Marchtux

In previous Januarys there has been a business class/ClubWorld sale. This year I'm trying to book to SEA (for August) for the 3rd time (previous 2 trips cancelled due to covid). It's been about a 40% discount (£6k for family of 5 vs £10k) in previous years.
This year price is sticking at £10k.

Does the Club World part of the sale come later? Or is it just more expensive now? Anyone have any ideas?

kanderson1965

Yes, will the the real BA sale stand up please.

Mr Silver K

Same here. I always book in January to the US but prices in both Club and First have been stuck ridiculously high for some months. I’m not paying £2k for a flight in Club. I toy between BA trying to recoup lost revenue or that this is the new going rate

Marchtux

Still no movement. Seems wild, but I'm happy to drop £6k on this trip... but not £10-£11k.
If they just maintained the prices/pattern they'd have my cash by now... instead I'm shopping around.

Going to give them another week - but then it's on to Aer Lingus et al... (single tear emoji)

Globaliser

But maybe BA doesn't want your cash at the present time? You have one decision to make, you want to make it now, and once you have made it you won't revisit it. In contrast, BA has to make decisions every day for the next seven months about how much money to take for those seats, and BA wants to maximise how much cash it ultimately gets for them. So taking your cash now for those seats, at a rock-bottom price, and with little chance of churning those seats later for more cash, may not be the most sensible thing for BA to do right now. That's the sort of thinking that may be going on at BA's end.

Malli1

Have to agree. We are typical Jan sale-ers but this year I can see there aren’t prices we are used to. We have nevertheless paid 1.8k pp for return J to SFO/LAX in July which is the highest I’ve ever paid; but I really want to go away to the states in summer so I’m willing to pay it. On the flip, we have also got a holiday through the sale (some small perks like 2 x tier points, free room upgrade, extra £200 off) in Premium Econ to NYC for 7 nights in a great hotel for a hair over 1k each in April (could have been cheaper but I’m picky on flight times). We don’t usually fly PE but I’m down for the short flight with silver lounge access. May or may not be a good deal to others, but I personally thought it was worth it, and I guess that’s what it boils down to if you want to decide to fly these days.

A P Yu

West Coast for £1.8k is pretty good.(Assuming thats ex Lon)

Marchtux

I totally get it - though not bad to be reminded. I have worked in pricing (though not flights). The psychology of it all will be interesting though... This pricing suggests they really think this summer will be different and 2022 will not be like 2021 at all.

Globaliser

At present. Or keeping options open.

Of course, it may turn out that summer 2022 won't be nearly as good as BA hopes, causing BA to push the panic button and us to fill our boots.

Tafflyer

What BA thinks doesn't really matter. The way I work is that if I need (or want) to go somewhere I'll look around and if I see a good fare, then I'll book it and go. If I consider it too expensive, then I will not. The psychology of predicting if it will get cheaper or not, or of possibly bagging a "bargain" only to find it reduced at a later point is one of those risks we have always taken.

Now, in pandemic times, there is simply too much unpredictability for comfort. Whereas I may have booked trips 6-8 months ahead, I now even feel nervous booking 6 weeks ahead. Not so much because prices might fluctuate, but because schedules change, new rules or restrictions get invented and things happen that sometimes have higher priority than jetting off somewhere.

What I will say, is that BA's book with confidence policy and the way they behaved (at least towards me) in the pandemic makes me more willing to put my money their way than some of the others out there. Yes, I still have 15 FTV's to use, and yes it takes me ages to get through on the phone sometimes but (so far) they have been honourable.

A P Yu

Given theyre currently hiring and training thousands of new Cabin Crew someone at BA is betting on a busy summer

The Geek

I waste far too much of my life bagging bargains.

That's where I was a year or so ago, but you can actually use this to your advantage with BWC. Pick where you would like to go & buy the cheapest flights. Wait for the inevitable cancellation and use the free change to your advantage or voucher {re-voucher } it if not. You can also voucher & re-book if there is a significant price drop.

Have to agree there. The outright winners in my experience of the last couple of years have been BA, EasyJet and Premier Inn. The only places BA fell down for us was that you had physically call for a refund on cancelled flights for months, and trying to enforce the 12 month { from date of booking } ticket validity when re-booking cancellations in breach of EC261.

OTAs on the other hand have been an absolute nightmare to deal with to the point I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole in the foreseeable future.

andymcdonnell

Not a sale but BA / AA have DUB-LHR-NYC for around €2,000 return in November. May be other dates but I didn’t look!! Might be useful for some

lcylocal

I am seeing guide a bit of availability at €1300ish throughout the year (per person in Club) on Google Flights.

CKBA

$1100-ish BWI-CPH-BWI in WT+ start of March. Some $3000 cheaper than BWI-LHR-BWI (same BWI-LHR-BWI flights)