[Anonymous]

[trippleF]

I noticed the new offering from BA called Flight pass. you buy a booklet of 6 or more flights to one destination, and pay a fixed price. Intriguing, and this may be useful for many of us frequent travelers.
I wanted to ask this forum about further thoughts and potential use of this bulk buying option.
Currently it only offer Economy tickets, what would the options be to upgrade to Biz?
I can guess the answer (being absolute minimum) but how many tier points will these flights earn?
I hope this gets extended to international destinations, I.e. New York, although I wouldn’t buy long haul without the option to upgrade…

[FDOS_UK]

It looks messy to me, lots of different permutations to juggle, difficult to assess how good it is.

If I was SE UK based, I don’t think this would interest me, I’d look around for the most competitive deals at the time.

[JeffD]

This for me would be a great advantage. BMI originally had a similar scheme and it made my life so easier.
Well done BA, lets see some more information.

[JeffD]

@trippleF

HI, I was really interested in your posting. I contacted the ticket desk at LHR T5 and they said it was a new scheme and I had to contact exec club. Well I am afraid the trail went dead, they have no information on and said they did not think it was a product BA would launch. So I am a bit confused. Would you be able to let me know where you saw this offering ? I am will chase BA again, I am afraid its a bit hit and miss with their call centre. I guess I got a bad one today.

[ImissConcorde]

Meanwhile back in 1989 who remembers Timesaver Tickets?

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19890829&id=fDNAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RVkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2961,4645066&hl=en

[FDOS_UK]

Jefferydavison – 19/10/2015 20:34 BST

You can find it here.

https://www.optiontown.com/Worldwide_Sites.do?processAction=paramLnk&p=/01BAFPo1/

Good to see that BA’s excellent internal communications are working as usual 😉

[ARJ100]

trippleF – The FAQs should answer your question about the Avios and Tier points.

Namely:
– The standard flight pass books into ‘L’ class – 10 tier points and 50% base Avios
– The ‘Freedom Option’ (bookable until 4 hours before) books into ‘B’ class – 20 tier Points and 100% base Avios

…so better than expected!

[trippleF]

@Jeffereydavison – It came in a BA newsletter I received on the 16th of Oct, but notice my husband didn’t get that offer, so it’s slightly personalised
@FDOS_UK – thanks for coming to the rescue and posting the relevant link 🙂

I went to call Optiontown, and an Indian gentleman explained to me, that they are only offering Economy tickets, but upgrades can be made through BA. So I read it as any upgrades are subject to BA’s terms, i.e. availability and an eligible flight class. Note, that under the “Freedom Option” you get a B class ticket as @omanaira330 pointed out, and that is an eligible class. I don’t think any other flight pass options allow this, as they are booked in “L” class. Happy to be corrected though 🙂

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

I asked BA for details on this and this was the reply I got

Flight Pass is in trial stage and is only available to a closed group of exec club customers at present, will keep you posted on any developments with regards to whether this will be rolled out moving forward.

So not bookable through trade and possibly not even if you call BA and ask nicely!

[FDOS_UK]

Tim

Let me correct BA’s statement 😉 “Flight Pass is in trial stage and is only available to a closed group of exec club customers at present, except a bunch of clever dicks outside the closed group have found the Optiontown link and are using it.”

[MartinJ]

Not clear to me whether “flight” means single or return flight. Prices suggest the former but nowhere is this explictly stated on Optiontown.

[FDOS_UK]

If I understand the scheme correctly, you buy x flights between A and B, but can use them to fly A-B or B-A.

[MrMichael]

I looked for my regular flights LHR-MAD. The price is £150 per sector provided I give 7 days notice of flight, and I cannot use Iberia metal. For me, not a particularly desirable option.

[trippleF]

I can report back on my experience using flight pass. A family emergency meant I needed to fly home at short notice. I booked a flight pass for 24 flights with the 4 hour notice period.
My verdict: It works well for travelers flying a route regularly and avoiding high prices during peak times/ holidays.
– purchasing the flight pass was straightforward through the website
– BA membership number didn’t get added automatically so for my first booking I had to manually update the passenger profile
– once linked to BA membership profile you can manage your booking through BA as normal, including upgrades subject to the usual availability I believe
– 24 flights equals 12 return flights. You HAVE to book a return flight, which nullifies the benefit of 4 hour notice period for the return leg
– I did indeed get 40 tier points as mentioned by @omanaira330
– I find adding potential passengers to the flight pass of particular good value, in my case it was just an additional 1.- GBP per name!
– the trial is only valid for flights up to end of 2016, which means a 12month flight pass would have to be purchased by 31.12.2015 / tomorrow

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