What do we know about BA’s new ‘Club Europe’ on domestic routes?

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• Sam G says:

  6 Jan6 January 06:22

  I imagine some of the issues you mention could be causing the delay whilst they crunch the numbers on how to resolve

  -going 2×2 on busy flights could loose revenue unless they make sure they are yield managing effectively and dropping the low fare pax off of these flights
  -dropping business UK could alienate a set of very profitable customers who cannot book business class fares due to corp policy, but keeping it will potentially be confusing
  -what to do about avios seats, CE connections etc – all of which will bump up the numbers at a potentially low yield but require blocked seats
  -what to do about earnings – do they go 20tp like Iberia or 40tp
  -do they free-sale the tickets with multiple fare classes, implement married segment logic to restrict the “CE” cabin to just long-haul connections only or just open J class which is available for full fare and connections

  Interesting to see what eventually happens….

  • Aeronaut says:

    6 Jan6 January 06:39

    Agree with all that. Could get messy if Business UK goes or loses its Fast Track privilege in particular… don’t think one should underestimate the corp travel policy issue here. Plus the lost capacity from middle seat blocking.

• Anon says:

  6 Jan6 January 06:29

  Whilst its obvious BA had to do something or risk lose its northern CW/First customers to the ME3, its Shoddy treatment for anyone flying from next week until its introduced.

  Classic PPP from BA management IMHO.

  • James67 says:

    6 Jan6 January 07:35

    I’miss already fed up with it. Using Finnart exEDI and giving KLM a try next time as Finnart flight is currently seasonal. No chance I’might going via London to Europe anymore so also trying easyjet this year for the first time.

    • John says:

      6 Jan6 January 10:17

      I’m just surprised it’s taken you this long to switch away

      • James67 says:

        6 Jan6 January 10:50

        Well, I only went across with the demise of BMI, and then I had a whole bunch of avios to use, picked up a whole bunch more thanks mainly to HFP, and like any bad soap opera it was habit-forming and is difficult to wean myself off of it. As it stands I still collect avios but unless some more amazing opportunities come along then the limit of my ambition is a pair of longhaul CW returns to z7 each year. Apart from that I will need to rely on revenue fares for which BA will be near the bottom of the list.

• Phil G says:

  6 Jan6 January 06:43

  BA club europe is a shocking attempt at ‘Business Class’. I recently used it after booking a long haul from AMS instead of LHR (for a 60% cost saving) and being in a normal seat with the middle one blocked is not worth the extra and hardly classes as a luxury option as described and therefore justify the extra tax. Qatar managed to find planes with proper luxury seating for a 50 minute flight.

  • the real harry says:

    6 Jan6 January 06:53

    on our flight back this Monday there wasn’t even a curtain up to keep hoi polloi from using the front loo 🙂

    must have been in the wash

    • James67 says:

      6 Jan6 January 07:39

      Cannot be that Harry, any BA plane I’ve been on recently was very dirty.

    • Cate says:

      6 Jan6 January 11:02

      On our last run the front loo didn’t work and there were items missing from both my tray and companions. Also, are we ever going to get in flight entertainment in biz on short hauls??

      • the real harry says:

        6 Jan6 January 11:31

        doubt it

        I reckon they’ll just think it’s preferable/ better long-term solution in terms of capital investment to provide free Wi-Fi and let passengers use their own devices

        • James says:

          6 Jan6 January 13:03

          *Free* Wifi?

          Who are we kidding here 🙂

    • Tom Murray says:

      6 Jan6 January 13:50

      On a recent CE return from VRN two rows behind us (just in front of the invisible curtain) were 2 + 1 eco-pax sitting in last row of centre blocked ‘CE’ seats. Stewardess twigged this after takeoff on the hot towel run and was told by CSD (CSM?) in my earshot ‘oh leave them there now’. Received CE meals and their ‘we cracked it’ giggling was quite apparent as the drinks flowed. They weren’t mates or staff so perhaps just easier to leave them there rather than upheaveling (new word) them 🙂

• Sean says:

  6 Jan6 January 06:59

  I have just booked a flight in August to Manchester. I have got 1A&B. There was no mention of CE in the booking so I guess I will be bumped when/if it happens.

  • Ian says:

    6 Jan6 January 11:25

    We have a LHR-GLA flight booked for July and expected to pick up seats at the front of the cabin but the first 9 rows (outbound and return) were blanked off, leaving us to choose 10A,B. Maybe BA have decided the MAN route is too short but are leaving their options open on GLA?? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

    • James67 says:

      6 Jan6 January 11:40

      Interesting, same on our INV flight, I called CS on it and they could not help, they said front nine rows were totally unavailable to anybody.

      • Kinkell says:

        6 Jan6 January 13:21

        I’ve got 2 flights-redemptions- from/to Inverness and have bagged exit row . Annoying the front of cabin is always blocked off. Our onward flights are CW
        Priced up a flight from Inv to LHR. In June for 2 of us …..£200+. Easyjet to Luton/ Gatwick..£79. . So, easyjet it is. Can’t believe you’ve never flown easyjet, James67. In for a cheap treat!

        • Genghis says:

          6 Jan6 January 13:34

          I don’t mind flying Easyjet. My boss certainly likes it – 58 quid back end of last year to ZRH vs around 300 on BA.

        • James67 says:

          6 Jan6 January 18:04

          Will be trying easyjet on flights from Edinburgh to Milan and Copenhagen this year. I have not been in Europe much in recent years and before moving to Edinburgh I lived in London so much more choice. I’m not averse to LCC. Any idea why they block the whole front cabin, and when do the eventually release the seats?

        • the real harry says:

          6 Jan6 January 18:12

          J67 – it’s trim management, I assume

          the seats get released closer to flight date when they can be sure the weight distribution won’t be wrong

    • CV3V says:

      6 Jan6 January 13:58

      I have GLA – LHR flights booked for June as part of a F redemption. Front 9 rows blocked off on in and out flights. Seat reservations were done at the time of the booking in June 2016.

      • James67 says:

        6 Jan6 January 18:07

        Definitely seems like something up then, this oractice was not always the case.

        • the real harry says:

          6 Jan6 January 18:14

          see immediately above

          I don’t think it’s new practice, used to be 5 rows blocked at the front on a lot of flights, sometimes the 2 rows immediately at the back as well from memory (most of my peak flights are jam-packed these days!)

        • James67 says:

          6 Jan6 January 19:34

          @Harry, ok thanks but I’m surprised that is necessary on an aircraft as big as an a319.

        • CV3V says:

          7 Jan7 January 05:48

          James for your easyjet flights i recommend choosing Upfront seats – it adds on Speedy Boarding and allows an extra carry on bag. At EDI when you see how strictly they enforce the bag restrictions, and when the queue for standard boarding starts to form an hour before the flight you will be glad of the speedy boarding.

        • CV3V says:

          8 Jan8 January 08:03

          For one of the the flights i referenced in previous comment i thought it worth a check, BA1474 in June, there is now a very different seat layout shown for the first 8 rows.

          Seat layout is 1 – 2, then then next row 2 – 1. A search on Expertflyer, for Business Class on BA1474 confirms the layout.

• Martin says:

  6 Jan6 January 07:10

  Something needs to be done, charging people paying for J or F tickets (whether full fare/sale or redemptions) for tea/coffee or whatever is pretty shocking to be frank.

  • James A says:

    6 Jan6 January 07:18

    I agree. Regular route for me is GLA to EWR round trip in BA Club circa £2-4K depending on how late I book and on the domestic leg where am about to be charged for a cuppa despite being BA GOLD.
    Goodbye BA am off back to underwhelming United direct flight (avoiding LHR) you’ve really pushed me this time.

    • James67 says:

      6 Jan6 January 07:46

      As poor as UA is I’m surprised you are not doing that already. I guess you prefer to collect avios and have status on BA.

      • the real harry says:

        6 Jan6 January 07:52

        short memory? 🙂

        You can now earn Avios in AerClub when you fly United Airlines
        https://headforpoints.com/2016/12/06/how-to-earn-avios-in-aer-lingus-aerclub/

        come on, keep up! it was only 4 weeks ago!

        • James67 says:

          6 Jan6 January 08:41

          In my defence I live within 50m of a busy road!

    • Ro says:

      6 Jan6 January 08:11

      The new united polaris business class looks good. Certainly superior to BA club world

• James67 says:

  6 Jan6 January 07:26

  Any upside for regional passengers on redemptions may be questionable because at the moment something very odd goes on with seat allocation on the domestic sector flights. Seats allocated are often about the worst imaginable way down back and opportunities to change are limited to a very few other bad seats. I guess folks can live with it for a short flight but why they do this is a mystery because otherwise we get premium benefits for the domestic connection too including priority check in, fast track and lounge access.

  The reason for the silence may be very simple!

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  6 Jan6 January 07:28

  In the bmi days I remember the highest domestic business fare used to be the same as the highest economy fare (until they scrapped it and it became a flexible economy cabin which was 3×3 but complimentary catering).

  When BoB was announced I thought BA would have taken the bmi of latter years approach where the flexible economy (Business UK) tickets could take the front rows and get complimentary catering.

  As for BoB itself I’m surprised most crew I’ve spoken to tend to be in favour of it, except for one who was ex-bmi and thinks they’re repeating the mistakes of their previous employer. One yesterday was happy with the technology aspect of it, saying they’ve streamlined the buying process with the new tablets so it should be a better experience than other airlines that offer BoB.

• Paul says:

  6 Jan6 January 07:32

  Would “club Europe” be an acceptable term in Brexit Britain….especially to Scotland!
  Any of tinkering with the product is not going to help London Airways improve. Flybe might but what’s needed is better competition on the LHR domestic routes.

  • mark2 says:

    6 Jan6 January 07:50

    People voted to leave the EU not Europe

    • the real harry says:

      6 Jan6 January 08:01

      you can’t impute a dislike of Europe in the (small) majority vote to leave EU political structure

      I think if you phrased a question such as: how do you view European culture, diversity, history, destinations, peoples – positively or negatively? – the answer would come back overwhelmingly positively, I think most people under the age of 60 are rather in love with Europe

      • John says:

        6 Jan6 January 10:26

        To someone who has never heard of it before, “Club Europe” sounds really tacky.

        My dad thought CE was the Economy class and “Euro Traveller” was the Business class the first time he heard the names

  • James67 says:

    6 Jan6 January 07:50

    Sure, Europe is a geographical region not a political entity.

    • Rob says:

      6 Jan6 January 08:25

      Given that Gatwick South has had a lot of very expensive Club Europe signage installed very recently, I doubt they will go with something else!

  • Martin says:

    6 Jan6 January 08:36

    Yes, travel will still be within Europe. We haven’t raised anchor and drifted into the north atlantic

    • Fenny says:

      6 Jan6 January 13:14

      Sounds like a Monty Python film!

    • John says:

      6 Jan6 January 19:21

      We will do in a few million years apparently

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