[Binman62]

……the press release also states “Indications so far for October point to a softer demand picture in premium traffic and cargo”

The current sale, with fares lower than previous sales for the first time in 3 years, suggests that far from softening forward bookings are falling off a cliff.

The deals from others are also starting to filter through as all begin to wake up to the falling demand, a double dip recession and huge hikes in airfares in the Uk in the last 3 years. All the middle East Carriers are now offering SYD at less than £2.5K from LHR and Just over £4K in First. Meanwhile misleading advertisements by BA suggest that you can get Club World for £2.6K when in reality this means a trip on a QF747 and their business class slide. Club World will set you back £3.9K.

Taxes It is very important to separate the Taxes charged on a ticket and whcih go to HMRC and the surcharges which are applied and go into BA pocket. BA fuel surcharge is generally more than double anything HMRC get from you and can be up to 3 times depending on your cabin.

[CallMeIshmael]

As a recent article stated, filling a aircraft is easy, filling it profitably is not. BA is becoming the MFI-World of Leather to the industry by constantly having a sale, let us hope it does not go the same way.

[Binman62]

CallMeIshmael….a good point. It is a fact that if you are a regular traveller and especially when spending your own money, that it is now very difficult to know when to book and when you are getting a good deal.

[VintageKrug]

More complete rubbish from the Binman. Club World to Sydney can be had for a lot less than £3.9k:

Outbound – 7 Jan, 2012 Heathrow (London) Sydney Kingsford Smith BA0009
British Airways Club World
Inbound – 16 Jan, 2012 Sydney Kingsford Smith Heathrow (London) BA0010
British Airways Club World

£ 3,062.33

less shareholder discount = £2,800

You’d also earn enough Avios as a Gold Card holder to get a round trip upgrade to Club on your next trip to the US, and be 30% of the way to retaining your Gold card for next year.

£2,800 is not far off the Middle Eastern carriers’ charge for dodgy long layovers, average lounges and appallingly poor value Frequent Flyer schemes. As I take this route regularly, I can say that £2,800 is excellent value; I’d certainly pay that to fly BA vs. most every competitor out there.

It seems BA can be faulted if it charges too much (not praised for being able to command a premium with a consistent and market leading product set) and when it discounts it is having a fire sale and about to go out of business. Do watch the blood pressure.

Some great deals in the current Winter Blues sale:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/Flights-sale/public/en_gb

[olliewb]

openfly

“I checked with my contact …. they both confirmed that you pay the current government taxes if you book for a flight after the 1st Nov.”

How much will the taxes increase by for 2 PAX in First?

[scanners]

Redemption nightmare!

I have a companion voucher and enough miles to spring for a First roundtrip from London to Sydney – so the plan was to get 2 seats First roundtrip next year (2012).
There isnt ONE seat available from now until December next year, What is the trick? Do seats get released on certain dates or is there just nothing available?!

[VintageKrug]

London-Sydney is one of the toughest routes on which to get availability – especially for two people when you need to book the round trip at the same time, and also as BA now only serves SYD via SIN, further reducing redemption opportunities for BA’s 5.5million active Exec Club members.

It’s actually one of the best routes on which to earn miles, so I generally pay, but then again you *can* get availability as I have had two round trip on miles in the past two years.

I would suggest you use your voucher to somewhere like Vancouver, Mexico City, Abu Dhabi or Barbados and see whether you can find a cost-effective premium flight to SYD in the sales which start over Christmas.

[STORMIN']

I need to correct a piece of advice given by VintageKrug earlier on in this thread.

Budget Airways now charges Gold Card holders £25 to amend any booking. I booked an award flight and immediately after doing so, I realised that I had one of the dates wrong. An error message came up which said that the booking had not gone through, which was a relief until i noted a confirmation message in my email. I then tried to amend the booking on line but it wouldn’t let me, so I had to call up Budget Airways.

I was told, notwithstanding my Gold Card membership for over 20 years, that my mistake had cost me £25, a fee that had been introduced that day, and that I should count myself lucky that the charge for calling up would be waived on this occasion. This outfit is Ryanair under another name – frankly, I can’t see the point in making the effort to maintain my Gold Card – 2.5 times Silver tier points – and for what, precisely?

[VintageKrug]

I think you had a duff agent.

BA Gold Card holders are specifically exempt from this re-booking fee, which was introduced in the last few weeks.

Did you call the Gold Line, or the regular number?

Call back and ask them to re-credit you.

[olliewb]

Voucher and miles used for x2 First tickets to JFK for February next year, lots of availability.

[Author]

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