Bits: BA launches Flight Pass, BA drops fuel surcharges from Brazil

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• Ralph says:

  12 Oct12 October 08:41

  Would it not be the case if one booked 355 days out online on a 2 4 1that BA would charge the £338 × 2 and then when you call them to book the return leg a week or two later they could only charge the £24 × 2?

  • Rob says:

    12 Oct12 October 08:48

    My gut feeling is that the answer is no but, given BA IT, you never know! Do let me know if this worked.

    Back in BMI Diamond Club days, you could book a redemption from Dublin, eg Dublin to Heathrow to Bangkok, to avoid APD. You then rang the call centre in India, not the brightest of the bunch, and tell them to drop the first flight. They never asked for the APD ….

• sean says:

  12 Oct12 October 08:46

  Just did a trial for 10 flights to a destination I go to a lot, and it seems to be a lot cheaper with the options I picked.
  May well have to look into this more later when I’m fully awake

• Stuart says:

  12 Oct12 October 08:49

  “Flight Pass” looks interesting for me. I travel to Geneva at least ten times a year. I advance purchase which isn’t always the best option for me, usually in economy but always on the cheaper flights that allow no changes and only give me the minimum number of TP. A run through the Optiontown site shows that I can get eight return economy flights to Geneva with just four hours advance booking time for £145 each. Unless I’m missing something this seems pretty good value. If I wanted to fly tomorrow on BA, returning in two days the cost would be over £500 in economy!

  • Cosmo74 says:

    12 Oct12 October 09:15

    Are you sure it’s £145 return? I believe that the flight prices they show are for a one-way flight, although it’s not entirely clear from the website.

    • Stuart says:

      12 Oct12 October 09:42

      Yes, you are correct, it’s for a one-way flight only.

      • James Alexander says:

        31 Oct31 October 11:26

        Just had emailed and (belt and braces approach) had call with Optiontown – which seems run off-shore from UK – and have been given assurance that prices are for one way segments and you must use 2 each time (i.e. make a round trip purchase).
        WAY too expensive compared to old BMI shuttle from GLA to LHR

  • Thunderbirds says:

    12 Oct12 October 12:22

    Prices look poor on my selections when you consider that you are locked in for the duration.
    Also T&C state: The FP is only available to Executive Club Members who have been contacted by British Airways Plc in connection with the offer.
    Do we need an invitation..?

    • Rob says:

      12 Oct12 October 12:33

      No – that message was there during the recent trial and, even then, it was actually open to all.

• neuromancer says:

  12 Oct12 October 10:17

  Well, if your account is in Brazil nothing has changed. There is still the message that you cannot book online any flights originating from Brazil. I wonder if I call will they still try to include the fuel surcharge as before (adding the off-line fee of course).
  Luckily their IT skills are not very good, so with a few clicks around you still can buy a ticket online without having to bargain on the phone.

• xcalx says:

  12 Oct12 October 10:38

  Nothing looks to have changed over on the BA site. When booking one way from GRU the taxes show as £24 when you proceed to payment the cost jumps to £195 just like before (well a little less). Has anyone managed to get the BA £24 Brazil to UK taxes honoured.

  • neuromancer says:

    12 Oct12 October 11:00

    You can use avios.com, they charge the correct taxes if things have not changed. If you can’t (avios distributed in various accounts in a HHA for example), there is still a way to do it from ba.com, if you change your country to Brazil and try to find a way around… I don’t want to share it publicly to avoid it being fixed.

• Boddingtons says:

  12 Oct12 October 11:08

  Worth noting that if you able to plan your trips in advance, starting an Aviios ticket from Brazil and having a stopover in London with an onwards sector elsewhere should result in nil YQ on that sector also.

  Eg GRU-LHR/stopover/LHR-SIN

  Could possibly be worth booking and paying the change fee, assuming it’s a route with frequent availability

  • Rob says:

    12 Oct12 October 11:59

    So it does.

    GRU – LHR (long layover) – AUH only comes with £209 of tax, of which the bulk is the APD out of London.

    • Sebastian says:

      12 Oct12 October 22:25

      I believe this requires a detailed article Rob.

• Dave says:

  12 Oct12 October 12:02

  Thanks for the update Raffles. I’ve got reward flights booked with BA from GIG in March and have just spent half an hour on the Gold Card line and they have said if I want a refund of these I need to pursue via a legal channel as they haven’t made a public announcement.

• James Alexander says:

  31 Oct31 October 11:24

  Optiontown BA Passes – very expensive as the prices quoted were for single tickets. Eg Glasgow to London at a 7 day notice and buying 10 over 12 months, the cost of each single segment (i.e. a one way ticket) was £135, WAY to high to merit the cost of this upfrontery !

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