Bits: 10,000 Miles & More miles with The Economist, Expedia and ‘hand baggage only’ fares

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• Paul says:

  14 Feb14 February 05:28

  I think the issue here is possibly peoples assumptions.
  You see very few complaints about baggage fees on easyjet or Ryanair tickets bought through Expedia, when they are sold in the same way?
  Yes it could be much more obvious, but it would have to apply to all no baggage tickets on Expedia, not just BA.

  • Alex says:

    14 Feb14 February 10:55

    As we are on the subject of Hand Baggage Fare I wonder if anyone has ever booked one and then upgraded to club Europe on BA email offer.
    What happens to the Baggage allowance does it change to allow 2 bags.
    Those offers are not clear they just say “greater baggage allowance means you can take 2 bags at 23kg each, as well as 2 pieces of hand baggage”
    Is this a general statement relating to an ordinary booking even though it gets sent to Hand Baggage Fare booking or one has the baggage allowance in the new class ?

    • harry says:

      14 Feb14 February 11:00

      You would get the baggage allowance appropriate to your new fare class.

      • Alex says:

        14 Feb14 February 14:08

        Thank you but is this an assumption or it has been tried ?
        I asked the question to the BA Exec Gold line. After consultation with their manager they said that this isn’t an ordinary upgrade to Club but a special offer to upgrade which is not the same and you would remain a baggage only passenger even though you would be travelling in Club.
        I am a little suspicious about the answer after having read somewhere that someone who wasn’t able to complete the upgrade online came the airport check in and the staff showed him a message on screen stating ” Do not offer the upgrade to HBF customers.”
        This might indicate that if you do go ahead and complete it online they would need to honour it.

        • harry says:

          14 Feb14 February 14:31

          That’s my assumption – would be good to see the T&Cs. But BA upgrades normally follow that pattern, ie it is if you bought the ticket @ the upgrade price, even when you are upgraded for free. ISTR that if you are upgraded from economy to business, you get awarded the Avios quantity for business & all the other business benefits.

        • harry says:

          14 Feb14 February 14:36

          oh and on your other point, ie the computer screen message at the airport – that doesn’t surprise me. I think the check in staff have a fair bit of discretion, though, ie say you’re a HBO passenger and you ask at check in how much it would be to upgrade to business. They may say there’s no availability, they may say that you can’t upgrade because you’re HBO – but OTOH they may see there’s plenty of empty space in business & give you a price (particularly if they like the look of you or you have status).

        • Callum says:

          14 Feb14 February 15:08

          Leaving it up to the discretion of the check in staff seems like an incredibly bizarre way to operate airport upgrades (barring special circumstances, like service recovery or economy is overbooked – though that’s almost impossible on a CE flight!).

          Surely it’s either beneficial to BA to offer upgrades to HBO/status passengers – in which case it should be offered as standard practise, or it’s not – in which case they shouldn’t be offered at all.

        • harry says:

          14 Feb14 February 15:41

          http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/BA-..-upgrading-at-check-in-or-the-gate

        • Callum says:

          15 Feb15 February 10:52

          What? I’ve skimread some of that but see nothing that says checkin staff are permitted to override the system and give an upgrade because they like the look of you?

• Erico1875 says:

  14 Feb14 February 06:42

  Despite,( or maybe because of ) all the techno advances, I think people are getting thicker. No common sense. BAs cheapest ticket is HBO. When you search Expedia for the cheapest ticket, thats what you get- HBO.. If people put as much effort into researching a purchase before hitting BUY as they do complaining, they would LEARN.

  • Genghis says:

    14 Feb14 February 07:56

    I think that’s a bit harsh. Times have changed. Companies should be up front about what they’re flogging and about all conditions attached to a purchase (working in the banking sector, I would you).

    If Expedia are selling a HBO fare, it should be stated as such and not hidden somewhere towards the bottom that there is a baggage charge.

    There is an expectation gap too with BA as Paul mentioned above as Joe Bloggs expects full service on BA (as opposed to Easyjet and Ryanair). Any education you refer to should not be through mistakes made and learnt from but through clear messaging up front.

• Gabriel says:

  14 Feb14 February 07:26

  1-2 months ago Expedia wasn’t showing any estimates at all for BA baggage fees, so it was impossible to know that you were buying a hand-baggage ticket without re-pricing it on BA’s website.

  And last time I looked the baggage fee now quoted was £65, not £25 – which I suppose is the price for buying it last minute at the airport. Shocking!

• Pat Butcher says:

  14 Feb14 February 07:29

  Shame the economist is for new subscribers only. Anyone had the bonus miles and more or avios twice?

  • Genghis says:

    14 Feb14 February 07:47

    If it helps, I signed up to the recent Iberia avios Economist offer and received confirmation from them (after I asked) that I’d get my 12k avios despite subscribing previously (though not via any avios / M&M offer).

• Will says:

  14 Feb14 February 09:11

  I think you would “bother” with Expedia if you want a hotel as well and the offering on BA.com is poor. I used Expedia for a CE flight and hotel combo because BA could only offer three hotels in BGO and all were a lot more expensive and of worse quality than what Expedia could offer.

  • AndyR says:

    14 Feb14 February 10:01

    But I didn’t think Expedia give any discount on a hotel when buying a flight so why not just buy the flight direct from BA and then the hotel from Expedia?

    • John says:

      14 Feb14 February 10:11

      I guess the lesson is, as long as you have the time, you should search in more than one place to see which site gives the best deal.

    • AndyGWP says:

      14 Feb14 February 17:26

      FWIW… This has not been my experience previously, and some flight + hotel combos work out cheaper on Expedia than booking separately 🙂

      • Alan says:

        14 Feb14 February 17:36

        Is it not sometimes that rather than the discount being on the hotel, the discount is on the airfare? (and BA just presents it as a hotel discount). Some of the fares are only available when combined as part of a package (either hotel/car) – I’d imagine Expedia have access to the same deals and therefore should be able to offer these combinations too but from a wider range of hotels than BA?

        • AndyGWP says:

          14 Feb14 February 18:49

          I suspect you’re right.

          I stopped using Expedia a few years ago tbh, after they advertised a hotel with free parking and it subsequently cost me £25 for parking (raised with Expedia before I went after confirming with hotel this was the case) and they said “just pay and send us the receipt – we will refund you”. Took 6 months and a lot of chasing and hassle (more than the £25 was worth) to get sorted and involved Amex and all sorts

          Back to point. My wife has booked four nights in NY thru Expedia with flights and hotel for a cost that BA could only match on flights alone, but as you suggest, BA offered limited options for hotels and their hotels were more expensive making Expedia cheaper 🙂

          (Also from several comparisons it is harder to get good deals via. BA from Manchester, which also makes Expedia better 🙂 )

        • Rob says:

          14 Feb14 February 19:02

          Correct. Expedia can use an IT fare bucket for the flight (the cheap ones only sold to tour operators) if you add a car or hotel. The discount comes entirely from the airline.

        • Leo says:

          14 Feb14 February 19:20

          Isn’t that getting risky regarding points/tier points?

• Concerto says:

  14 Feb14 February 09:36

  In the USA it’s $160 for a sub with 10,000 M&M miles, which is a bit more interesting.

• David says:

  14 Feb14 February 09:39

  I have experienced hand baggage only by Expedia a few times previously. For example on United on US internal flights (but I guess all operators in the US do this) and between LCA and TLV. There is some very small Expedia print that states please check your baggage allowance with the airline, but as I recall that was after I purchased the tickets. I urge Expedia to put this up front, before purchase.

• Andy S says:

  14 Feb14 February 10:01

  My company uses Egencia (Expedia’s business travel agency offer) supposedly for booking all travel. It’s a problem for me because the policy states we’re supposed to book the cheapest option – not doing so on Egencia flags to our finance team resulting in questions! Yes, HBO is going to be the cheapest but it’s not always the most appropriate option.

  Totally agree with other commenters that this should be stated up front!

  • John says:

    14 Feb14 February 10:13

    Will your company not reimburse the baggage fees? There is only so much you can do to save your employer money, after all if it’s a small company where you know the owner/boss then they should be amenable to discussion

    • harry says:

      14 Feb14 February 10:22

      Pays to be friendly with your boss. When I was younger, good old Martin was all too happy to approve me swapping business return to USA into RTW in economy + 2 weeks vacation so I got to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef with ‘free’ flights.

      • Genghis says:

        14 Feb14 February 10:36

        Sounds like Martin was a decent chap

    • Dev says:

      14 Feb14 February 13:31

      I find these corporate rules bizarre sometimes. I asked a friend at Imperial College who have to use Egencia to book 10 rooms for 10 visiting professors for 1 night. I suggested Premier Inn for convenience and cost . Turns out Premier Inn cannot be booked through Egencia. So they ended up booking 10 single(!) rooms at a more expensive Hilton further away. Plus wi-fi was extra! Quite a counter productive policy.

      • AndyGWP says:

        14 Feb14 February 19:04

        Exclusivity contracts with suppliers usually means you get good deals sometimes (location-wise), and not so good deals at other locations / times

        • AndyGWP says:

          14 Feb14 February 19:06

          (By suppliers, I mean booking agencies in this instance, but same could be said of your office stationary supplier etc depending on size of organisation)

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