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BA domestic Club Europe – book with Avios today, check existing flights

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As we revealed exclusively on Head for Points two weeks ago, British Airways will launch Club Europe business class on domestic flights from 1st April.

Some behind-the-scenes work was going on yesterday to get things ready.  No domestic flights could be booked for travel from 1st April.  Normal service was meant to resume at 8am this morning.

British Airways club europe domestic flights

Firstly ….

If you have an existing domestic sector booked, take another look at it.

You may find that it now shows Club Europe.  This is especially likely if you are connecting to or from a premium class flight in London.

Anyone with a standalone Business UK ticket should also be upgraded.

Secondly ….

Take a look at your seat allocations over at ba.com.

As of last night BA had not rearranged seating on existing bookings.  However, I would expect it to be done by the time you read this.

If you have an existing domestic booking and were sat towards the front of the aircraft, you are likely to have been moved towards the middle or back.  You may want to check and move yourself if you aren’t happy with where you ended up.

If you were moved into Club Europe, you should check to see if the window or aisle seat you have been given is suitable.  If you are travelling with other people, check that they are still near you – remember that Club Europe seating is 2×2 rather than 3×3 in Euro Traveller.

Thirdly ….

Avios redemption seats for Club Europe on domestic flights should be available from 8am today when the booking system reopens.

I would expect two Avios seats in Club Europe to be showing on every flight.  If I’m right, this is a great opportunity to bag yourself some seats for peak dates – Edinburgh during the Festival, anything you may need for Christmas, New Year, Easter or Bank Holidays etc.  Yes, you’ll be paying 9,000 Avios each-way but that is still probably a better deal than paying cash.

Cash tickets for business class – which we assume will earn 80 tier points return – are pricing at around £199 at ba.com.  If you after a quick tier point run, they may be worth a look.  If you’ve got more time, however, you can get weekend breaks to certain European destinations for similar money and which are likely to be more fun.  A key difference is that these domestic tickets do NOT appear to require a Saturday night stay.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (185)

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

  • Anna says:
    1 Mar1 March 09:20

    It’s starting to look as though the connecting flight cabin has been allocated under the lounge access rules, e.g. my Man-Heathrow-Prague flights in April are all on the same day, all qualify for CE. However, connections to my CW flight to GCM later in the year are on different days to the long-haul segment (we’re flying Man-Heathrow the night before, then as the GCM-Heathrow is overnight, the connection is the following day).

    That’s the only explanation that’s making any sense to me at the moment!

  • Margaret says:
    1 Mar1 March 09:42

    Just checked and my seats have been moved to 2A and 2C on a LHR-EDI flight which is a connection from JFK on a Premium Economy flight. Does that give lounge access at Heathrow?

    • Andrew* says:
      1 Mar1 March 11:59

      It LHR-EDI flight has booked into Club Europe then yes, I think you should now get Galleries access.

  • Joe says:
    1 Mar1 March 10:08

    Thanks, needed a whole 20tp to retain silver and was looking at a JER return in ET. Managed to book a CW to EDI and returning ET for £170 which should more than give me the 20 tier points and has the benefit of repositioning me LHR – LGW one night too without a fuss on the coach/train…

  • Brian says:
    1 Mar1 March 10:10

    The BA website says my rebooked flights are in Euro Traveller.

    The BA app says they are n Club Europe.

    No idea what’s going on!

  • Jame67 says:
    1 Mar1 March 10:21

    Just off the phone with a BA supervisor who confirmed the following:

    1. Free domestic connections on existing longhaul premium cabin redemptions have been allocated ET seats.

    2, These can be upgraded to CE if we wish for 4500 aviis plus fees including £35 change fee (doubt many of us will pay that for an empty middle seat and some food. Remember lounge access is a OW benefit so unaffected).

    • Peter Taysum says:
      1 Mar1 March 12:33

      Given that BA have changed the rules, if you did want to upgrade could you not state that, and politely ask them to wave the £35?

    • CV3V says:
      1 Mar1 March 14:23

      My domestic connections on redemptions (on 4 different flights) have been allocated CE and I was able to select my seats (oneworld sapphire status) in Rows 2 – 6.

      Mind you there are 2-4-1 bookings so who knows what will actually happen, probably get put on a megabus.

      • Jame67 says:
        1 Mar1 March 19:15

        Odd, why would they transfer some donestic connection flight, which were all Y, to CE and others to ET? Were original donestic connection flights booked into different classes and if so, why? Mine were originally booked into X, what about yours?

        • the real harry1 says:
          1 Mar1 March 19:21

          couldn’t help but laugh @ this thread tbh – all these people getting their knickers in a twist over nothing much – I’m sure it will all be clearer in a couple of days

          the IT bods have made the switch, there are a few teething issues – simples

          • Jame67 says:
            1 Mar1 March 20:44

            Harry, I’m a true Scot so you need not worry about my kniickers!

          • the real harry1 says:
            1 Mar1 March 21:25

            we had a couple of places up Kinlochbervie, Durness

          • Jame67 says:
            1 Mar1 March 23:09

            Wow, must have been an adventure getting up there.

        • CV3V says:
          1 Mar1 March 20:27

          My domestic connections booked into U. Don’t underestimate how bad BA IT can be, they might be doing all this manually!

          • Jame67 says:
            1 Mar1 March 20:51

            Yes, this is what’s interesting, why some domestic connections originally got booked into U and mapped to CE while others were booked into X and mapped to ET. For Harrys benefit…curiosity killed the cat, I’m not much fussed so long as I can still use the lounge which is a OW benefit anyway.

  • Jame67 says:
    1 Mar1 March 10:31

    It’s looking like front 5 rows only are being allocated to CE on domestic routes. I’m curious how this will be managed and developed (for both revenue and redemoption flights) on flights like late Friday or early Monday when they could almost fill the plane with CE.

  • Nick says:
    1 Mar1 March 10:43

    I’m pretty sure this will have been run on booking class, maybe with a few separate rules thrown in, and as original class was based solely on inventory at the time of booking, this would explain the discrepancies you’ve found.

    And James – a lot of flights with moveable curtains are set up with a default seat plan to begin with, but inventory is set up so it can sell in either cabin. The curtain can be moved any time up to and including the day of travel, so if it needs to be moved to row 10 on a Friday night it will be, and anyone with seats in 6-10 in that scenario will be moved back. This happens in Europe already.

  • Justin says:
    1 Mar1 March 10:55

    Find myself in the same situation a few other posters above.

    Avios booking in First with domestic connections. Domestic leg currently showing Club Europe on the app, but Euro Traveller on the website. Spoke to BA but they’re going to call me back after they double check what their policy is.

    • Justin says:
      1 Mar1 March 11:29

      Update: BA phoned back to tell me they’re still not completely sure which cabin I should be in and will get back to me this afternoon. Confusing for everyone it would seem.

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