[Anonymous]

[pomerol]

I have just looked at booking 3 return CE flights Bod-Lgw-Bod, for early next year for my wife and myself, the price quoted on the BA website represented an increase over this year of 25%, it was interesting to note that economy remained the same.

Please can anyone shed any light on this situation.

[MartynSinclair]

Pomerol

Doesnt CE have more than one fare class, which may explain the difference…

[VintageKrug]

There is no increase, apart from the extra £2 the government is levying from 1 November, for the next 12 months.

You can see BA’s Low Fare Finder that the least expensive R class (restricted) Club Europe return fare is £317 for the foreseeable future:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/low-price-finder/public/en_gb?eId=113021&origin=LON&destination=BOD&cabin=C&source=LowPriceFinderList

CE fares are increasing as the bargain basement fares levied last year were not sustainable. You will also find that fares will reduce during sales as well (most recent sale ended a few weeks ago); perhaps you were able to take advantage of one of those fares last year?

The next sale will start on Boxing Day, though if you need to travel on a busy holiday period sale fares might not be available.

You can of course get an additional 10% off this fare by becoming a BA shareholder before the end of October.

Alternatively, you can use the cash+miles function to offset the cost somewhat.

Out of interest, what did you actually pay last year?

[pomerol]

VK and MS

I have only booked as I normaly do, request lowest fare, and again it has Quoted €179 outbound and €176 inbound total for the 2 return tickets €705.84, this year the most expensive of the 6 returns was €574.38.

We have 2 more returns booked for the end of October and the middle of December.

The first 3 for next year are early March, late April and early June, so no rush.

Unfortunately I was not able to take advantage of the Sale Offers this year, as I had booked to early, but I am certainly not complaining as the price we paid was still of exceptionaly good value.

Your advice would be most welcome.

[pomerol]

VK

I am sorry you did not reply to my last posting, it clearly sets out, that the CE flights on the Bod- Lgw -Bod have increased by about 25%

[Potakas]

Pomerol,
I checked at ba.com and the cheapest price for a CE return ticket is £315 (lgw-bod-lgw), i don’t know how much was before but this is the price now,

as far as i know lhr-ath-lhr which i usually fly is still the same for one year now.

Regards,

Potakas

[pomerol]

P. Sepsas

I fly Bod-Lgw- Bod, £315 equates to approximately €355 all flights for this year were around €285, whichever way you look at it, this is a substantial increase.

[VintageKrug]

Sorry, I misinterpreted you Original Post (OP).

Pomerol wrote: “the price quoted on the BA website represented an increase over this year of 25%”

I assumed you were comparing current “this year” prices (Oct-Dec) with future 2010 prices.

As you will see from the low fare finder there is a consistent price across those dates (even though the low fare finder only works exUK, the pricing trend is location agnostic).

What I think was meant was that current and future fares are 25% higher than was the case when you booked earlier this year.

I am not certain whether fares have indeed increased on the BOD route as it’s not a route I fly, but on routes I do fly regularly I would agree that the restricted fares do seem to have risen by 20%-30%.

This is only to be expected as prices were kept lower during the downturn to sustain demand; anecdotally I have noticed demand increasing significantly in the past few months, especially now the threat of strike cancellations is significantly reduced, and as demand increases, so will prices.

There are five options you have to ensure the prices are the lowest possible:

1. Ensure you are a holder of at least 200 BA Shares prior to the cut off date of 2 November 2010; this would give you a 10% discount on the fares and would pay for itself after about €5k spend with BA.

2. Always ensure you have a Saturday night stay exEUR (otherwise the R class fare isn’t possible).

3. An alternative is to use cash + miles option at the payment stage, but as you don’t earn miles and TPs on such fares I don’t think they’re very good value except on expensive routes like Moscow (DME) and Tripoli (TIP).

4. You could always consider inbound to LHR in CE and returning in EuroTraveller; as you should already have a Silver card with your five or so trips per annum to London in CE, you can eat and drink really well in the lounges pre-flight exLHR, so there’s less need for CE. Ex BOD I would imagine lounge facilities are good but not as good as LHR, so there might be need for more sustenance while in flight, making CE a more attractive option.

5. Buy your flights during the premium fare sale. There is a pattern to BA regular cabin sales, though the premium cabin sales are harder to predict.
The next regular sale will be on Boxing Day, but there is usually a premium cabin sale in November, so I would wait until then to purchase your personal flying programme for the next few months; that might bring the prices down somewhat.
You can use the shareholder discount on these fares as well.

[VintageKrug]

Another tip is to book a flight + hotel option; it can sometimes be less expensive and even if you book the grottiest accommodation for one night you still get the 5,000 BA Miles bonus. And there’s no compulsion to actually stay there.

If you do not want to become a shareholder, you can maximise your points-earning potential if these flights paid for by a company you own by joining onbusiness.

[StephenLondon]

Well if fares in CE are increasing, let’s hope BA spend some money on the product! So much has been “enhanced” away recently, there is little difference between CE and ET, making it hardly worth the difference, esp. if you are a silver or gold card holder.
The food, recently (and when offered), has been utterly vile. The English breakfast now swims in grease and salt, afternoon tea is a new episode in meanness – a six year old would be hungry after such meagre portions, and it is harder and harder to get a proper meal outside of about 3 departure hours per day.
Choice (b’fast / tea) doesn’t exist…can’t I just have a nice bowl of fruit, some yoghurt and perhaps some sliced meats/cheese in lieu of an undercooked sausage and plastic eggs? The only decent part of CE now is champagne (mostly warm) and sightly more elbow room. Cabins are dirty, seats worn and broken, seat backs dribbled with milk from those damn plastic sticks. It is all in major need of a rethink and a refurbishment! Fingers crossed! I’d pay more provided I received more…

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Stephen

I could not agree more and posted a similar comment yesterday, which seems to have been deleted.

[pomerol]

VK

Thank you for your information and sugestions.

1) Can you be a shareholder outside the UK and if so do you get the 10% discount?

2) We always ensure a Saturday night stay.

3) Cash + miles is not an option, I need TP s.

4)Might be possible on 2 or 3 flights as I expect to do possibly 7 or 8 next year, but again TP s are paramount.

5)Yes I think waiting for the Premium Sales makes a lot of sense.

6) Book flight + hotel, will certainly look at that.

7) Something which was not considered, was trying to persuade my wife not to accompany me on 2 or 3 of the trips. I do not know how long it will take me to bring this matter up.

Thank you for your assistance

[Author]

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