corporate-wage-slave

A good simplification. Having Business UK as a subset of Plus Flex wasn't going to be an easy sell. If the baggage allowance was upgraded to CE levels then I think BA would give the admittedly expensive Plus Flex ticket a neat boost.

Happytohelp

When the changes were announced to us, the comms did say there would be further changes to fares. More info would be released in April.

I'm guessing it's not the renaming of the fares but something else coming down the line. No idea what it could be. I tend to get my info from here first! There still hasn't been any comms about the Club rooms in LGW sent out. I've heard one of the guys on the new way of working trial share it with his team.

orbitmic

Just thought I'd report on how the new fares have impacted my purchasing habits. Since the introduction of HBO, I'd say that 90% of my point to point European flights on BA were HBO and only 10% CBI.

Since the addition of same day flexibility to CBI fares, this has moved to about 70/30 so definitely and incentive to buy more luggage inclusive fares.

I should say that this is effectively 100% for the same day flexibility as I will continue flying with my hand baggage only whenever possible which is 90%+ of the time, not least as my luggage delivery record with BA continues to be particularly atrocious (only 2 out of 6 trips incident free!) since the start of this year and makes me wish to avoid entrusting them with my luggage as much as possible.

M17SST

Took advantage of the same day change on a flight from DUB to LHR a fortnight ago:

- the process was very straightforward and all easily done online within less than 2 minutes
- as well as retiming we were given the option of changing our flight to either LGW or LCY. LHR happened to work well for us but it looks like you can vary the destination in London.
- Aer Lingus flights are included in the choices...
- slight hiccup with bags as our baggage allowance didn't carry through to the Aer Lingus system - solved by the agent who put our smaller bag through as though it was gate checked, but prior to that she was insisting we should pay

Overall, very impressed with how it worked and got home an hour earlier so in our eyes a genuine enhancement.

rossmacd

This looks like good news, overall. The online functionality sounds to be good (although I have not yet used it). Although, I really do hope that BA have resourced up accordingly for the additional volume of calls this will bring to Contact Centres, for those who do not have access to laptop/data while on the move.




But this is BA we're talking about, so I guess not....

corporate-wage-slave

That's probably correct: if booked on Aer Lingus you get Aer Lingus' less generous allowances and no account taken of status. So you need to watch that one when it comes to rebooking. The Aer Lingus allowance, whether Blue or Prem, is 1 bag at 20 kgs, and since baggage fees are a bit money piece for the airline you can't assume on much flexibility. If you know you are going to go over you best call and pay in advance to Aer Lingus' telephone centre since it will be a lot cheaper. Being on a BA ticket, BA codeshare, rebooked, makes no difference; if irrop'd by BA you may need to pay and claim back, though generally for irrops this is handled in the irrop process.

nufnuf77

For the PLUS fares does the 1 hour apply to the originally scheduled flight or the one you want to change into on the day?
Say, if I am at VIE airport 2.5 hours before my original flight and there is one leaving in 30 minutes as well, could I change onto that one?

M17SST

Interestingly the confirmation from BA gave us our original baggage allowance (2 bags each), although I didn't pick the email up until after it had been resolved and we were through security. They confirmed at the desk that if I could access the email they would have honoured BA's allowance.

I did feedback to BA - not as a complaint but to highlight that there was a bit of confusion as this could definitely catch people out.

ZZ100

No must be an hour before both flights

Kgmm77

Not sure if this has been picked up elsewhere, but BA has demonstrated that it can fix IT bugs where it needs to

There was a loophole that non-HBO fares (which had a change fee) that were booked before the new PLUS ticket conditions came into force were benefiting from the new 'free same day change' and 'no change fee to move date' features.

But it ain't there any more.

GaxxyFlyer

If I have a BA return ticket to DUB and the return is on Aer Lingus metal, can I still make use of the semi flexibility? If so, will I need to go to the BA area in T1 or can I still go to T2?

MsCapricorn

Ideally I want the 1035 flight but it's £243, however, the 2100 flight is only £100. Can I change flight on the day or does there have to be a certain fare class available?

Cymro

On EI metal, I don't believe you can use the flexibility.

Yes, you could use the £100 ticket on the day, but only if the £243 flight has space. If too many people buy the £100 fare then that flight might easily sell out even if there is still plenty of availability the day before. So it doesn't go by fare bucket but the fuller the flight, the harder it will be to get on it.

(So if it you need to be there well before 2100, don't book the 2100! If it's just a question of preference, go for it).

MsCapricorn

Thank you. So providing there's a seat available I will get on the flight? Flying GLA to LHR so several options. Could I change onto a LCY or LGW flight?

BA6501

No, you have to keep the same airport pair. Yes to the first question.