Bits: 10,000 Miles & More miles with The Economist, Expedia not clear on BA ‘hand baggage only’ fares

News in brief:

10,000 Miles & More miles with an Economist subscription

Lufthansa has launched its own new Economist promotion, following on from the Avios /Économist version.

This one is interesting because Miles & More miles are hard to earn.  You cannot buy them any more and they are not an Amex transfer partner unless you go via Starwood Preferred Guest.

£155 (the UK subscription price) gets you 10,000 Miles & More miles and 52 issues of The Economist – not bad at all.  The offer ends on 24th March although the website shows 31st January!  Order here.

Expedia and BA ticketing

A reader dropped me a line to complain about the way that Expedia is selling British Airways ‘hand baggage only’ tickets.  A little digging found that this does create a high level of complaints to the airline.

If you book a British Airways short haul flight on Expedia, it appears to select the cheapest ‘hand baggage only’ ticket.  This is not made clear to the customer.

When I say ‘not made clear’, I mean that it is not made clear up front, as it is on ba.com.  If you click ‘estimated fees for baggage’ then you are told that a bag will cost £25.  On the BA website, it is made VERY clear what you are buying – it is even called a ‘hand baggage only’ ticket.

I don’t know if Expedia plays similar games with other airlines who sell ‘reduced feature’ tickets, but it is a reminder to keep an eye on what you are buying.  Given that Expedia adds an additional fee to short-haul tickets compared to the price of buying them on ba.com (£3 in an example I did), it isn’t clear why you should bother with them anyway.

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