May 3, 2025, 12:19 pm
Last edit by: EsherFlyer
Overview of Post-March 2025 BA Holidays (BAH) and related New Tier Point Earning
BAH Rules
TBD
BA Examples, and notes
FAQ
What changes are allowed to a holiday booking?
There is a stated change fee of 100, plus any fare increases or non-refundable costs such as hotels.
Where do I build an itinerary with hotels, car hire, etc that don't go from start to end of the trip?
The 'Complex Itinerary' builder will let you do that: https://www.britishairways.com/badp/...ries/search.do
BAH Rules
TBD
BA Examples, and notes
Heres an example:
*You make a Flight + Hotel booking for 2 people with a total price of 1,000
*Each traveller would be eligible to earn 500 Tier Points after their trip
*Each traveller would also collect Avios for each eligible flight they take as part of their booking
*The person who makes the booking would also receive 1,000 bonus Avios
*You make a Flight + Hotel booking for 2 people with a total price of 1,000
*Each traveller would be eligible to earn 500 Tier Points after their trip
*Each traveller would also collect Avios for each eligible flight they take as part of their booking
*The person who makes the booking would also receive 1,000 bonus Avios
What changes are allowed to a holiday booking?
There is a stated change fee of 100, plus any fare increases or non-refundable costs such as hotels.
Where do I build an itinerary with hotels, car hire, etc that don't go from start to end of the trip?
The 'Complex Itinerary' builder will let you do that: https://www.britishairways.com/badp/...ries/search.do
BAC - BAH Discussion (Applicable Apr 25 onwards)
Jan 3, 2025 | 7:55 pm
#46
Join Date: May 2005
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA GGLfL, Flying Blue Platinum, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 912
This is the real problem with this strategy and Rob at Headforpoints has pointed this out well. As much as I get the BA wants to displace Expedia argument, it doesn’t make any sense at all in combination with what they’ve done to thresholds, since the main travellers that would be happy to book more through BA Holidays are the ones they’re pushing away!
- High spend corporate travellers will be forced to continue to book hotels through their corporate travel agent, so unless BA is planning to buy a corporate travel agency to add to BA Holidays, no dice here. On top of this, BA Holidays is unable to offer status benefits as a further blow, which will prevent BA capturing a lot of the leisure spend of these travellers outside of work
- Small business owners have just been told to get lost by the new thresholds
- The very wealthy in West London spending 65K on a holiday to the Maldives often won’t even be booking it themselves, their PA will be. Assuming they are booking it, they will probably go to a specialist luxury travel agent who can ensure they get the right layout of villa at Cheval Blanc and arrange the amenities they want in the room, not book it online through a faceless website that doesn’t currently even properly list the room type due to IT limitations. Are you really telling me they were booking this Maldives vacation through Expedia before this change came along and now they’ll use BA Holidays?
- Middle class leisure travellers not tied into a hotel program who probably were happy to book through BA Holidays have just been told to get lost and won’t retain Silver any longer
I don’t think any of my friends who don’t chase status have even HEARD of BA Holidays. People booking through BA Holidays I would guess are largely those who used the airline and found out about BA Holidays through that. The sequencing of this change feels totally off to me.
- High spend corporate travellers will be forced to continue to book hotels through their corporate travel agent, so unless BA is planning to buy a corporate travel agency to add to BA Holidays, no dice here. On top of this, BA Holidays is unable to offer status benefits as a further blow, which will prevent BA capturing a lot of the leisure spend of these travellers outside of work
- Small business owners have just been told to get lost by the new thresholds
- The very wealthy in West London spending 65K on a holiday to the Maldives often won’t even be booking it themselves, their PA will be. Assuming they are booking it, they will probably go to a specialist luxury travel agent who can ensure they get the right layout of villa at Cheval Blanc and arrange the amenities they want in the room, not book it online through a faceless website that doesn’t currently even properly list the room type due to IT limitations. Are you really telling me they were booking this Maldives vacation through Expedia before this change came along and now they’ll use BA Holidays?
- Middle class leisure travellers not tied into a hotel program who probably were happy to book through BA Holidays have just been told to get lost and won’t retain Silver any longer
I don’t think any of my friends who don’t chase status have even HEARD of BA Holidays. People booking through BA Holidays I would guess are largely those who used the airline and found out about BA Holidays through that. The sequencing of this change feels totally off to me.
Jan 3, 2025 | 7:59 pm
#47
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: Some
Posts: 6,652
I thought I would take a look at BA Holidays today. Considering booking a Ritz-Carlton in an Asian resort for Easter. Wanted a Junior Suite. There was mention of Club Lounge access and a half-board package on website. But there was no way to book either with a Junior Suite. User experience terrible - is this the way to spend 8k on a hotel? Plus, I cannot make use of my Marriott Titanium status or the enhanced benefits available by booking via Amex, as Platinum card holder. BA are deluded - it isn't credible.
Jan 4, 2025 | 1:11 am
#48
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold Guest List, HH Lifetime Diamond,
Posts: 208
I thought I would take a look at BA Holidays today. Considering booking a Ritz-Carlton in an Asian resort for Easter. Wanted a Junior Suite. There was mention of Club Lounge access and a half-board package on website. But there was no way to book either with a Junior Suite. User experience terrible - is this the way to spend 8k on a hotel? Plus, I cannot make use of my Marriott Titanium status or the enhanced benefits available by booking via Amex, as Platinum card holder. BA are deluded - it isn't credible.
Jan 4, 2025 | 2:47 am
#49
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,847
BA are an extremely good hotel agent, the service from BAH has always been excellent. It may be that FF are not the target market, rather people who would ordinarily use a different package holiday provider, only go away once or twice a year but would like a little added extra that others can't provide. One only has to see the adverts last year providing lounge access by a holiday company ( I forget which) to realise there is a market, importantly for BA, although the clientele, though earning TP and Avios would be unlikely to be in a position to use them due to their travel habits, however, BA get the valuable data they need.
I think that FF who are unwilling or unable to pay substantial amounts of money for "status" need to realise it is not about us.
I think that FF who are unwilling or unable to pay substantial amounts of money for "status" need to realise it is not about us.
Jan 4, 2025 | 2:50 am
#50
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Devon, UK
Programs: BA Blue (no decently timed TLV flights) ELAL Silver; Accor Diamond, FB Silver
Posts: 1,472
I agree that BAH certainly has a target market that it serves rather well. What seems to me less obvious is whether the possibility to earn TPs would be a major incentive for that crowd, at any rate at the levels required for status in the new BAC. I would have thought that more avios, rather than TPs, would be a greater incentive for that crowd (as well as perhaps ability to redeem avios on BA Holidays?).
Jan 4, 2025 | 2:55 am
#51
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,907
BA are an extremely good hotel agent, the service from BAH has always been excellent. It may be that FF are not the target market, rather people who would ordinarily use a different package holiday provider, only go away once or twice a year but would like a little added extra that others can't provide. One only has to see the adverts last year providing lounge access by a holiday company ( I forget which) to realise there is a market, importantly for BA, although the clientele, though earning TP and Avios would be unlikely to be in a position to use them due to their travel habits, however, BA get the valuable data they need.
I think that FF who are unwilling or unable to pay substantial amounts of money for "status" need to realise it is not about us.
I think that FF who are unwilling or unable to pay substantial amounts of money for "status" need to realise it is not about us.
For my main family holiday this year I drilled quite extensively into options with EasyJet Holidays, BA Holidays and TUI (all Gatwick departures) and a little into Jet2 Holidays.
In the end I booked a BA redemption and the hotel direct.
However some reflections on BAH and probably my business would have gone to EasyJet if booking a package. The website is still no where near good enough to really sort and filter to what I wanted. None of the others are perfect to be honest but BAH is probably the most challenging to use.
I was looking at maybe 5-6 hotels in the end and BAH had maybe 2 of them available, fewer than others.
Most of the others offered a shared transfer inclusive or at minimal cost. You can book some kind of transfer through BA but often it cant offer a price or is expensive.
Generally speaking BA was coming out more expensive like for like, even after adding extras like checked bags on the others.
The main other plus point for BA was flight times overall, although there are still some very late and very early BA flights to/from Gatwick.
Thinking forward in terms of family holidays we will probably still need to go through a specialist ski operator for ski holidays and will likely book Disneyland Paris direct because of the extra benefits of doing that.
Any shorter/cheaper holidays will likely be in a rental/AirBnB which is broadly not a market BAH are in.
With the tier points being split 4 ways Im still not sure BAH tier points is going to be compelling for most families.
Jan 4, 2025 | 5:34 am
#52
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,012
Jan 4, 2025 | 5:46 am
#53
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC - Gold | Hilton Honors - Diamond
Posts: 451
Many Hilton properties do give the status benefits if you add your membership number to the booking or provide it at check in. You wont get points though. See https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...-holidays.html for example
Jan 4, 2025 | 5:50 am
#54
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 2023
Programs: BA (Silver) | VS (Silver) | AF-KL (Gold) | SAS (Gold) | ITA (Premium) | Swiss (Senator) | QR (Gold)
Posts: 534
https://www.turningleftforless.com/v...s-ba-holidays/
You cannot make this up 
Virgin Atlantic Holidays will launch a new promotion for Flying Club members, offering a 150 discount per booking and double Virgin Points on package holidays. Additionally, you can earn unlimited Tier Points, meaning the more you spend, the closer you are to your next flight or holiday upgrade (a nod to BA perhaps).
This offer is available for bookings made between 9th January 2025, and 14th January 2025, for travel dates from 12th January 2025 to 31st December 2026, 2 years is a generous time to extend this offer for, it certainly seems like theyre trying to pick up some loyal BA customers. The promotion applies to all Virgin Atlantic Holidays destinations and is valid for package holidays with a minimum spend of 3,500, including flights and accommodation or flights and car hire.
This offer is available for bookings made between 9th January 2025, and 14th January 2025, for travel dates from 12th January 2025 to 31st December 2026, 2 years is a generous time to extend this offer for, it certainly seems like theyre trying to pick up some loyal BA customers. The promotion applies to all Virgin Atlantic Holidays destinations and is valid for package holidays with a minimum spend of 3,500, including flights and accommodation or flights and car hire.
Jan 4, 2025 | 7:24 am
#55
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 841
Many Hilton properties do give the status benefits if you add your membership number to the booking or provide it at check in. You wont get points though. See https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...-holidays.html for example
Jan 4, 2025 | 8:55 am
#56
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA(E)C GGL Refugee / FB Platinum / MM Senator
Posts: 1,631
There is more to it than an agency being involved. All my business travel is through an agency (AMEX) and I get benefits for Accor, Hilton, Radisson, Strawberry, etc.
The issue is that BA holidays is using some extra special hotel rates, perhaps they are pre-purchasing a block or they are the end customer as far as the hotel is concerned, I'm not sure.
The issue is that BA holidays is using some extra special hotel rates, perhaps they are pre-purchasing a block or they are the end customer as far as the hotel is concerned, I'm not sure.
I'd love to know how many MR points BA earns! Maybe it's a BA Amex card and someone is raking in the Avios
Jan 4, 2025 | 9:23 pm
#57
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: London. Or a plane.
Programs: "Only" 650,000 nTPs until BA GGLfL
Posts: 2,881
I took a quick look at the feasibility of putting some of my high value hotel spend into BAH - at least judging by the BAH website, it seems quite difficult.
In Vegas: all the high end (multiple bedroom, $2k+ type room rate) suites aren't offered on the BAH website. They seem to be only available to book online on the hotel/casino's own site.
In South Africa: the Villa only resort I stay at isn't on the BAH website as an option. And the luxury 5* hotel nearby, BAH only offer their most generic rooms, not any of the suites or villas.
Is this a case of calling BAH up to access the more bespoke room types, or is BAH more a of a "one size fits all" type operation? And if so, why are BA trying to push us to spend huge amounts of money on a programme not particularly well setup for those who spend a lot of money on hotels?
In Vegas: all the high end (multiple bedroom, $2k+ type room rate) suites aren't offered on the BAH website. They seem to be only available to book online on the hotel/casino's own site.
In South Africa: the Villa only resort I stay at isn't on the BAH website as an option. And the luxury 5* hotel nearby, BAH only offer their most generic rooms, not any of the suites or villas.
Is this a case of calling BAH up to access the more bespoke room types, or is BAH more a of a "one size fits all" type operation? And if so, why are BA trying to push us to spend huge amounts of money on a programme not particularly well setup for those who spend a lot of money on hotels?
Jan 4, 2025 | 9:45 pm
#58
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Japan
Programs: OneWorld Sapphire, BA
Posts: 700
What BA need to do it to add an option/dropdown to let the user chose to credit the TP's to the person footing the bill.
They already have a mandatory dropdown to select who is paying for the BAH booking.
If they add an option at the payment page to either split TPs equally or post to the account of the person actually footing the bill, then that would make it much more attractive. If a couple typically travels together, it would be sufficing for one of them to get to OWS for the other to use the status benefits when travelling together, even if Blue member.
Under the old scheme, it would make no sense to do that but the new system is spend based, so it is only fair to the person paying for everyone on the BAH booking to get have a choice.
They already have a mandatory dropdown to select who is paying for the BAH booking.
If they add an option at the payment page to either split TPs equally or post to the account of the person actually footing the bill, then that would make it much more attractive. If a couple typically travels together, it would be sufficing for one of them to get to OWS for the other to use the status benefits when travelling together, even if Blue member.
Under the old scheme, it would make no sense to do that but the new system is spend based, so it is only fair to the person paying for everyone on the BAH booking to get have a choice.
Jan 5, 2025 | 12:24 am
#59
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BA Gold; Flying Blue Gold
Posts: 204
I think you may be right. We took a BAH to Seattle and on check out it was a bit odd in that the hotel settled the room and taxes charge on an Amex card that wasn't the one we provided to cover incidentals. The email address on the booking wasn't mine. They printed off the invoice for us so I could just double check that the last four digits weren't mine.
I'd love to know how many MR points BA earns! Maybe it's a BA Amex card and someone is raking in the Avios
I'd love to know how many MR points BA earns! Maybe it's a BA Amex card and someone is raking in the Avios
This is how Booking.com sends money to a hotel when b.com takes payment. At least in the past I would hope that it's advanced a bit by now. But Hotels don't tend to be modern is this regard.
As for not getting points, its the same as booking through booking.com. You generally don't get loyalty points when booking through b.com. You'll also generally be bottom of any upgrade lists.
This is generally due to the large commissions, from 15-20% potentially more that online travel agents get paid. As a result hotels like to disincentivise people from using b.com etc. Hence they offer discounts if you book through their platform. 5/10% discount is cheaper for then than a booking through b.com. Plus the customer gets a cheaper rate, win win!
You do have the preferred travel agent programs like Accor STEP, which I usually book through Propeller Travel. I'm assuming they negotiate a nicer commission in exchange for more appealing benefits. Basically anything to move bookings away from b.com/Expedia etc.
BAH is almost definitely in that OTA evil bucket that hotels hate. With high commission, no loyalty benefits etc etc. Not necessarily special rates, just high commission.
Fwiw I worked at b.com for many years.
Last edited by a380fan; Jan 5, 2025 at 12:32 am
Jan 5, 2025 | 6:34 am
#60
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: London
Posts: 12
If BA wants to incentivise affluent leisure travellers to use BAH as their primary travel agency I think theyll need to make some changes to how their household account set up works.
If the new reality is spend based then some allowance needs to be given to the fact that spend comes out of family resources in the case of leisure travel.
As a single person the new system works well for me but theres always going to be a hard limit on how much I spend on a flight + hotel booking, even in J or F.
Reading the boards there are clearly a lot of well off couples willing to spend 15K-20K on a single major family holiday for them and their adult kids. Its a bit off that those new TP either get divvied up with the children, who arent paying, or get discarded if they arent members of BAC.
Wouldnt the obvious thing be to allow for households to nominate up to two principals (ie the decision makers/payors) who would receive the nTP on any BAH booking?
I dont see how its fair that I could be better off from a nTP perspective than an individual or couple who are spending much more because there paying for others too.
Otherwise, whats the incentive to use BAH for the big family trips?
If the new reality is spend based then some allowance needs to be given to the fact that spend comes out of family resources in the case of leisure travel.
As a single person the new system works well for me but theres always going to be a hard limit on how much I spend on a flight + hotel booking, even in J or F.
Reading the boards there are clearly a lot of well off couples willing to spend 15K-20K on a single major family holiday for them and their adult kids. Its a bit off that those new TP either get divvied up with the children, who arent paying, or get discarded if they arent members of BAC.
Wouldnt the obvious thing be to allow for households to nominate up to two principals (ie the decision makers/payors) who would receive the nTP on any BAH booking?
I dont see how its fair that I could be better off from a nTP perspective than an individual or couple who are spending much more because there paying for others too.
Otherwise, whats the incentive to use BAH for the big family trips?