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

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• John Ritchie says:

  1 Mar1 March 19:29

  Was checking in online for a BA RFS flight tomorrow ABZ-LHR, and saw some Oct flights I had booked had been cancelled. Phoned in, confirmed glitch in system, not cancelled. 10 mins later get text from BA saying tomorrow’s ABZ-LHR flight had been cancelled. Glitch again ? Phoned in nope really was cancelled. Accepted alternative flight leaving 2 hrs earlier. Unable to check in online for alt flight. 3rd call to BA. Have to check in at airport. After approx 1 hr on hold. BA are just awesome. Even though BA are getter me to LHR earlier does EU 261 still apply? Assuming reason for cancellation isn’t extraordinary.

  • Ian says:

    1 Mar1 March 20:57

    No EU261 – the cancellation is because of the strike action

• Alex says:

  1 Mar1 March 19:44

  On your last point Rob – is it possible to write a separate article on the Saturday night rule? It appears to be such a relic which only BA still applies. Or am I wrong?

  • Rob says:

    1 Mar1 March 21:22

    BA drops it when faced with competition. I imagine the Saturday night rule on long haul economy will soon go, given that Norwegian does not impose one.

    • Alex says:

      2 Mar2 March 08:38

      Good point re Norwegian! Many other airlines have dropped it long ago. Perhaps it’s still a cash cow for BA from business travellers flying midweek and paid for by their employer

• Martin says:

  1 Mar1 March 19:51

  Some discrepancies with it. I have a long haul redemption EDI-MIA back MCO-EDI, outbound in F and inbound in CW. My outbound domestic has now booked into CE but my inbound domestic is ET. We’re not flying till Sept but If it doesn’t rectify in a few days I’ll need to call them

  • Ian says:

    1 Mar1 March 20:53

    Which aspect exactly do you believe requires to be rectified?

    For clarity, the domestics attached to an Avios long haul redemption ‘should’ be assigned as ET, so your outbound domestic is current erroneous (not that that should concern you, its BA’s error, nothing more)

    • john says:

      1 Mar1 March 21:47

      Well that depends on booking class of the domestic. On redemptions, U is CE and X is ET

      • Ian says:

        2 Mar2 March 00:32

        Yes, but that is now old skool. My point remains valid for flights on/after 1st April 2017. If you wish to disagree, I strongly suggest you converse with BA.

    • Martin says:

      1 Mar1 March 21:56

      If I book a business redemption tomorrow for travel after April 1st my domestic will book into CE (U) and my long haul into CW (U), why should t existing bookings do the same?

      • Ian says:

        2 Mar2 March 00:39

        Will it? Have you actually tested this?
        BA provide a ‘free’ (that is, free of Avios, not £) domestic connection to LH redemptions. Domestic will in future equate to ET as of 1st April.

        • Martin says:

          2 Mar2 March 07:25

          Yes I checked it last night before posting here

• Derek Scott says:

  1 Mar1 March 21:21

  Here’s what’s been emailed out to Travel Agents today:

  “February 2017
  For travel from 1 April 2017, Club Europe will be introduced on all BA mainline and BA CityFlyer UK&I domestic services. We are also replacing UK Domestic with Euro Traveller as the economy cabin.

  This change aligns our cabins across the shorthaul network and enables customers connecting to or from a longhaul destination to enjoy a consistent premium experience throughout their journey. Domestic customers will be able to benefit from lounge access, more personal space to work or relax, complimentary food and drink, dedicated check-in desks, priority boarding and a generous baggage allowance of two cabin bags and two checked bags.

  The Club Europe cabin features a 2:2 configuration with the middle seat kept free. From 28 February, all UK&I domestic routes will start to show 2-cabin configuration, Club Europe and Euro Traveller. Once this conversion has taken place you will be able to see both cabins available to book in the schedule display.

  Existing bookings on UK&I domestic services

  The following changes have taken place for customers already ticketed on UK&I domestic services for travel from 1 April 2017:

  Original booking class: J,C, D, R, I , U
  New booking class: No change
  Cabin change: Economy to Club Europe
  Changes to itinerary: No change
  Changes to seating: Reserved seating will remain as booked or an equivalent seat booked in Club Europe
  Changes to baggage: Now eligible to 2 pieces. Ticket will still show 1 piece but BAGA keyowrd will be updating to show 2PC.
  **********

  Original booking class: Y
  New booking class: J
  Cabin change: Economy to Club Europe
  Changes to itinerary: Y sector will show UN status. J sector added as TK status
  Changes to seating: Reserved seating will remain as booked or an equivalent seat booked in Club Europe
  Changes to baggage: Now eligible to 2 pieces. Ticket will still show 1 piece but BAGA keyowrd will be updating to show 2PC.

  *************

  Original booking class: B, H, K, M, L, V, N, Q, O, S, G, X
  New booking class: No change
  Cabin change: No change remains in Economy (Euro Traveller)
  Changes to itinerary: Original sector will show UN status. New TK sector added with the same booking class
  Changes to seating: Reserved seating will remain as booked or an equivalent seat booked in Euro Traveller
  Changes to baggage: Remains as 1 piece

  **********

  Emails or SMS messages have NOT been sent to customers but please reassure them that their flight is not cancelled – the status has been changed to enable our systems to disclose the correct cabin they are travelling in. We will automatically revalidate the BA-125 ticket for the affected sector(s). Other carrier’s tickets will need to be revalidated or reissued for the ticket to match the itinerary.

  Reserved seating
  The Club Europe cabin is located at the front of the aircraft. Customers with seats already booked in the front rows who now have a cabin change into Euro Traveller will be allocated a seat further back in the aircraft. If the new seat is not suitable then any paid seating requests may be refunded and any free seating may be changed dependent on availability in the Euro Traveller cabin.

  Meal requests
  Please check if customers travelling in Club Europe have any advance meal requests.

  Paid for excess baggage
  Club Europe customers may check-in two bags (max 32kgs each) Customers already ticketed in J, C, D, R, I or U classes will now be eligible to 2 pieces, although their ticket will still display 1 piece. The BAGA keyword should have been updated to show 2PC. Domestic customers now travelling in Club Europe who have already paid for an extra bag may have the one extra bag refunded.

  Redemptions
  For new bookings for travel from 1 April, U class is now for Club Europe on all domestics with the applicable Avios to pay. Customers already booked in U class will be sat in Club Europe, no extra Avios charged. X class customers are booked in Euro Traveller.

  Business UK fares
  These fares will no longer exist after 31 March 2017. All J class customers booked for travel from 1st April will now be seated in the Club Europe cabin (see table above) All Y class customers already booked for travel will be converted to J class and also seated in Club Europe. The Same ticketing terms and conditions apply, which match those for Club Europe Plus Flex fares

  Voluntary changes – for customers booked to travel up to 31 March who want to change their departure date for travel from 1 April
  Commercial fare rules apply with any difference in fare and taxes paid by the customer. For J, C, D, R or I class, these will need to be re-booked into a comparable Economy booking class and the itinerary re-priced. If you rebook into the same class as original then these will be re-priced into a Club fare. Bookings originally made in U Redemption class will need to be re-quoted into X, otherwise if they continue to be booked in U the higher Avios amount for Club will need to be charged plus higher APD.

  Read our ‘Club Europe available in the UK’ factsheet

  • Alan says:

    1 Mar1 March 21:48

    Very helpful to see what BA have sent out directly, Derek – thanks. Esp the bit about not informing pax (although this does seem a bit stupid on their part given the confusion it has caused!)

    • Derek Scott says:

      1 Mar1 March 23:03

      The only logical reason I can think of for not contacting customers direct, is to avoid the contact centres going into meltdown as emails or SMS messages land. By allowing customers to find out as they check their bookings online in the coming weeks, it spreads out the impact, when they have to deal with spikes in calls each round of strike announcements will be causing.

      Crisis management, in effect!

      • Alan says:

        2 Mar2 March 01:02

        Haha possibly – I like your faith that they’ve actually thought about passengers 😉

• Peter Taysum says:

  1 Mar1 March 22:34

  From the regions it looks like NCL AMS on KLM or PAR on Air France is looking much more attractive; if I’ve got to change I prefer AMS (though prefer Heathrow lounges)…

  Night

• the real harry1 says:

  2 Mar2 March 07:01

  BA is such a stealing cheat: ‘Reserved seating
  The Club Europe cabin is located at the front of the aircraft. Customers with seats already booked in the front rows who now have a cabin change into Euro Traveller will be allocated a seat further back in the aircraft. If the new seat is not suitable then any paid seating requests may be refunded and any free seating may be changed dependent on availability in the Euro Traveller cabin.’

  So a passenger has paid to sit at the front but has an economy ticket. He gets moved down back but BA don’t give him an automatic refund of the seat booking fee? Only on request means BA is acting like a thief.

• Justin says:

  2 Mar2 March 09:12

  For my upcoming redemption flights, long haul in First with domestic connections (X fare bucket) which ended up in the new Euro Traveller cabin after these changes: spoke to BA and they have moved us into the Club Europe cabin for no extra Avios or APD (although there was the £35 change fee).

  Seems you have to have to be a bit proactive though as if you were originally booked in X for your “free” domestic connection (back when it didn’t matter which fare bucket you were in), you won’t be moved automatically. I’m happy with my booking now.

  • Kinkell says:

    2 Mar2 March 09:56

    Personally, I think BA should be moving all their pax that are on connecting CW/F flights into CE automatically. not sure I want to part with £35 for complimentary G&T ! Status does get you a few perks which will do me, but I am narked about it!

  • Adam says:

    2 Mar2 March 10:11

    Justin – I’m on the phone with BA at the moment with exactly the same scenario as you. Domestic X class connecting to a First redemption.

    Interestingly BA are refusing to do for me what they have done for you – instead they have charged me an additional 7500 avios to upgrade the domestic sectors into Club Europe (for me and companion on the Amex voucher). Worth noting no additional APD, no change fee.

    Complete lack of consistency – this seems to have caught the call centres out by surprise.

    • Justin says:

      2 Mar2 March 11:23

      Wow that’s worrying! The agent I spoke to did explain they were struggling with the changes and did have to put me on hold for 10 minutes while she found out how to handle the request – she specifically said she was finding out if the change would require Avios or not and came back saying not. It’s a shame these bookings haven’t been updated automatically, which should have addressed the consistency issue.

      There’s always the hang up and call back later option!

  • Anon8 says:

    2 Mar2 March 10:16

    I tried to do that yesterday and BA didn’t have a clue what I was talking about and didn’t even know about the introduction of CE on to domestics. As it is only one leg of my return journey this time I really can’t be bothered to change this but my travels later in the year I may consider changing for a £35 fee. I just wish they would work consistently – fat chance.

    This is a copy of an email I received today:-

    We are making some changes to the experience we’re offering on flights within the UK that will affect your upcoming booking with us.

    From 1 April, we’re introducing our business cabin, Club Europe, and changing the economy cabin from UK Domestic to Euro Traveller to align with our short haul network.
    What this means for you
    Don’t worry, your flight will depart as planned but the name of your cabin will now show as ‘Euro Traveller’, e.g. on your boarding pass or signs at the airport.

    All other elements of your journey will stay the same, such as your baggage allowance, free seating, M&S food options and, if you’re a Member of the Executive Club, your Avios and Tier Points.

    We have already adjusted your booking and you can view it in Manage My Booking.

    If you want to make any changes to seats you paid to reserve, please contact us; if you’d like a refund, please apply online.

    If you have requested disability or mobility assistance, we will make sure your request remains unchanged in the system.

  • Ian says:

    2 Mar2 March 15:03

    So, you spent the £35 change fee for what exactly?

    You would have lounge access before. So £35 for an empty seat beside you? Or for a drink onboard?

    Am I missing something?

• Artimus says:

  2 Mar2 March 11:21

  I just spoke to BA (11:18am GMT) and was informed that due to my BAEC status, the domestic leg of redemption ticket will be upgraded FOC to CW (no change fee or Avios required) to match the long haul ticket class of First.

  • Artimus says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:29

    Sorry meant to say CE not CW!

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