BA removes A class on the BOS and DXB routes
Dec 6, 2018, 4:10 am
#16
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,158
Well, I would normally stop crediting to BAEC after 1500TP and credit to AA but this year after inadvertantly hitting nearly 2000TP I continued on to achieve GUF2 at 2500TP. Since we all know redemption F is so hard to come by, I did so fully intending to use it on a revenue booking into A class. I guess I now need to make that booking quickly.
Dec 6, 2018, 4:37 am
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,502
Dec 6, 2018, 4:44 am
#21
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: WAW ✈ LHR ✈ GLA
Programs: BA GfL/GGL/CCR, HH Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,498
Dec 6, 2018, 4:50 am
#22
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: BA
Posts: 102
Dec 6, 2018, 6:01 am
#23
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 12,237
Agreed on these routes... however there's lots of chatter on FT that JFK will get A350.... which I haven't thought would be the case
Dec 6, 2018, 6:10 am
#25
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: AA EXP CXDM, Bonvoy Gold, WOH Globalist, HHonors Diamond, Amex Cent
Posts: 98
Dec 6, 2018, 6:25 am
#26
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: BA GGL, LH FTL
Posts: 3,577
It probably is very true that BA First is too cheap (between avios, GUFs, 241s, AUP, POUG it must be one of the most affordable F products of any major airline). The quality of the product is also consistent with the price point.
Having said that - I'm not sure how making the product more expensive is going to improve the bottom line. Surely revenue management have already priced tickets so they could fill the planes with maximum revenue. Increasing prices would only reduce the load factors?
Interested to see if this will be extended to other routes...
Having said that - I'm not sure how making the product more expensive is going to improve the bottom line. Surely revenue management have already priced tickets so they could fill the planes with maximum revenue. Increasing prices would only reduce the load factors?
Interested to see if this will be extended to other routes...
Dec 6, 2018, 6:57 am
#28
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 2,447
Basically it pulls the rug on revenue CW-F GUF tickets via TA and GGL redemptions. Which, really, is a big downgrade for high status flyers within BA.
Obviously all about revenue management: more is wanted, while avoiding the cabin overlap fares as pointed out by others above.
What'll happen when people are forced to pay more for First though? Fewer people will fly it. Especially on these routes!
Obviously all about revenue management: more is wanted, while avoiding the cabin overlap fares as pointed out by others above.
What'll happen when people are forced to pay more for First though? Fewer people will fly it. Especially on these routes!
Dec 6, 2018, 7:04 am
#29
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,888
Dec 6, 2018, 7:41 am
#30
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Lewes, UK
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 1,212
If you read the full text on the trade website you will realise this is a consequence of moving from ancient (in IT terms) selling systems into the modern era (NDC technology be at the heart of the change).
NDC technology enables BA to have a much finer grained level of fares than linking just to fare classes. You already get this on many sites using NDC, including BA.com, where several different fares can map to the same letter class. The trade site goes on to say that the number of inventory buckets in F is going up from 5 to 6! Club World is increasing from 5 to 9 and economy from 11 to 25 (WT+ remains the same)!
The trade site also says semi-flexible F will be retained.
Question: how will BA make more profit from this. Answer: there will be more intermediate price points allowing BA to gain marginal revenue, by spreading inventory across a wider set of price points.
If this scheme is rolled out, as surely as it will be, the rules asbout GUF2 may have to change.
NDC technology enables BA to have a much finer grained level of fares than linking just to fare classes. You already get this on many sites using NDC, including BA.com, where several different fares can map to the same letter class. The trade site goes on to say that the number of inventory buckets in F is going up from 5 to 6! Club World is increasing from 5 to 9 and economy from 11 to 25 (WT+ remains the same)!
The trade site also says semi-flexible F will be retained.
Question: how will BA make more profit from this. Answer: there will be more intermediate price points allowing BA to gain marginal revenue, by spreading inventory across a wider set of price points.
If this scheme is rolled out, as surely as it will be, the rules asbout GUF2 may have to change.
Last edited by pennineuk; Dec 6, 2018 at 7:43 am Reason: Additional info