orbitmic

Yes, but as you have been rightly told, it can't unless you buy the same fare.

Basically, several people can only be on the same PNR if everything is the same across the bookings: same dates, same flights, same class of service, same bucket, same fare and fare type, etc. If there is any different whatsoever, (being one more flight from one, a different return flight, a different class of travel or one HBO vs one classic), it has to be separate PNRs. That's a universal reality.

You also can't "rant" if BA does not give you what we know they are willing to in the context of GCH and other members on a separate booking because those are informal benefits that come above and beyond what one should get, ie, normally, separate booking should give no benefit to some one on a separate booking, and indeed doesn't for silver card holders etc. The fact that BA gives us something is purely good will and it is informal and not really something we can complain about much when the delivery isn't great. And indeed it can only be requested by phone and will not be immediate (they will pass it on to someone to do the seat booking for your co-travellers, not fix it there and then on the phone).

So in effect, your options are either to save money and then FT is great to see what you can salvage in terms of advantage and as KARFA rightly mentioned benefits from the fabulous contribution of occasional BA agents informing us, but that will neither be as many advantages as you'd have on a single PNR, nor typically easy; or go for simplicity by booking both pax on the same PNR but that will mean "wasting" some money .

Jzlerner

​​​​​​When I said rant it was more of joke. But you would think that if the policy is no seat selection for travellers on a separate booking HBO, that they would mention it on their site right where it says free seat selection for travellers on other bookings.

Bohinjska Bistrica

Is an avios booking an option here? If so, surely that would mitigate the problem?

Jzlerner

As mentioned by other posters for the same PNR everything has to be the same dates/ fare type. So a redemption would solve the main issue of baggage but still not the seat selection etc.

Seemingly there's no way to do this so I think the answer is just two bookings and I check her bag on my allowance. The money saved is still cheaper than paying for seat selection so only downside is priority but that's not a huge problem.

​​​​​​Thanks everyone for the advice

ratechaser

I can imagine if the basic fare is being booked via a third party (OTA presumably), then that's yet another reason that BA won't touch it!

Look, I get it, this whole forum is about maximising benefits and minimising cost, but this has gone way past the complexity and effort threshold where I'd be trying to make something work, even for that amount of potential saving... you could always pay for the seat selection and you'd still be saving money overall presumably?

Jzlerner

They won't touch it for things like date changes but for seats and everything except the actual flights it's all done via MMB not the OTA so I see no reason why they wouldn't in theory

PAL62V

I actually had precisely the same question as the OP and posted last night. Thankfully the OH relented (deleted the post) and we booked two basic fares, after I convinced her we had more than enough HBO space.

However it seems ridiculous that if you booked with SqueezyJet, they allow you to book the basic fare and then add a bag for a reasonable amount. Their flight times didn’t suit us.

Cannot see why BA can’t have that simple flexibility

KARFA

I thought you could add a bag with a HBO fare as well once booked?

ratechaser

Yes you can, and if this fare is available via an OTA for £200 less then that's surely the best way to do it and will actually save more overall than the more complex approach being proposed here. Im not sure if you can pay for 32kg bags instead of just 23kg ones, but even 3x23kg bags paid for would work out cheaper...

And of course the OP will still get all the other non-bag benefits of status and it will be on a single PNR from the start!

PAL62V

You can. However it’s way more expensive than buying one single Y fare with bay included. And if you only want one bag but two fares, it all gets ridiculous.

KARFA

Well yes it would be, otherwise there really wouldn’t be much point in HBO fares

i guess one bag and two fares on one booking isn’t something U2 can do either? In fact my suspicion would be one booking two fares not being possible is pretty much industry standard?

corporate-wage-slave

Just occasionally it works out best to go HBO. Sometimes there is a time limited arbitrage aspect - the HBO fare is competing against some Virgin promotion or something so the lowest non Basic fare is higher than it would otherwise be. If the bag is only going one way then HBO for the return plus baggage fee can work out cheapest, and for larger groups, if only 1 or 2 bags are checked in between say 5 passengers, the baggage fee can work out.

But yes I've always found it odd that people book HBO tickets and yet want to check a bag. Even on short trips away. The cabin baggage allowance is pretty generous.

Jzlerner

CWS would you know when booking economy on an OTA they're usually HBO. But on most you can add a bag whilst booking. Does this take it from HBO fare to regular economy fare? Would be useful to know for the rest of status benefits. Or it's still classified as HBO fare but you've paid extra for a bag

corporate-wage-slave

Adding a bag - on BA channel, TA or OTA channels - keeps you in Basic even after payment. There would be a few exceptions, the obvious being if you made the change in the first 24 hours and it becomes apparent that a non Basic fare is cheaper, you can then just pay the fare difference rather than the baggage fee. And occasionally if you go through a series of cancellations the keywords get all mucked up and so you can add a bag for free without anyone knowing better. POUGs and AUPs are the other options, to higher cabins. The baggage fee is published in ba.com/baggage so you can see what you are letting yourself in for there, and it is the same fee for both BA and TA channels. Some TAs are slow to to ticket which in turns makes it tricky to advance purchase.

ratechaser

But it wouldn't mean wasting any money. Not if, as the OP said, the basic OTA fare was £200 cheaper than the 'standard' fare... Based on my experience, a 23kg bag added to a basic fare is typically about £60 return, so 3 bags could be added and it still be cheaper overall if they booked both tickets through the OTA (I make no comment as to the advisability of going through an OTA in the first place)

Et voila - one PNR, still with free seating for both, no calling for TCP, and still a saving versus the original rather convoluted plan.

Or am I missing something?