BA Enhances its short haul economy fare structure
Mar 9, 2016, 7:17 am
#316
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Vale of Glamorgan
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 2,992
If I were responsible for a failed upgrade such as this - never mind the number of failures that ba.com is experiencing lately - I would quite rightly be out of a job. You simply can't roll out updates to critical, customer-facing applications in such a casual manner.
Mar 9, 2016, 7:18 am
#317
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: North East
Programs: Hilton HHonors, BAEC Silver
Posts: 1,204
On the few routes that I have looked at, the one way HBO fares have increased by a few pounds, as have the with checked luggage fares. Generally I think this is a great enhancement if the fares that I have found continue going forward.
One thing I have noticed, is that now you can have a semi-flex ticket falling into far more fare buckets. Previously with semi flex fares, my understanding was that if the fare bucket that was originally booked was not available, you were re-booked into the Y/J bucket.
On the basis of the above, my question is can you therefore book the cheapest O bucket semi-flex fare which would yield 5 TP's, then change on the day to a heavily loaded flight which will be re-booked into Y/J and therefore receive the 20TP's for maybe the original £54 that was paid for the O bucket?? Apologies in advance if this has already been covered.
One thing I have noticed, is that now you can have a semi-flex ticket falling into far more fare buckets. Previously with semi flex fares, my understanding was that if the fare bucket that was originally booked was not available, you were re-booked into the Y/J bucket.
On the basis of the above, my question is can you therefore book the cheapest O bucket semi-flex fare which would yield 5 TP's, then change on the day to a heavily loaded flight which will be re-booked into Y/J and therefore receive the 20TP's for maybe the original £54 that was paid for the O bucket?? Apologies in advance if this has already been covered.
Mar 9, 2016, 7:51 am
#318
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bristol
Programs: BA GGL, UA Plat, DL Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,380
Does British Airways not properly test software updates before making them live? Or have a backout plan for failed enhancements?
If I were responsible for a failed upgrade such as this - never mind the number of failures that ba.com is experiencing lately - I would quite rightly be out of a job. You simply can't roll out updates to critical, customer-facing applications in such a casual manner.
If I were responsible for a failed upgrade such as this - never mind the number of failures that ba.com is experiencing lately - I would quite rightly be out of a job. You simply can't roll out updates to critical, customer-facing applications in such a casual manner.
Mar 9, 2016, 8:14 am
#319
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,797
Does British Airways not properly test software updates before making them live? Or have a backout plan for failed enhancements?
If I were responsible for a failed upgrade such as this - never mind the number of failures that ba.com is experiencing lately - I would quite rightly be out of a job. You simply can't roll out updates to critical, customer-facing applications in such a casual manner.
If I were responsible for a failed upgrade such as this - never mind the number of failures that ba.com is experiencing lately - I would quite rightly be out of a job. You simply can't roll out updates to critical, customer-facing applications in such a casual manner.
Mar 9, 2016, 8:57 am
#320
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Portsmouth, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR
Posts: 791
)
Mar 9, 2016, 9:38 am
#321
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 1,406
I was looking at a Bologna flight a few days ago that came in at sub £100 rtn, HBO. Today all I see is one mega-wide column called "Economy", no mention of bags or not, and the price is £264!
I think I'm going to wait for things to settle down.....
One thing I have noticed is an almost total lack of "O" bucket on many of the routes I had been looking at which seemed to have loads earlier this week. FCO for example on some dates in August.
I think I'm going to wait for things to settle down.....
One thing I have noticed is an almost total lack of "O" bucket on many of the routes I had been looking at which seemed to have loads earlier this week. FCO for example on some dates in August.
Mar 9, 2016, 10:38 am
#322
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Brighton, UK
Programs: BA Gold, IC Ambassador, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Fairmont Platinum
Posts: 3,166
What I did was take a series of screen shots of my 4 most frequent services, for 22 March and 20 April. Now I took these screenshots 48 hours back so there will be changes in fares over a 48 hour period, quite legitimately.
My impressions, taking into account that it's a limited amount of data:
- no changes to LGW prices at all, but that's because the changes haven't rolled through there, still showing change fees on non HBO.
- not much changes on LCY, but the changes are in place
- not much change on LHR fares for flights a month out for shorthaul Europe
- an increase in fares for Domestic, the NCL-LHR £46 is now £54 across the board
- an increase in fares close up to departure, in the £3 to £10 area. So the delta between HBO and non HBO is maintained, but the fares are up
- no obvious changes to Club Europe, so closer in this becomes more attractive.
So my overall impression is that for leisure travellers booking in advance this works fine, you get "free" extra flexibility. For domestic travellers there seems to be a fare increase. For people buying close in (e.g. business travellers) the fares are a bit higher but the non HBO fare is more attractive.
It's worth remembering that the competition here is Easyjet: they don't give any meaningful refund on their normal fares, unlike BA which at the cheaper end gives quite a hefty refund on cancellations. So subject to how LGW works out, where the U2 competition is far greater, there is a moderate repositioning of BA's fares in these changes.
My impressions, taking into account that it's a limited amount of data:
- no changes to LGW prices at all, but that's because the changes haven't rolled through there, still showing change fees on non HBO.
- not much changes on LCY, but the changes are in place
- not much change on LHR fares for flights a month out for shorthaul Europe
- an increase in fares for Domestic, the NCL-LHR £46 is now £54 across the board
- an increase in fares close up to departure, in the £3 to £10 area. So the delta between HBO and non HBO is maintained, but the fares are up
- no obvious changes to Club Europe, so closer in this becomes more attractive.
So my overall impression is that for leisure travellers booking in advance this works fine, you get "free" extra flexibility. For domestic travellers there seems to be a fare increase. For people buying close in (e.g. business travellers) the fares are a bit higher but the non HBO fare is more attractive.
It's worth remembering that the competition here is Easyjet: they don't give any meaningful refund on their normal fares, unlike BA which at the cheaper end gives quite a hefty refund on cancellations. So subject to how LGW works out, where the U2 competition is far greater, there is a moderate repositioning of BA's fares in these changes.
Shame BA could not have made it much clearer at the outset that they were not going to consolidate on the previous semi-flex buckets thus eliminating lower priced with luggage fares.
What has been rolled out looks like the additional semi-flex benefit comes at little, if any, additional cost - a real enhancement for a change.
It was my contention that BA wanted to sell more with luggage fares (though probably to former HBO customers who won't actually want to check luggage) to raise average revenue. That seems to be reflected in the price structure rolled out.
At least now there is a very clear demarcation in product - buy an HBO fare and expect to pay extra for anything else or buy an inclusive fare and get full status benefits and generous flexibility.
The only outstanding issue is whether the last status benefit (lounge access) is maintained for much longer on HBO fares. I suspect its days are numbered.
Mar 9, 2016, 11:29 am
#323
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: 63,833
What has been rolled out looks like the additional semi-flex benefit comes at little, if any, additional cost - a real enhancement for a change.
It was my contention that BA wanted to sell more with luggage fares (though probably to former HBO customers who won't actually want to check luggage) to raise average revenue. That seems to be reflected in the price structure rolled out.
At least now there is a very clear demarcation in product - buy an HBO fare and expect to pay extra for anything else or buy an inclusive fare and get full status benefits and generous flexibility.
The only outstanding issue is whether the last status benefit (lounge access) is maintained for much longer on HBO fares. I suspect its days are numbered.
It was my contention that BA wanted to sell more with luggage fares (though probably to former HBO customers who won't actually want to check luggage) to raise average revenue. That seems to be reflected in the price structure rolled out.
At least now there is a very clear demarcation in product - buy an HBO fare and expect to pay extra for anything else or buy an inclusive fare and get full status benefits and generous flexibility.
The only outstanding issue is whether the last status benefit (lounge access) is maintained for much longer on HBO fares. I suspect its days are numbered.
- to keep filling up aircraft (so it has to offer prices competitive to rival airlines, hence the focus on comparison websites)
- to extract a bit more margin (so a modest tilt towards business travellers wanting flexibility, to shift them off HBO).
- try and get a few more quid out of Domestics, £40 one way to GLA, sometimes booked the night before, isn't sustainable.
I think the HBO=no lounge isn't going to happen, if it was the moment would have been now. The corporate customers and BA marketers would have been in meltdown over that.
Mar 9, 2016, 11:44 am
#324
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Oslo
Programs: SAS EBG, IHG Spire Amb, CCG
Posts: 591
So my overall impression is that for leisure travellers booking in advance this works fine, you get "free" extra flexibility. For domestic travellers there seems to be a fare increase. For people buying close in (e.g. business travellers) the fares are a bit higher but the non HBO fare is more attractive.
.
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Mar 9, 2016, 12:21 pm
#326
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Glasgow
Programs: British Airways Silver, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, AMEX plat
Posts: 251
HBO option has returned on the LHR-BRU route. Hopefully it will be back for other routes soon. In all honesty, I see this as quite an enhancement.
Mar 9, 2016, 12:32 pm
#328
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
In any event, I suspect the remit to the IT department was "This needs to be ready by tomorrow", not "This needs to be ready when it's ready"
Mar 9, 2016, 12:36 pm
#329
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,773
The thing is, if semi-flex is now readily available for pretty cheap (c.£60 up) who on earth is still going to buy full flex, unless it's absolutely the only option left?
I mean the answer to that question should already have been 'no one' even before these changes, and yet some companies still went with it. Can there really be any justification for that now?
(I know those companies don't pay published prices, but still...)
I mean the answer to that question should already have been 'no one' even before these changes, and yet some companies still went with it. Can there really be any justification for that now?
(I know those companies don't pay published prices, but still...)
Mar 9, 2016, 1:24 pm
#330
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
The thing is, if semi-flex is now readily available for pretty cheap (c.£60 up) who on earth is still going to buy full flex, unless it's absolutely the only option left?
I mean the answer to that question should already have been 'no one' even before these changes, and yet some companies still went with it. Can there really be any justification for that now?
(I know those companies don't pay published prices, but still...)
I mean the answer to that question should already have been 'no one' even before these changes, and yet some companies still went with it. Can there really be any justification for that now?
(I know those companies don't pay published prices, but still...)
Anyone whose company obtains a full flex fare for the price of a HBO fare
et c...