ldnn1

Interestingly the notice says that HBO fares will continue to be filed as a private fare. Given that the differential to WTB fares will likely increase, ITA Matrix (and some other engines) will likely become an even more misleading source for BA short haul pricing. This is rather a shame as I otherwise love the Matrix!

missdimeaner

Assuming seat selection based on status remains the same for non HBO fares, I can see that passengers who have to pay for advanced seat selection will get one up on HBO fares, getting a full 24hrs before HBO seats are allocated.
Having done 1 (yes that many) HBO, I must say that I am not keen to repeat the experience. I missed dumping my cabin sized suitcase instead of having to lug it around.
I have had a few AA domestic flights where they have offered free same day flight changes (full fare Y) but as yet haven't availed myself of this facility.
Am I right to assume that these changes will only be for new bookings after that date ?

EvilDoctorK

I would expect that we'll all be booking HBO fares (and adding bags) more often in the future as I'm sure the price premium is going to go up significantly

The weird (perhaps hopeful) thing though is reading that document the price that they publish externally will be only Semi-Flex then (as presumably most 3rd party systems won't recognise the "private" Hand Baggage fares and there will be no such thing as cheap non flexible with baggage fares ) - If they increase the price of with baggage fares up by the current "Semi Flex" premium then in 3rd party tools they are going to look ludicrously expensive compared to Lufthansa , Air France etc. ... perhaps they don't care, or perhaps they're cleverer than we think and we might be positively surprised !

corporate-wage-slave

In abstract, yes. But the problem with the semi-flex tickets in particular was that they were poorly understood by staff and there was a not-very-clear 1 hour rule that meant that calling in the change advantage was very heavy weather. Now if a customer goes to customer service it's quite simple:
HBO: it will cost you a lot (and yes you can add a bag online or at the airport, also for a hefty fee).
Anything else: it will cost only the fare difference, which could be nil if the flight is low loaded.

It also gets around the silly situation when people are forced to scoff all of the lounge biscuits when they arrive early from their meeting, in order to sit on their prebooked completely full flight, when the earlier service runs out half empty. Which has knock-on benefits to anyone on standby for the later service.

Incidentally, I bet the HBO fares will continue to show up on the Flight Comparison websites such as Skyscanner. From discussions with BA managers, that is area where it really matters, and if anything I suspect BA's flights will undercut both LCC and legacy flyers for much of the time, as they do now.

Ldnn1

I may be wrong but I strongly suspect you will continue to be able to add a bag for a fee to an HBO fare without making it semi-flex.

henkybaby

Yes, that seems completely and 100% logical. So basically what they are selling is non-flex, almost fully flex and fully flex with only the non-flex requiring you to pay for luggage and seating.

Seems an even simpler way to represent your fares and how most airlines do it...

EvilDoctorK

.... indeed and if they just added seat selection for status passengers back to HBO fares then we'd probably all be happy

1010101

On the face of it the first genuine 'enhancement' in a long time. I await to see if they screw us with the fares or restriction of status benefits. If not, well done BA ^

headingwest

An interesting development...and may make it worth spending a little more for 'with checked bag' for the flexibility.

I'm a little surprised that they didn't decide to take this opportunity to rename the fares (for example - basic, standard, flex), but I'm glad they didn't!

BotB

Thanks for posting about this new development...great to know about it and will be interesting to see how it develops...

I do wonder why we haven't heard about this from our BA rep(s) on the board first but I do hope they will at least answer the questions being raised about this change...

dca100

I love the idea of free on-the-day flight time switches.

The devil will be in the detail of course.

I wonder whether redemption bookings will be classed as 'With Checked Bag'. The ability to switch to an earlier/later flight where there was previously no availability would be tremendous.

Will be interesting to see whether 'With Bag' fares become the same throughout the day in future, otherwise might as well pick the cheapest available and switch.

Finally will the flight time changes be doable through MMB or will it require a visit to the check-in desk?

710 77345

No - again, there is no fare difference to pay when you change at the customer service desk on the day for non-HBO tickets.