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British Airways has put out one of those announcements that automatically puts every frequent flyer on edge – they’ve announced a change to short-haul fares that’s come about “following customer feedback”. It’s almost inevitable, when you read that kind of phrase, that whatever follows it is not good news for flyers….but this time there’s a chance that the news isn’t all bad.
From 8 March 2016 British Airways says it’s “simplifying it’s short-haul economy fare structure”
Since 2013 British Airways has offered two types of fare on their short-haul flights:
- Hand Baggage Only and
- With Checked Bag
Each of those fares could be purchased with three levels of flexibility:
- Standard (not very flexible at all)
- Semi-Flexible (a bit better than standard)
- Fully Flexible (exactly what is sounds like)
From 8 March 2016 there will be just 3 options for passengers to choose from, each with an “increasing amount of flexibility”.
Hand Baggage Only:
- Standard hand baggage allowance (no Checked Baggage allowance)
- Seating allocated at check-in or paid for seat selection (OneWorld Emerald or Sapphire Status does not get you seat selection)
- Flight changes can be made for a fee plus any difference in fare
With Checked Bag:
- Includes a 23kg Checked Baggage allowance, plus the standard hand baggage allowance
- Free seat selection from 48 hours prior to departure (OneWorld Emerald & Sapphire card holders can select seats at the time of booking)
- Free flight changes on the day of departure, up to one hour before scheduled flight time
- No change fees (a fare difference may apply if flight is changed before day of departure)
Fully Flex:
- Fully refundable
- Includes a 23kg Checked Baggage allowance, plus the standard hand baggage allowance
- Free seat selection at time of booking
- Free flight changes on the day of departure, up to one hour before scheduled flight time
- No change fees (a fare difference may apply if flight is changed before day of departure)
These fares will not be available for transfers, only short-haul point to point journeys.
Note: There is no change to how Club Europe fares operate.
Bottom Line
On the face of things this is an improvement to the “with checked baggage” fares because they’ll now automatically come with a degree of flexibility that you had to pay extra for in the past. But we will only know if this is a true gain for passengers once we can see the prices for the new fares.
Right now there isn’t a big difference in price between “hand baggage only” and “with checked bag” fares (usually in the £10 – £15 range):
If British Airways resists the temptation to increase “with checked bag fares” to account for the increased flexibility those fares will now offer, this will be a genuine improvement for passengers.
On the other hand, it’s equally possible that we will see British Airways use this “simplification” as a mechanism to raise “with checked bag” short-haul fares and annoy a lot of customers in the process.
As I said at the end of my blog earlier today, I’m trying hard to be more even-handed with British Airways and trying to focus on the good rather than the bad…..but I still have to be honest – my gut feeling is that we’ll see “with checked bag” fares rise.
It’s hard to believe that British Airways are putting through these changes just to help out their customers (for a start these changes will cost money to implement) so there must be something in it for them. Unfortunately I suspect that their motives are anything but selfless – let’s hope I’m wrong.
[…] the end of February I posted about British Airway’s planned changes to their short-haul ticketing structure but, while we knew at the time what the structural changes to the fares would be, the was no […]