[Anonymous]

[VintageKrug]

The BA First and Club World Sale fares are now live on http://www.BA.com as predicted by me in mid January.

Sharm El Sheikh from £849 return in http://www.newclubworld.com seems the stand out bargain.

Holders of 200 or more BA shares qualify for an additional 10% discount on the ticket price.

For more information, check out:

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

[Binman62]

VK ……For me this is again a very dissapointing offering from BA.
JFK excluded with a club world quote for mid feb, including a Saturday night at £3800.

HKG at £2299 is fine, if HKG is the final destination, but CX will clean up with anything beyond HKG. They are quotaing £2300 to Bali in August and yet BA, even with a code share on the route, cannot or will not quote that destination on BA.com

£1699 for BOS is 54% higher than this time last year, whilst SYD in First is 47% higher than I paid last year.

As for 10% shareholder discount. It is true that this is available but only on the actual fare. Taxes fees and charges are not included so the saving on Sharm for example is not £84.9 but just £57.10 as the taxes and charges are £277, and not all of those are down to the government.

Premium travel comes at a premium price, but BA are still threatened by industrial action and their products, while very good, are ageing and becoming very tired. T5 is the only bright light they have and even this is having problems due to their landlords focus on retail.

These fares do nothing to attract customers who are not BA die hards nor do they do aything for encouraging travel or upgrading. When you think back to some of the stuff they did in the past, such as the world’s greatest offer etc it does make you wonder what is happening today and whether they can turn things around. I hope they do, but fear they have not the will or capacity.

[VintageKrug]

Fares are indeed much higher since the last sale was offered.

However, capacity has been reduced, there is no Silverjet/MaxJet on the route to drive down prices, Gordon Brown has doubled APD and fuel prices are rising. On top of this the Government is driving the economy into a hole, both causing and necessitating a fall in the value of the pound.

It’s off you cannot see cheaper fares, as there are plenty of tickets for long weekends to NYC at £1486 rtn. I don’t think that’s great value personally, but it’s certainly quite hard to get the £2800 price you quoted (perhaps you are planning a Valentine’s weekend jaunt, which always inflates prices, sale or not).

[Binman62]

VK ….I am sorry but it is all too easy to get the £3800 fares. Just try week beginning 8th and 15th Feb outbound and back any time in Feb or March. LCY is quoting at £2600 one way from JFK and frankly you would have to mad, a banker, or both to contemplate paying this. (Though it is clear from a check of VS and AA, that they all feel able to charge this level of fare on that route.
Out 8 Feb. back 25th cheapest price to LHR is £3800 if you fly day time. Overnight on the return hikes the fare to £4400.
More interestingly, and for me at least, more irritating. Is that from Stockholm on the same days the fare is just £2131.10. Given that it is an overnight flight it represents a saving of a £2300.
I know all about market pricing but it seems to be clear that BA are gouging UK based passengers and for executive club members at least, it must be a massive disincentive.
For them on this route, their tier points and miles are not only twice as expensive, but due to the lower silver/gold thresholds in Europe, their value doubles if based in Sweden. In other words the UK member is 4 times worse off on this route than a Swedish counterpart. That is tough to justify.

[VintageKrug]

I think you are coming up against a 14 day advance purchase requirement; if you can delay your outbound one week, you should get the better fares.

Also, its both Half Term in the UK and Valentine’s Weekend, so that will be driving demand, and there is less capacity on the route.

If the other non UK carriers such as AA are able to sustain such prices, I hardly think it is BA gauging the customer.

If you are prepared to connect, then try Swiss or Lufthansa, which may be less expensive.

[VintageKrug]

Just thinking about this – have you tried purchasing it as a package, including an hotel?

That can sometimes work out less expensive….

[GTR_Skyline]

Some interesting things happening on the site if you choose miles and upgrade option…e,g, LHR to Beijing 17th Mar, return 23 Mar…..economy to premium is 40k BA miles + £1033.40…….but Premium to Club is only 40k BA miles + £900…..

[VintageKrug]

It is normally the case that it is less expensive to buy WT+ and upgrade to http://www.newclubworld.com than it would be to purchase WT and upgrade to WT+.

This is because you cannot upgrade the very least expensive WT fare buckets; whereas you can upgrade the very cheapest WT+ sale fares to Club.

Semi-flexible Economy is often more expensive than inflexible Premium Economy.

Given the difference between a Premium Economy seat and a Club World fully flat bed (including departure and arrivals lounge access) is significant, this is another reason why when redeeming or “MFUing” (=upgrading with BA Miles) you should only ever do so into Club and First.

Think of how many poor souls spend all their hard gotten miles upgrading to Premium Economy….

[GTR_Skyline]

Thanks VintageKrug…makes sense and yes, shame not everyone knows about the best option to upgrade to Club or First.

[Ardmarnoch]

Well I have just had a look at LHR-BKK Club in May. £2,500 is what BA calls a “Sale” No changes, no refunds, worse than Easyjet conditons. Thai isoffering £1,400 and Eva about the same, without a “sale” and also direct. Now the BA ius a better product – but not at a 90% premium in a sale with these conditions. Considerably more expensive than last year’s sale, and just not competitive. As a shareholder, it saddens me.

[VintageKrug]

As a shareholder, I am strangely heartened by the increase in fares seen in this sale. Not so excited as a consumer, though.

If BA believes the capacity cuts it (and other carriers) have implemented, coupled with a resurgent demand for business travel (and remember the Far East has not suffered as extensively in this downturn) can justify such fares, then that’s all to the good news for BA.

After all, profits are not made by simply filling the seats at any cost, but rather by maintaining margin, and BA has a very sophisticated revenue management system to manage exactly these issues.

As it has been a challenge for BA to cut costs further, the only way to maintain margin is to increase prices.

BKK is available in this sale rtn in J from £1999 (though obviously this is outside your planned travel dates). If other airlines think they can remain profitable, and offer a comparable service at that price point, then that’s great for the consumer.

Would I pay a £400 premium for BA over Thai J. Probably.

Would I pay £900? Probably not.

I don’t know much about Thai’s business class, though I was warned off taking a Thai F flight direct to BKK next month, and will be enjoying the comforts of Swiss instead.

Do please report back on your Thai experience, as I don’t know much about their offering.

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