Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

EXCLUSIVE: Launch information for Club Europe on British Airways domestic flights

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

I’ve managed to get my hands on the launch date and operational details of the changes to British Airways domestic flights.  As was first flagged in a BA investor presentation last year, domestic flights are going to be split into a two cabin service.

This is what is going to happen.

The launch date for Club Europe and Euro Traveller on domestic flights is 1st April.

Club Europe British Airways

From this date, UK domestic flights (excluding Jersey, which already has Club Europe) will begin operating with a two-class cabin.  For those sat at the front, it will be an identical offering to what is offered on ‘Band 1 / Very Short’ Club Europe services at present, such as flights to Paris, Dublin or Amsterdam.

The launch of ‘domestic Club Europe’ is almost certainly linked to the introduction of ‘buy on board’ catering last month.  BA’s biggest nightmare is that someone paying £7,670 for a fully flexible Club World ticket from Edinburgh to Tokyo decides to switch to a Middle East carrier or KLM because they are insulted at paying £2.30 for a cup of coffee on the connection.

This is an easy change to implement.  At present, BA sells a product called ‘Business UK’ which is a fully flexible domestic economy ticket.  If you buy one of these you get lounge access, fast track security and 20 tier points each way but no seating benefits – it is still 3 x 3.

Bringing in Club Europe only requires ‘middle seat’ blocking and the loading of a few Club Europe meals – there is minimal capital investment apart from some IT and website changes.

British Airways club europe domestic flights

This is what is going to happen to your existing bookings:

Is your current flight booked in classes B, H, K, M, L, V, N, Q O, S, G or X?

You will be seated in Euro Traveller.

Nothing else changes although you will lose any seat allocation you currently have at the front of the aircraft.  If you paid for a seat reservation, you can either ask for a refund or move to a reserved seat elsewhere.

Food and drink will remain ‘buy on board’ except for services from London City which will retain free catering for a few more months.

You will receive the same Avios and tier points as you were originally due.

Is your current flight booked in classes C, D, J, Y, R, I or U?

You will be seated in Club Europe.

You will gain access to the standard Club Europe benefits which were not previously part of your ticket – unless you had a Business UK ticket, in which case you would have already got lounge access, fast track security and priority boarding.

These benefits include – where available – 2 x 32kg checked bags, dedicated check-in, priority boarding, fast track security, lounge access, a blocked middle seat and free food and drink.

If you paid for a seat reservation, you can either ask for a refund or move to a reserved seat elsewhere.  If you paid for an extra baggage allowance, this will be refunded.

The tier point situation is not yet fully clear.  I will let you know if I get clarification.

There is clear upside here for those travelling on Club World Avios redemptions from regional airports as the connections will book into Club Europe.  It might even make the prospect of changing planes in Heathrow a little more appealing.

Another upside is that the minimum number of Avios seats per domestic flight would increase from the current four to six, as there would be a minimum of two Club Europe seats released as well.

There is also clear downside for travellers who can buy fully flexible economy tickets (Business UK) under their corporate travel policy and so get lounge access and Fast Track.  They may lose this because their employer will not pay for Club Europe, even if the price is the same – bar the additional Air Passenger Duty.  It will no longer be possible to get Fast Track or lounge access with any domestic economy ticket.

There is obviously more to come on this, but you now know the main facts.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (100)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • @mkcol says:
    17 Feb17 February 13:30

    April 1st?!

  • JOHN MUNN says:
    17 Feb17 February 13:30

    Any indication on when Club Europe will be bookable on domestic flights?
    Still only economy option available for revenue and Avios dummy bookings for dates after 1st April

  • Chris says:
    17 Feb17 February 13:37

    Any benefit in attempting to book those fare classes now assuming a possible Tier Point arbitrage? Assuming the cost difference isn’t massive

    • Rob says:
      17 Feb17 February 13:40

      As you can cancel a fully flex ticket for a refund, it may be worth booking Business UK now in case BA decides to whack up the price next week.

      • Chris says:
        17 Feb17 February 13:44

        I was thinking Y class, this week it’s economy, from 1st April it’s effectively a business ticket

        • Save East Coast Rewards says:
          18 Feb18 February 03:51

          My guess is Y class will only count for Club Europe on existing booked tickets as they are currently considered ‘Business UK’ like the J bucket. So perhaps BA will run a script changing Y to J when the Club Europe tickets go on sale and then going forward Y will mean Y!

          Then again I might be wrong and perhaps they offer a free upgrade and lounge access in Y going forward on domestics so that those who have an economy only travel policy (but are able to buy flexible tickets) can take advantage.

          When bmi had domestic business class the full fare economy and business class fares were the same – it was APD that made it more expensive for business class.

          Will BA have to pay APD for all these fares that are upgraded?

  • IslandDweller says:
    17 Feb17 February 13:39

    I often take a Friday evening flight to GLA. Almost invariably completely full. Wonder how many rows will be CE (and therefore how many seats are removed by the blocked middle seat).

    • CV3V says:
      17 Feb17 February 18:23

      Some GLA flights, such as BA1474 in the morning are full of commuters but also people connecting from long haul. Was on 1474 one Sunday morning and it was full. Id expect a lot of those passengers to have travelled in CW or First, so interesting to see how many seats they make available. Remember they have the moving curtain so can change the seat allocation accordingly but i can just see redemption passengers being bumped into economy.

  • PJ says:
    17 Feb17 February 13:44

    Looks like my domestic Connection to a first redemption will be down the back then.

    • Rob says:
      17 Feb17 February 13:46

      I would check the ticket class before you say that. Or have you?

      • JP says:
        17 Feb17 February 14:15

        I currently have two F award bookings.

        On Business: Domestic (V) to First (A) = Down the back
        BAEC Avios: Domestic (U) to First (Z) = Club Europe

        Any info on the blocking of row 1 ?

    • chris1922 says:
      17 Feb17 February 14:02

      Me too. Domestic to F redemption currently in classes “O” and “x”.

      That’s disappointing.

      • ComeFlyWithMe123 says:
        17 Feb17 February 14:17

        Different for me. The inbound LHR to BHD leg of our long haul club world flight has been booked in U class. Won’t make too much of a difference as already get lounge access and doubt i’ll each anything on the short flight. Good to have a seat up the front though if nothing else.

    • Andrew* says:
      17 Feb17 February 14:18

      Intriguing – I have domestic to CW and domestic to F redemptions and all are showing as being in class U…

      Now some folk have already been given their 1000 Avios for the removal of free F and B…

      But now those deposited in ‘CE’ will be entitled to free F and B…

      What am I missing – this seems like ‘I’m up…’

      • chris1922 says:
        17 Feb17 February 14:27

        To be fair, I did get my 1000 Avios “compensation”, and will be in the GLA lounge prior to the short hop down the the CCR, so can’t complain too much.

    • Paul says:
      17 Feb17 February 14:23

      I have a First redemption myself with a domestic connection. The domestic is off course ‘X’.

      If ‘Z’ or ‘U’ class bookings give a domestic as ‘U’ after the launch date, then that would give cause to get upgraded…not that it would actually mean much.

  • Phil says:
    17 Feb17 February 14:13

    This is perhaps more of a general question, but does this status allow access to a departure lounge after a connecting flight?

    i.e. If I fly EDI-LHR-KUL in club Europe, can I use the Heathrow lounge before departing to KUL if if I’m booked in WT+ on that flight?

    • Genghis says:
      17 Feb17 February 14:19

      “First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 6am the following day, can access the lounge when travelling between an international long haul (a oneworld international long haul flight is defined as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours) and an international short haul or domestic flight (and vice-versa).”
      https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-access

      • Phil says:
        17 Feb17 February 14:29

        It looks as thought that point applies on the way back to EDI from KUL, and on the outbound EDI-KUL the following seems to apply: “Lounge access will be determined on the international long haul ticketed flight (either First of Business Class) regardless of the ticketed class of travel on the international short haul or domestic flight.

        • Genghis says:
          17 Feb17 February 15:07

          But you’re travelling in W on the international long haul ticketed flight?

          • Phil says:
            17 Feb17 February 15:34

            My booking looks like this:

            EDI-LHR -Domestic (Now CE I think); (Class J)
            LHR -KUL – WT+ (Class T)

            Same on the way back.

            From my understanding, my booking means I can not use the lounge on the way to KUL since I’ll be about to board as a WT+ passenger, but I can use the LHR lounge on the way back to EDI since I’ll be about to board a flight as a CE passenger.

            Is that correct would you say?

          • Phil says:
            17 Feb17 February 15:55

            In fact looks like I may be ineligible completely based on the fact that connections operate differently to ordinary CE returns.

          • James67 says:
            17 Feb17 February 16:40

            @Phil, you are ineligble because your longhaul flight is WTP. If you booked this for cash your chances to upgrade to CW with avios are probably quite good. FWIW IMO the BA T5 lounges are overcrowded and overated. Best to get some food and drink and find a quiet spot to enjoy.

        • CV3V says:
          17 Feb17 February 18:31

          The CW and First cabins have been full on the few KUL trips i have done. T5 CW lounges aren’t impressive, you are better off in a pub (better food), just as comfortable, and just as busy. At KLIA the Plaza Premium lounge is ok, but your return flight is in the evening and the airport is quite quiet anyway and there are loads of places to eat (upstairs in satellite terminal).

          For the return KUL flight, as its so late, again in my experience, everybody is queued up waiting on check in opening up (i think its 3 hours before the flight takes off), personally i wouldn’t rush to join that queue. Last time i checked in with 2 hours to go and the check in area was empty.

          btw tourists get a GST refund at the airport, worth keeping in mind if you want to buy any expensive items.

          • Derek Scott says:
            17 Feb17 February 21:39

            The BGates T5 BA Lounge is much quieter any time I’ve been in it, if that helps.

            I’m pleased to say my Domestic fare classes when connecting onto HKG in First and Returning CW are both J class. Seat me up front, although the main EDI/ LHR 767 flights are usually packed so can imagine the whole of the front cabin will end up being Club seats

  • Kathy H says:
    17 Feb17 February 14:20

    Me too. Domestic to J redemption currently in X 🙁

  • CV3V says:
    17 Feb17 February 15:18

    Worth keeping track of your fare class on MyFlights app.

    My redemption flights with a mix of domestic, CW and First are a mix of U and Z classes.

    Also have a GLA flight which is using an old BMed / BMI aircraft, with 1 – 2 seat layout for the first few rows, better than Club Europe!

    • Andrew* says:
      17 Feb17 February 15:33

      What determines if the domestic flight is U or Z? Originating airport? Time of day? Phase of the moon (which governs things like Easter!)

    • James67 says:
      17 Feb17 February 16:11

      Anybody know if all the a319s are exBMI? I have those on exINV with front cabin still unavailable. It’ll be interesting to see if those becone availabld after CE domestic launch.

      • CV3V says:
        17 Feb17 February 19:28

        Don’t know about the A319s, but i have a BA1474 on an A321 which is old B Med / BMI plane. The first 8 rows are a 1 – 2 layout, the first 6 being blocked out. Meaning rows 7 and 8, which are still a 1-2 layout are available for seat selection. In fact Row 7 is 1 – 1 layout as its an emergency row, must be the best short haul plane BA have if you get up front!

        The A321 is a spare plane, no plans to keep it permanently on the route.

        • James67 says:
          17 Feb17 February 20:08

          Never been on it, sadly, and based on map the a319 is standard 3+3 throughout. Got lucky with a longhaul 767 to EDI a couple of times but it was a really depressing cabin and I would not have liked to go anyplace far in it.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!