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

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• Judge says:

  6 Jan6 January 10:51

  Good timing of article as was just wondering about this. We are Silver members and have cash Club Europe flights in April with domestic connections. When looking on MMB yesterday, I noticed that one of the domestic flights is on an ex-BMI A321 and I could select seats in what should be the Club World cabin. Just coincidence, or trialling of domestic business?

  • Lev441 says:

    6 Jan6 January 11:56

    Pot luck. They use the mid haul a321s on various routes in Europe.

• Gill says:

  6 Jan6 January 11:54

  OT: I’m sure this has been asked before but sorry I can’t find it.
  If after I’ve earned and used a 241 I get a refund to the BAPP which brings the yearly spend below £10,000 what happens?
  What would happen if the card had been cancelled?

  • Genghis says:

    6 Jan6 January 12:08

    Not sure I follow exactly. The fee is not part of the £10k spend target

    • Genghis says:

      6 Jan6 January 12:09

      Oh – now I understand. If 241 has been used I believe nothing will happen. Avios would get deducted as normal. If cancelled, just call up Amex for the refund to go to your DD account / a cheque be sent.

      • Gill says:

        6 Jan6 January 12:46

        thanks Genghis.

• chris1922 says:

  6 Jan6 January 12:58

  Reply to Stephen at 12:18 pm:

  Then yes, you should click the link and apply. You’re not getting the advertised and promised level of service.

• Anna says:

  6 Jan6 January 13:18

  I’m generally outraged at everything BA does these days, however as long as I can still go in the BA lounge at Manchester before a domestic connection to a CE flight, I can manage for the 35 minutes down to Heathrow with no coffee or biscuit.

• Simon says:

  6 Jan6 January 14:33

  Am I right in saying if you book a CW or F redemption ticket from LHR, you get a free domestic connection thrown in??

  • Tim says:

    6 Jan6 January 14:52

    Correct.. Did this last year coming back from San Francisco. You will have to call customer services to arrange it.

    One issue to bear in mind is that it took us well over an hour at SFO to get them to agree to check our bags all the way through to Glasgow!

    • Alan says:

      7 Jan7 January 15:19

      Wow, really? Never had any issue getting bags through-checked before.

      You can also book connecting flights fine on BA.com, you don’t need to call them.

      • Tim says:

        7 Jan7 January 22:06

        Hi Alan, the issue was caused due to our flight out of SFO being delayed by 4 hours. This obviously meant they needed to rebook us on a later onward domestic connection.

        What’s weird is that while the flight connection was rebooked for us without any issue this appeared to freak out their systems so they claimed there was no way they could do it.

        They were saying things like it’s a ‘reservation’ not a ‘booking’ whatever difference that makes!? They told us to call the UK call centre until I told them it was 3am there and closed. We had to calmly argue about this for ages, I wasn’t going to back down! Finally a manner came down and signed it off… Ask so stupid.

        What annoyed me most was that while I’m perfectly happy to stand my ground and stick up for myself others may not be and would have definitely missed their onward flight.

        Anyway, it’s not just BA, common sense seems a very rare commodity in all walks of life these days!

        • Alan says:

          7 Jan7 January 22:12

          Ah OK, sounds like they’d added the flights to the booking but hadn’t revalidated/reissued the ticket (so there was no payment coupon attached to the reservation). Sadly can be a bit hit or miss at outstations for level of service but always worth standing your ground. I managed to get AA to change a return ex-EU ticket from Dublin to Edinburgh after they delayed our flight for 10h overnight (hellish time in JFK, definitely wasn’t going to then be stranded in DUB!)

  • the_real_a says:

    6 Jan6 January 15:13

    Well – you get a free Avios connection, but you pay FULL taxes on the domestic segment. One way LBA to LHR cost me £50 ish

    • the real harry says:

      6 Jan6 January 15:43

      AFAIK it is domestic connection free for any class of ticket (not just CW or F) onwards into LH (+taxes)

      • the real harry says:

        6 Jan6 January 15:50

        yep https://headforpoints.com/2015/01/29/avios-changes-3-understanding-the-new-spending-rates/

        • the real harry says:

          6 Jan6 January 15:53

          and https://headforpoints.com/2015/08/17/beginners-guide-to-redeeming-avios/

    • John says:

      6 Jan6 January 19:15

      There are no additional taxes. The only extra would have been the airport fees charged by LBA, plus a random number that BA decides is a “carrier-imposed charge”. (You would have paid LHR fees for a redemption from LHR anyway)

      • the_real_a says:

        7 Jan7 January 12:25

        Agree – but my point was that you need to expect an additional £50 to pay by adding a one way LBA to LHR segment.

        • barnaby100 says:

          7 Jan7 January 19:19

          £50 is cheap- we have had much more than that adding LBA to LHR to a 1st class redemption.

  • barnaby100 says:

    7 Jan7 January 19:18

    No, you don’t. You pay taxes which is often almost the same as the flight price but don’t get any miles or tier points.

• Andrew says:

  6 Jan6 January 15:32

  Going back to the BMI days, on a Friday evening, it wasn’t uncommon for the curtain to be close to the back of the plane on the 18:xx flight to Edinburgh. Unless my memory is playing tricks on me, I’m sure on one occasion I was sat within just 2 rows of economy seats at the back of the plane.

  Oh for the Friday evenings when you’d have BMI check-in staff waving £50 notes (or a £100 flight voucher) at the queue enticing people to take a later flight.

  • James67 says:

    6 Jan6 January 18:22

    Oddly it is the 18XX that BA now plays most games with, particularly in winter schecules. More than once I’ve found myself with a 3h+ unplanned layover awaiting the flight around 2100.

    • John says:

      6 Jan6 January 19:17

      If they are going to cancel a flight anyway, making you wait is cheaper than putting those on the last flight in hotels.

      • James67 says:

        6 Jan6 January 19:26

        The problem I have is that they sell the flight for up to a year( knowing full well that they are going to cancel it. It happened in winter 14/15 and 15/16 IIRC, however, I believe they kept it this winter but I haven’t checked.

• Uksil says:

  6 Jan6 January 16:26

  About time BA rembembered their customer base outside of London and provided a decent product, after all, when they pulled the remaining schedule from the regional airports they left us few options, go via LHR, EasyJet, Ryanair or FlyMayBe!
  My wife and I were in row 1 (as 2 Golds) 2 weeks ago before jumping on a CW flight to JFK, had the ‘pleasure’ of a father with a very distraught babe who was screamed and wriggled for the entire flight. He was unable to control the child and neatly kicked me several times. Why BA had not grouped the the family together (mother was on another row) I cannot understand. Even more so to out them on row 1? The concept of CE on domestics is one that should have been in place for May years – you may even get some recognition from the crew!

  • the real harry says:

    6 Jan6 January 18:35

    shall we deconstruct this?
    the baby was on its father’s lap – it was young, let’s say 8 months
    the baby screamed & wriggled – I guess its ears hurt, the noise was horrible, the crowd of people was threatening, the light was too bright, I’m hungry, I wet myself, I pooped my pants, I can’t sleep – it was all natural & to be expected
    the baby kicked you – so does an 8 month old baby deliver much of a kick? (outside the womb, mums! 🙂 )
    dad couldn’t control baby – right, 8 months old, control? you mean stop it from crying & wriggling – impossible without drugs if the baby is so minded
    you resent dad & baby (‘these people’ – disparaging) sitting next to you in Row 1 – they paid for their ticket same as you, they can sit wherever allocated, you deserve no special treatment as you are not better than anybody else
    you were never a baby so can’t empathise with what it’s like to be a baby
    you were never a parent so can’t empathise with what it’s like to be a parent
    you think Row 1 is for special people like you – no it’s not, it’s often for people who grab Row 1 early, they might have status which makes it easy but flying frequently does not make you superior to other people, you just know flying
    you resent not getting recognition – I’m guessing they recognised you & treated you accordingly 🙂

    • the real harry says:

      6 Jan6 January 18:54

      Peter Mandelson!

      • the real harry says:

        6 Jan6 January 19:17

        forgot there was a wife

    • Erico1875 says:

      6 Jan6 January 20:54

      fantastic

    • Anon says:

      6 Jan6 January 21:41

      “The REAL Harry”, as mentioned previously along with Genghis you’re one of my fav posters, now I can confirm you have just achieved HFP Legend status, congrats! 🙂

• james says:

  6 Jan6 January 21:34

  I fear that Club Europe catering is going to become free items from the BoB offer, and this will be announced at the same time as Club Europe coming in on domestic routes.

  • Rich. says:

    8 Jan8 January 12:24

    Source?

    • Rob says:

      8 Jan8 January 13:51

      To be honest, there does seem to be a commitment inside BA to improving Club Europe. I doubt this will happen.

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