British Airways brings back First Class to five routes

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• Harry T says:

  16 Jun16 June 13:09

  Does everyone have their popcorn/copy and paste prepared for the inevitable “BA downgraded me from First to Club and is offering me 5000 Avios/nothing as compensation” threads? 🙂

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    16 Jun16 June 13:22

    BA doesn’t give you Avios for a downgrade from F to J – it charges you for the privilege!

    Well, it does on a mixed J and F ticket.

    • Rob says:

      16 Jun16 June 13:29

      I do remember a case where BA tried to refuse downgrade compensation on the basis that the cheap Business Class fare the person had bought cost less than an Economy ticket would have cost bought on the day of departure, which was the day of the downgrade ….

      • flyforfun says:

        16 Jun16 June 15:48

        So by the same logic, if there was a seat available in J on that flight, would the Y passenger who bought a ticket that day would be entitled to an upgrade?

  • dougzz99 says:

    16 Jun16 June 16:06

    Agree this will result in some crazy angry outcomes. BA trying to squeeze every penny out of each flight, but the airframe struggles will ensure swaps and downgrades. Going to be fun.
    They really are have their cake and eat when it comes to what you get versus what you were led to believe you bought.
    The A350 is a perfect example of BA, should be the nicest experience with cabin pressure and humidity, but the crew taking the forward toilet out of service so they can work means its almost guaranteed you’ll queue for the available toilets.

    • JDB says:

      16 Jun16 June 16:44

      Wait until you see all the issues people will encounter with Iberia now vouchers can be used with them. Their customer service is infinitely worse than BA, most claims routinely refused and no recourse CEDR or any form of arbitration. They use big solicitors and counsel and play seriously dirty.

• Mike says:

  16 Jun16 June 13:12

  Any word on whether BA will be extending the double points holiday promo?

  • Clayton says:

    17 Jun17 June 12:54

    We can but pray! Tbh I think we were all surprised that they extended it for the whole of this year and removed the stupid requirement of having to stay in a BAH hotel for the entire stay. My anniversary date is December so I’m taking advantage and getting in a 160/320 trip to start my year off nicely.

    Would I love to see it extended for at least part of 24, yes. Do I think they will, no.

• Tom says:

  16 Jun16 June 14:04

  Removing First on some San Francisco flights?

  There are only 2 flights daily (777-300 and A380) so that is an odd move. LHR-SFO is a premium business route and F is often full, although now many of those are non-rev pax I do not know.

  • Kevin says:

    16 Jun16 June 23:50

    As the CS rollout continues, 772s currently with 14 seats in F cabin will see this reduced to 8 seats. I reckon BA aren’t too bothered about filling F seats on this route when it gains Club Suite availability. CW customers are more likely to choose this over old CW on the A380.

    I’ve been keeping an eye on SFO fares myself as I may fly there in the winter. From Expert Flyer, it seems that the current daily 777 will switch to a refurbished 777 with Club Suite. I have also noticed some dates with refurbished 772 in 3 class configuration, ie. with no F.

  • Soflad says:

    17 Jun17 June 11:07

    That is why removing it I guess, I would, transfer to were they can make profit… good move. Not for noon rev but that is the way the cookie does crumble

• S says:

  16 Jun16 June 15:01

  Impossible to find first class redemptions to Nyc unless it’s the last flight out of LHR. Wanted to do first for special occasion but just can’t find 1st availability

• AJ says:

  16 Jun16 June 16:18

  I have read these comments with interest.

  Have a paid F trip in November to SEA taking advantage of the double TP offer. If our flight/s were to be downgraded from F to J, what would the TP situation look like?

  • Nick says:

    16 Jun16 June 21:05

    People catastrophise about this, nearly always unnecessarily. Chances of downgrade are tiny, the most likely scenario is that you’ll fly as booked. If you don’t, you’ll have a choice of either being rebooked in F (either on a different day or via another gateway) or accepting Club with a Mennens calculation for downgrade compensation.

    • Tom says:

      17 Jun17 June 15:28

      Nick, yes I was downgraded from F to J on a San Jose (CA) to LHR award flight. I was offered the points back of course. But instead I asked to be switched to SFO-LHR in F, which was granted.

      The two airports are only 40 or so miles apart!

      • Ronster says:

        18 Jun18 June 12:10

        Hello Nick

        That was a good move.

        I wonder if BA were to do that to me on the LHR-HND leg, if they were to down grade me from F to J, they would rebook me on the evening JAL flight in F?!

        Always better to have a counter offer.

        Regards

• dannyhk says:

  16 Jun16 June 16:48

  Is there any downside to buying your Railcard through Trainline and having it stuck in the Trainline app? Can you still use it just as easily for tickets bought elsewhere?

  • John says:

    16 Jun16 June 18:01

    Yes, you just have to switch to another app to show the ticket (if you choose a ticket that can be displayed on a phone).

• MrMcBurger says:

  16 Jun16 June 21:51

  Interesting.. my HND flight was pulled for Jan 24 & rebooked onto the earlier flight. Not much of a bother to me – just wanted the later flight due to ‘check in’ times at a hotel I have yet to find or book!

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