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Bits: why competition works, British Airways confirms Gatwick terminal move date

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News in brief:

What has happened to Dublin fares in Club Europe?

Time to dust off the list of promises that British Airways made when it was allowed to buy Aer Lingus.

Club Europe to Dublin was always a good deal – not surprising, given that it is a super-short flight.  Sub-£200 fares over a weekend were common in sales and you could rack up any necessary tier points for a decent price.

BA has, of course, now acquired Aer Lingus.  And, whilst Aer Lingus never had business class on short-haul, it is hard to explain the jump in Club Europe as a coincidence.

Looking at the BA Low Fare Finder yesterday, there is NO combination of dates in the next year when you can fly Club Europe to Dublin for less than £280 return.  For comparison, the cheapest one-way Club Europe flight to Amsterdam is £107, to Bordeaux is £109 and to Barcelona £110.  I know the latter three are Gatwick departures but Dublin was usually up there.  Ho hum.

British Airways confirms Gatwick move delayed to January

BA confirmed in writing yesterday what has been rumoured for a few days.  The move from the North Terminal to the South Terminal has been delayed from November 2016 to 25th January 2017.

Given that we are still almost a year away, I doubt even that date can be guaranteed with absolute certainty.  Those passengers unhappy with using the No 1 Traveller lounge will be stuck with it for a while yet.

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Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub, British Airways and Avios

Comments (48)

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

  • JK says:
    11 Feb11 February 04:26

    Can you see any change to prices in the cheap seats as well?

  • Polly says:
    11 Feb11 February 04:45

    No, plenty of cheap Y seats to dub when I was buying yesterday. Seems to be just club that’s changing, aiming at a specific market I think. Bit of a joke actually.

  • Sam G says:
    11 Feb11 February 05:43

    Perhaps as a result of CE loads going up due to all the ex-EUs – no need to discount so much to fill the seats!

    • Rob says:
      11 Feb11 February 05:52

      Skyscanner put out a report this week on ‘unserved airline routes’. Apparently the biggest unserved air route in the world is Dublin to Miami! They judge this on the number of price searches via Skyscanner for Dublin to Miami. Little do they know that none of the people searching for that would have any interest in a direct flight on, say, Delta at full fare!

    • Paul says:
      11 Feb11 February 06:33

      I think the issue is ex LHR on a point to point return. Ex Dub long haul will be capacity controlled and whilst this may have an impact on availability on some flights it would not explain Raffles point that in general club fares ex LHR have risen by almost 40%

  • DaveP says:
    11 Feb11 February 05:57

    Makes all the more baffling as to why the BA lounges were closed so far in advance of the move to south! No 1 Lounge is crowded to say the least.

    • Aeronaut says:
      11 Feb11 February 14:19

      Weren’t BA basically kicked out by Gatwick, so works could commence in the former BA lounge area?

  • Johnnycl says:
    11 Feb11 February 06:14

    OT Iberia PluStore points for the Groupon deal have posted today.

    • Nick says:
      11 Feb11 February 08:02

      Finally a miracle…..all I need know is my accor points to post…

    • Alex W says:
      11 Feb11 February 09:15

      I just got the 16 avios per Euro spent but not the 12000 avios that I purchased!!!

      • harry says:
        11 Feb11 February 09:43

        That’s a very good sign – it means it tracked fine through PluStore. Did you redeem your Groupon in good time?

    • Jamie P says:
      11 Feb11 February 09:42

      Potential problem though….I went to transfer them from my Iberia account to my BA one and in the Combine my Avios page on the Iberia website I can only seem to transfer from BA to Iberia not the other way around.
      Interestingly, the following message in displayed:

      “You can only move Avios from British Airways to Iberia Plus – you cannot move your Avios back again”

      Anyone else experiencing the same problem?

      • mark2 says:
        11 Feb11 February 09:45

        try pulling from Avios or BAEC site.

        • Jamie P says:
          11 Feb11 February 10:07

          Managed to get it to work!
          Got the same message on the BA website stating that I could only transfer into my Iberia account, but was able to move Iberia – Avios – BA when looged into my avios.com account.
          Thanks for the tip. They don’t make it easy do they?!

      • harry says:
        11 Feb11 February 09:47

        I have the same problem with my a/c & I think it is simply because you can’t transfer Iberia Avios —> household a/c whether BAEC or avios.com. I am closing my avios.com household a/c & converting to single a/cs – you simply download a form and sign & post. Then it should be OK.

        My wife has transferred IB —> avios.com twice, successfully incl this morning – but her a/c is a single a/c.

        • Rob says:
          11 Feb11 February 10:03

          You can transfer into a BA HHA but not an avios.com HHA – because an avios.com HHA does not belong to an individual.

    • Andrew H says:
      11 Feb11 February 10:32

      My bonus Avios have also arrived today. 304 from a 2000 purchase. I put them straight into avios.com and then to BAEC. Finally!

      So a two month wait for the bonus overall. Note has been made for future reference!

      The Flyertalk thread continues to be busy:

      http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/iberia-airlines-iberia-plus/1731559-interesting-groupon-selling-avios-spain-19.html#post26166854

  • Paul says:
    11 Feb11 February 06:28

    Not surprised by this. BA have a monopoly on the route from LHR as they have on UK domestic services. I use flights to Glasgow and Edinburgh where fares have risen since little red left the scene.
    Higher prices and lower quality is pretty much the hall mark of any monopoly business and yet BA continues to enjoy regulatory approval and protection at fortress Heathrow. Is iBA now the most protected airline in Europe?

  • Ian says:
    11 Feb11 February 07:53

    I have a flight later this year in economy to Dublin – BA want over £1,000 to upgrade 2 passengers on a return flight to Dublin from LHR

    I don’t think so!

  • N says:
    11 Feb11 February 08:07

    OT I bought a Business Traveller subscription a few days ago and now have Platinum status with GHA till Feb 2018. Two years status for £21.50!

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