BA's Europe Airpass - No answer from BA
Aug 30, 2000, 6:49 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Naples, Florida
Posts: 7,419
BA's Europe Airpass - No answer from BA
That's what BA has on their website:
"Travelling to Europe this year and want to visit more than one city? The British Airways Europe Airpass is the perfect way to experience Europe at terrific savings."
I ordered information on this Airpass a couple of month ago. And again some weeks ago. Nothing happend. Is it existing? Did somebody get such an Airpass? Pricing?
"Travelling to Europe this year and want to visit more than one city? The British Airways Europe Airpass is the perfect way to experience Europe at terrific savings."
I ordered information on this Airpass a couple of month ago. And again some weeks ago. Nothing happend. Is it existing? Did somebody get such an Airpass? Pricing?
Sep 2, 2000, 6:54 am
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Naples, Florida
Posts: 7,419
I found the answer to this in N.Y. Times 9-3-2000 article:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/trave.../pt000903.html
FYING around Europe has never been cheaper, especially for
visitors from abroad. A new Oneworld Alliance air pass offers
bargain fares to non-European visitors to 200 destinations in 50 countries
in Europe and North Africa on member carriers -- including Aer Lingus,
British Airways, Finnair and Iberia -- and a raft of regional affiliates.
In addition, no-frills carriers like EasyJet, Ryanair, Go, Buzz and Virgin
Express collectively serve about 50 destinations with fares up to
one-third less than those of conventional carriers, and with fewer
restrictions. Major carriers, such as Alitalia, Iberia, Swissair and
Lufthansa, are responding with aggressive seat sales on their Web sites
with fares that can be 50 percent less than a year ago.
The Oneworld pass, which became
available a few weeks ago, is a great
way to travel around Europe using
one-way flights between most major
cities. For example, flying from
London to Dublin and then to Paris
and on to Madrid will cost $320.
You can buy just the two flight
coupons needed to get the pass -- or
as many more as you like. The price
depends on the number and the
length of flights.
You must buy the coupons before
you travel to Europe in conjunction
with a round-trip intercontinental
flight -- either direct from a
Oneworld Alliance carrier (Aer
Lingus, American Airlines, British
Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Cathay
Pacific, LanChile, Qantas) or through
a travel agent. But you don't have to
cross the Atlantic with a Oneworld
carrier to get the air pass, which can
be bought any time before you leave.
Once ticketed, however, you cannot
change your itinerary and must book
the first European sector before you
leave home; subsequent coupons,
each for a single one-way flight, can
be left open-dated. Changing the
date of a flight (or several dates at the
same time) costs $40. You have to decide in advance where you want to
travel within one of five zones (see chart).
You cannot switch coupons between zones. You are likely to get a
booking on the flights you seek. Prices are much cheaper than normal
one-way fares and are on a par with round-trip excursion fares --
London to Paris, for example, costs $113 to $128, at $1.49 to the
pound; an air pass coupon is $60 one-way.
And you do not have to return to the point of departure before flying on
to your next destination; for example, if you had a Zone 1 coupon for
London to Amsterdam, you could continue at your own expense to
Munich to use your Zone 2 coupon for Munich to Berlin. For
information: www.oneworldalliance.com or any Oneworld Alliance
partner.
More to Follow
ook for announcements of similar air pass programs from the
13-airline Star Alliance (including Air Canada, SAS, United
Airlines, Austrian Airlines and British Midland) and the four-member
SkyTeam alliance (including Air France and Delta). A Europe by Air
pass (Web site www.europebyair.com) allows travel on 17 regional
carriers for $99 a flight (plus tax) to about 120 cities; you must buy at
least three coupons.
Swissair has a pass with its 10 Qualiflyer alliance partners, such as
Sabena and TAP Air Portugal (www.qualiflyer.com). Three, four, five or
six coupons cost $299, $389, $469 and $539, respectively. Add $100 if
you do not fly with a Qualiflyer partner across the Atlantic. You need
book only the first coupon before starting the trip.
An example of a Qualiflyer routing for $469 might be the following: first
coupon, Lisbon to Brussels to Stockholm; second coupon, Stockholm to
Zurich; third coupon, Basel to Nice; fourth coupon, Nice to Madrid; and
fifth coupon, Madrid to Lisbon. The savings versus regular fares would
be at least 40 percent.
Imitating Southwest
o-frills airlines are expanding at a furious pace and have captured
fans among business and leisure travelers on major routes within
Europe. They are all modeled on Southwest Airlines, whose quick
turn-arounds on short point-to-point routes, no-frills service in which
passengers pay for drinks and snacks, and electronic ticketing all have
helped drive down costs. The European no-frills lines fly fleets of Boeing
737's and have pioneered in on-line booking, often with discounts.
(EasyJet says 80 percent of its passengers book on its Web site).
The no-frills are all ticketless airlines: you get a reference number and just
show up. The one-class seating has the same legroom as cattle class on
regular carriers, and much the same baggage rules.
No-frills airlines' Web sites are typically easier to navigate than those of
major carriers. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com), which became the first
no-frills carrier in Europe in 1985, is a ruthless cost cutter. It operates
from Dublin, Stansted (30 miles northeast of London), Luton (32 miles
northwest of London) and Glasgow, has a fleet of 31 737's and flies to
23 European cities.
Virgin Express (Web site: www.virginexpress.com), which operates from
Brussels with a fleet of 16 737's, serves nine major European cities.
EasyJet (www.easyjet.com), which started service from Luton in
October 1997 with a fleet of brand new 737-300's, will take delivery of
32 Boeing 737-700's over the next four years. The airline is based in
Luton, Liverpool and Geneva; it flies from Luton to 16 cities, from
Liverpool to 8, and from Geneva to Nice, Barcelona, Amsterdam and
the London area (Stansted, Gatwick, Luton).
Go (www.go-fly.com), British Airways' no-frills clone launched in May
1998 at Stansted, has a fleet of 13 737-300's and flies to 17 cities,
including Reykjavik. Buzz (www.buzzaway .com), a subsidiary of KLM
that was launched in January, also operates from Stansted, with eight
British Aerospace 146 jets and two 737's; it flies from Stansted to 14
cities.
The no-frills use secondary airports in some cities because they are
cheaper and have fewer slot restrictions. This may be inconvenient for an
international traveler. But for point-to-point travel in Europe, airports like
Stansted and Luton are as easy to get to from central London and a
blessed relief from megahubs such as Heathrow and Gatwick.
The Stansted and Luton airports, for example, are an easy 40-minute
train ride from central London. EasyJet has a special bus deal from Luton
($7.50 round trip) that delivers you to central London. I sometimes take
the 6:40 a.m. EasyJet flight from Nice to Luton, arriving in London at
7:50 local time, and I'm where I want to be in London an hour later.
The no-frills lines often have better punctuality records than those of the
major airlines. EasyJet is the only carrier that gives passengers a full
refund if the flight is delayed by four hours or more. It also pays for hotel
accommodation if the delay means an overnight at the airport.
Ryanair sometimes uses what you might call tertiary airports. It flies, for
example, in and out of Beauvais, 35 miles northwest of Paris (allow two
and a half hours by bus from Porte Maillot in Paris); Charleroi, to the
north of Brussels; and Lubeck, 40 miles from Hamburg.
For many travelers, low fares make up for the inconvenience. No-frills
carriers typically offer a spread of round-trip fares without the
advance-purchase and Saturday-night-stay conditions of regular
excursion fares. Ryanair has set the pace this summer with a rock-bottom
$43 round-trip fare (with a two-day minimum stay) from Stansted to
Hamburg, $103 to Verona and $43 to Stockholm. But these are lead-in
prices, and you could end up paying more than five times as much if you
don't get one of these special offers.
The no-frills carriers maintain that a high percentage of their seats go for
the lower prices. Buzz says that 30 percent of its seats are sold at its
lowest published fare while Go says that half of its passengers traveled at
the lowest advertised fare last year; Ryanair says that 50 percent of seats
are available at the lowest advertised fare.
Flexible Rules
asyJet is the only no-frills carrier that has kept the promise of low
one-way fares that allow almost total flexibility for midweek travel.
I paid $146 for a round-trip ticket from Nice to London in July, leaving
on Tuesday and returning on Thursday, that would have cost more than
$745 with British Airways on a 737 with similar seating. (EasyJet proudly
announced that its 737 -- the latest addition to the fleet -- was two days
old! And there seemed a normal mix of business and leisure travelers
turning up for the flight.)
One shouldn't forget, however, that EasyJet's fares can rise five- to
tenfold as the plane fills up and that latecomers can pay more for a round
trip than the excursion fare on a conventional airline. But even if you pay
the highest fare out, you may get the cheapest fare back. You can change
your reservation for a $15 charge, although you may have to upgrade to
a higher fare. Thus I paid $74.50 from Nice to London with EasyJet
recently, but $268.50 to come back. It would have been cheaper just to
have paid the $74.50 one-way fare out and bought a round-trip
excursion ticket back with British Airways, throwing away the return
coupon. Then the trip would have cost me $255 instead of $358.
This illustrates the fact that while no-frills carriers are likely to offer the
best price on most occasions, never assume that they are the best value
on all occasions. Compare price and flexibility and buy only as much
flexibility as you need. Flight consolidators like Airline Network
(www.netflights.com) and Trailfinders (www.trailfinders.com) offer
bargains with conventional carriers: London to Amsterdam with British
Midland for $130 with a Saturday night or a minimum two-night stay, or
London to Paris with Air France for $186.50.
Swissair has Zap and Fly fares (www.zapfly.ch) from Geneva or Zurich
to cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Nice and Rome with
round-trip fares of $77 to $270. Fares are published on Wednesdays
and are valid for 10 days with conditions including a Friday night stay.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/trave.../pt000903.html
FYING around Europe has never been cheaper, especially for
visitors from abroad. A new Oneworld Alliance air pass offers
bargain fares to non-European visitors to 200 destinations in 50 countries
in Europe and North Africa on member carriers -- including Aer Lingus,
British Airways, Finnair and Iberia -- and a raft of regional affiliates.
In addition, no-frills carriers like EasyJet, Ryanair, Go, Buzz and Virgin
Express collectively serve about 50 destinations with fares up to
one-third less than those of conventional carriers, and with fewer
restrictions. Major carriers, such as Alitalia, Iberia, Swissair and
Lufthansa, are responding with aggressive seat sales on their Web sites
with fares that can be 50 percent less than a year ago.
The Oneworld pass, which became
available a few weeks ago, is a great
way to travel around Europe using
one-way flights between most major
cities. For example, flying from
London to Dublin and then to Paris
and on to Madrid will cost $320.
You can buy just the two flight
coupons needed to get the pass -- or
as many more as you like. The price
depends on the number and the
length of flights.
You must buy the coupons before
you travel to Europe in conjunction
with a round-trip intercontinental
flight -- either direct from a
Oneworld Alliance carrier (Aer
Lingus, American Airlines, British
Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Cathay
Pacific, LanChile, Qantas) or through
a travel agent. But you don't have to
cross the Atlantic with a Oneworld
carrier to get the air pass, which can
be bought any time before you leave.
Once ticketed, however, you cannot
change your itinerary and must book
the first European sector before you
leave home; subsequent coupons,
each for a single one-way flight, can
be left open-dated. Changing the
date of a flight (or several dates at the
same time) costs $40. You have to decide in advance where you want to
travel within one of five zones (see chart).
You cannot switch coupons between zones. You are likely to get a
booking on the flights you seek. Prices are much cheaper than normal
one-way fares and are on a par with round-trip excursion fares --
London to Paris, for example, costs $113 to $128, at $1.49 to the
pound; an air pass coupon is $60 one-way.
And you do not have to return to the point of departure before flying on
to your next destination; for example, if you had a Zone 1 coupon for
London to Amsterdam, you could continue at your own expense to
Munich to use your Zone 2 coupon for Munich to Berlin. For
information: www.oneworldalliance.com or any Oneworld Alliance
partner.
More to Follow
ook for announcements of similar air pass programs from the
13-airline Star Alliance (including Air Canada, SAS, United
Airlines, Austrian Airlines and British Midland) and the four-member
SkyTeam alliance (including Air France and Delta). A Europe by Air
pass (Web site www.europebyair.com) allows travel on 17 regional
carriers for $99 a flight (plus tax) to about 120 cities; you must buy at
least three coupons.
Swissair has a pass with its 10 Qualiflyer alliance partners, such as
Sabena and TAP Air Portugal (www.qualiflyer.com). Three, four, five or
six coupons cost $299, $389, $469 and $539, respectively. Add $100 if
you do not fly with a Qualiflyer partner across the Atlantic. You need
book only the first coupon before starting the trip.
An example of a Qualiflyer routing for $469 might be the following: first
coupon, Lisbon to Brussels to Stockholm; second coupon, Stockholm to
Zurich; third coupon, Basel to Nice; fourth coupon, Nice to Madrid; and
fifth coupon, Madrid to Lisbon. The savings versus regular fares would
be at least 40 percent.
Imitating Southwest
o-frills airlines are expanding at a furious pace and have captured
fans among business and leisure travelers on major routes within
Europe. They are all modeled on Southwest Airlines, whose quick
turn-arounds on short point-to-point routes, no-frills service in which
passengers pay for drinks and snacks, and electronic ticketing all have
helped drive down costs. The European no-frills lines fly fleets of Boeing
737's and have pioneered in on-line booking, often with discounts.
(EasyJet says 80 percent of its passengers book on its Web site).
The no-frills are all ticketless airlines: you get a reference number and just
show up. The one-class seating has the same legroom as cattle class on
regular carriers, and much the same baggage rules.
No-frills airlines' Web sites are typically easier to navigate than those of
major carriers. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com), which became the first
no-frills carrier in Europe in 1985, is a ruthless cost cutter. It operates
from Dublin, Stansted (30 miles northeast of London), Luton (32 miles
northwest of London) and Glasgow, has a fleet of 31 737's and flies to
23 European cities.
Virgin Express (Web site: www.virginexpress.com), which operates from
Brussels with a fleet of 16 737's, serves nine major European cities.
EasyJet (www.easyjet.com), which started service from Luton in
October 1997 with a fleet of brand new 737-300's, will take delivery of
32 Boeing 737-700's over the next four years. The airline is based in
Luton, Liverpool and Geneva; it flies from Luton to 16 cities, from
Liverpool to 8, and from Geneva to Nice, Barcelona, Amsterdam and
the London area (Stansted, Gatwick, Luton).
Go (www.go-fly.com), British Airways' no-frills clone launched in May
1998 at Stansted, has a fleet of 13 737-300's and flies to 17 cities,
including Reykjavik. Buzz (www.buzzaway .com), a subsidiary of KLM
that was launched in January, also operates from Stansted, with eight
British Aerospace 146 jets and two 737's; it flies from Stansted to 14
cities.
The no-frills use secondary airports in some cities because they are
cheaper and have fewer slot restrictions. This may be inconvenient for an
international traveler. But for point-to-point travel in Europe, airports like
Stansted and Luton are as easy to get to from central London and a
blessed relief from megahubs such as Heathrow and Gatwick.
The Stansted and Luton airports, for example, are an easy 40-minute
train ride from central London. EasyJet has a special bus deal from Luton
($7.50 round trip) that delivers you to central London. I sometimes take
the 6:40 a.m. EasyJet flight from Nice to Luton, arriving in London at
7:50 local time, and I'm where I want to be in London an hour later.
The no-frills lines often have better punctuality records than those of the
major airlines. EasyJet is the only carrier that gives passengers a full
refund if the flight is delayed by four hours or more. It also pays for hotel
accommodation if the delay means an overnight at the airport.
Ryanair sometimes uses what you might call tertiary airports. It flies, for
example, in and out of Beauvais, 35 miles northwest of Paris (allow two
and a half hours by bus from Porte Maillot in Paris); Charleroi, to the
north of Brussels; and Lubeck, 40 miles from Hamburg.
For many travelers, low fares make up for the inconvenience. No-frills
carriers typically offer a spread of round-trip fares without the
advance-purchase and Saturday-night-stay conditions of regular
excursion fares. Ryanair has set the pace this summer with a rock-bottom
$43 round-trip fare (with a two-day minimum stay) from Stansted to
Hamburg, $103 to Verona and $43 to Stockholm. But these are lead-in
prices, and you could end up paying more than five times as much if you
don't get one of these special offers.
The no-frills carriers maintain that a high percentage of their seats go for
the lower prices. Buzz says that 30 percent of its seats are sold at its
lowest published fare while Go says that half of its passengers traveled at
the lowest advertised fare last year; Ryanair says that 50 percent of seats
are available at the lowest advertised fare.
Flexible Rules
asyJet is the only no-frills carrier that has kept the promise of low
one-way fares that allow almost total flexibility for midweek travel.
I paid $146 for a round-trip ticket from Nice to London in July, leaving
on Tuesday and returning on Thursday, that would have cost more than
$745 with British Airways on a 737 with similar seating. (EasyJet proudly
announced that its 737 -- the latest addition to the fleet -- was two days
old! And there seemed a normal mix of business and leisure travelers
turning up for the flight.)
One shouldn't forget, however, that EasyJet's fares can rise five- to
tenfold as the plane fills up and that latecomers can pay more for a round
trip than the excursion fare on a conventional airline. But even if you pay
the highest fare out, you may get the cheapest fare back. You can change
your reservation for a $15 charge, although you may have to upgrade to
a higher fare. Thus I paid $74.50 from Nice to London with EasyJet
recently, but $268.50 to come back. It would have been cheaper just to
have paid the $74.50 one-way fare out and bought a round-trip
excursion ticket back with British Airways, throwing away the return
coupon. Then the trip would have cost me $255 instead of $358.
This illustrates the fact that while no-frills carriers are likely to offer the
best price on most occasions, never assume that they are the best value
on all occasions. Compare price and flexibility and buy only as much
flexibility as you need. Flight consolidators like Airline Network
(www.netflights.com) and Trailfinders (www.trailfinders.com) offer
bargains with conventional carriers: London to Amsterdam with British
Midland for $130 with a Saturday night or a minimum two-night stay, or
London to Paris with Air France for $186.50.
Swissair has Zap and Fly fares (www.zapfly.ch) from Geneva or Zurich
to cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Nice and Rome with
round-trip fares of $77 to $270. Fares are published on Wednesdays
and are valid for 10 days with conditions including a Friday night stay.