Are BA taking us for a ride with hand baggage only fares?

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  • sanjayfly23
    Participant

    I tend to fly BA due to its convenience having its hub in Heathrow and therefore 90% of the time not needing to change flights as a consequence to the final destination.
    BA has had the hand baggage only fares for a while and I note that a lot of people buy these tickets. What I have found recently is that every European BA flight is always full meaning that at the gate they offer to check bags in for free. I find this quite annoying as I and many other passengers are paying for flights with baggage included (to be checked in) and then to find at the gate those who do not have baggage included in their ticket price are being allowed to check it in free of charge.
    Is this not just BA slapping its customers in the face!
    The reason I check it in is that I prefer not to have to take liquids out and I have a laptop bag which I carry with me through security.


    Intheair
    Blocked

    sanjayfly123

    I agree with you – it is very frustrating that BA are allowing bags to be checked in for free, and also allowing priority boarding to those that do.

    I can’t see an answer at the moment, as BA seem to have created a rod for their own back with the HBO fares


    capetonianm
    Participant

    I mostly fly in Europe with easyJet and on the majority of my flights I pay for a checked bag. Like yourself, I can’t help feeling a bit disgruntled at times when I see people having theirs checked in at the gate free of charge.

    However, the point that you haven’t mentioned, and I think this is the mitigation, is that the bags that get checked in at the gate are CBBG sized bags and this is done when the gate agents judge that there won’t be enough space in the overhead bins. So whilst this does happen, you wouldn’t be able to get to the gate with a 20kg full sized suitcase and expect to get that checked in free.

    That said, people clearly do take advantage and this is unfair, but ‘c’est la vie!


    sanjayfly23
    Participant

    Thanks Intheair and capetonianm for the comments, you are right I forgot to mention about the bag size. But I also forgot to mention that at the gate BA put a tannoy out (I think that is how to spell it) out to say the “flight is fully booked so we cannot guarantee all wheeled bags will be able to fit in the overhead bins so we will check in bags for free and if enough people do not volunteer we will have to insist”! So they do not have enough space, which again like I said is the annoying part therefore, my bug bear, if you are going to sell cabin baggage only fares then make sure the flight can handle the bags and not penalise those customers who are paying more to place bags in the hold.


    penfold69
    Participant

    On the flip side of that, I regularly travel with HBO and find it very frustrating when forced to check my bag into the hold. A lot of people who don’t check in a bag, are doing it because they don’t want to, and would therefore also be frustrated at having to check a bag in. Unhappy parties on both sides of the same issue I think.


    seasonedtraveller
    Participant

    BA would do better if they started enforcing the carry-on baggage rules instead of allowing people to take the entire contents of the QE2 on board.
    Also, just to add – it would be helpful if I didn’t open the overheads in row 1 to find it stuffed full of crew baggage…..just saying….


    Reeferman
    Participant

    For me, what is even-more annoying is that BA then lets those passengers who have checked-in a bag for free at the gate to board first – ahead of status/Club passengers etc. The more so if they also have other bags with them and then take-up valuable overhead bin space.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=808576]For me, what is even-more annoying is that BA then lets those passengers who have checked-in a bag for free at the gate to board first – ahead of status/Club passengers etc. The more so if they also have other bags with them and then take-up valuable overhead bin space.

    [/quote]

    Yep, earlier this year I had a LHR-MAN flight where I’d paid a UK business (fully flex) fare and also had a BAEC goldcard. I was the first pax from the priority queue to board, but #33 on the aircraft.


    Swindoneric
    Participant

    We had exactly the same experience when flying on the 1520 LHR-EDI flight today. Maybe 15 people “volunteered” to check their bags in and boarded ahead of us in the CE queue. Interestingly there was a BA manager handling the boarding so I couldn’t resist asking him why this was allowed, and indeed questioning the point of ‘buying a bag”. His response was that there isn’t enough baggage space and that if the airline allows the “volunteers” to go first, it’s better for everyone. I then asked him to clarify why anyone should pay for a “wheelie bag” and he replied that “BA has to compete with other low cost airlines” who have the same problem. I asked him if he really meant what he just said and he conceded that he didn’t – but that the LCCs are taking a lot of BA’s market share. All somewhat strange and I’ve have been pretty disappointed if there had been no baggage space when we got on board. That said, the service on board was excellent and well worth the small premium we paid.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    The ONLY reason I like to board first when travelling Club Europe is to use the locket space above my seat in row 1.

    It is unbelievable (or perhaps believable in the case of BA) how the overhead locker space is already filled by the time I board.

    My beef with BA is if they were to ensure the locker space in Club Europe was only used by Club Europe, I couldn’t care less who boarded before me.

    However, if I board mid flow, the space has already been filed by either cabin crew or Y passengers, chancing their luck.

    HBO rules have created havoc…

    About time, BA enforced Cabin Baggage rules


    Flightlevel
    Participant

    This was mentioned before in an earlier topic and evolved over time and circumstance. BA has few new A320 series aircraft that have slightly larger overhead bins ‘though some are ordered by IAG.
    HBO fares are relatively new to compete at minimum cost so are here to stay. Transfers are in the business plan, and from overseas there’s less control over cabin bags and overseas purchases add to LHR shopping.
    There are no “rules” to restrict crew use of
    overhead bins nor to pack them ‘properly’ nor on A320s are they large enough for all pax.
    The good news: BA have no weight limit on cabin bags (‘though crew are not allowed to help lift them) so in theory you can carry 20kgs bags through security and if in the hold at the gate you’ve avoided checking them in.


    TimFitzgeraldTC
    Participant

    BA Hand Baggage allowance in a cabin bag is technically 23Kg’s (though they say not limited – that as I understand is what staff are told to go by – if they bother to check).

    I’ve had the same issue on other carriers to be fair – it isn’t just BA. Policing the policies they have in place is most important – and making sure where a Business product is in place that all Business passengers have there bags overhead before using that space as overflow for other passengers. Some airlines make it clear that only x/y many bags will go on as hand baggage and rest will be checked in (for no charge).

    Otherwise I think a storm in a teacup issue – it may be a gripe – but far bigger issues to get frustrated over or worry about.


    FaroFlyer
    Participant

    Agree with Tim TC, a storm in a tea cup. All airlines have the same problem, and response. There is never going to be enough space in overhead bins if a flight is full.


    DerekVH
    Participant

    [quote quote=808604]<p abp=”583″>The <strong abp=”584″>ONLY reason I like to board first when travelling Club Europe is to use the locket space above my seat in row 1.

    <p abp=”585″>It is unbelievable (or perhaps believable in the case of BA) how the overhead locker space is already filled by the time I board.

    <p abp=”586″>My beef with BA is if they were to ensure the locker space in Club Europe was only used by Club Europe, I couldn’t care less who boarded before me.

    <p abp=”587″>However, if I board mid flow, the space has already been filed by either cabin crew or Y passengers, chancing their luck.

    <p abp=”588″>HBO rules have created havoc…

    <p abp=”589″>About time, BA enforced Cabin Baggage rules

    </p>[/quote]

    Travelling with EI last week LHR/ORK/LHR, Y but paid for seat selection in row 1 I was pleased to find on boarding that overhead bins for row 1 were closed and clearly marked “for row 1 baggage only” and it worked in both directions. Would it be too difficult for BA to enforce this in CE cabins?


    747foreverforus
    Participant

    At Dusseldorf yesterday,BA941 the new outsourced ground team asked for people to put bags in the hold as the flight was ‘completely full’
    5 minutes later the request was made again
    5 minutes after the second announcement, when nobody came forward came the ‘threat’ – ‘if we don’t get any volunteers we will select passengers to put their baggage into the hold’ as you can imagine this generated a great number of bags being given over (2 actually), even though they were not offered priority boarding.
    Once boarded, the flight was probably 80% full, and there was no need for any bags to be put into the hold.
    I wonder why the ground staff took such an aggressive approach, and is this a sign of things to come – especially when they add the additional seats to both the 320s and 321s?

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