British Airways announces the new First Class bus

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

You know the yellow ‘Priority’ tags that British Airways puts on your suitcases when you travel in First Class, Club World or Club Europe? They don’t do anything. Nothing.

British Airways has at least now come clean about this, with the launch of a new ‘First for First’ service.

Here are two new services which are being trialled – so don’t get too carried away – at Heathrow:

A dedicated bus for First Class passengers landing on a remote stand

9% of British Airways flights land on remote stands at Heathrow and require a bus transfer to the terminal.

A dedicated First Class bus will now be waiting for long-haul flights. Other passengers will be blocked from leaving the aircraft until First Class passengers have been driven away. BA estimates that this will save 10 minutes.

It will NOT be the bus below, which is the bus that Emirates uses for First Class passengers.

I have also reviewed the Qatar Airways first class bus (!). I doubt it will look like that either ….

Priority baggage handling for First Class passengers

Yes, BA will genuinely be offering priority baggage services to First Class passengers.

Obviously this comes with caveats:

It is only a trial

It only applies for flights from New York JFK, Los Angeles, Dubai and Johannesburg into Heathrow

First Class bags will all be placed in the same container which will be loaded last. This means that it will be the first container unloaded after landing. An area will be cordoned off next to the luggage belt and the First Class bags lifted off by a staff member and placed there for collection.

This is clearly beyond the scope of the baggage handlers at Heathrow so it won’t be happening on your outbound flight.

We shouldn’t be too cynical, of course, as positive change is generally the result of many small incremental steps instead of one ‘big bang’ event. BA does tend to take very small steps though …..

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

FlyUpTop says:

25 Apr25 April 08:22

Maybe a coincidence but our Orange CW ticketed baggage came out before cabin crews recently.
Andi F says:

25 Apr25 April 08:24

I have on a number of occasions taken a Club Europe only bus to the terminal from remote stands. The buses even say ‘Club Europe’ on their display boards.I was not aware that this or a similar service was not on LH flights. I assumed it would be, although I’ve never come in to a remote stand on a LH flight.

I guess there’s a significant difference in the number of buses required for an A319 compared to a 777. Still, the Club Europe buses I’ve been on were basically empty so it can’t be that they are short on buses.

Also good use of Balogun and Hope Hailey’s model of organisational change Rob. My management lecturers would be pleased to see the big bang vs incrementalism theory being used in context!
Geoff says:

25 Apr25 April 08:25

Qatar checked our bags all the way through from Auckland to Oslo and the BA flight home, with first class tags. They were first on to the carousel at Heathrow.

Now, if they would just enforce those other yellow small bag ‘under the seat in front’ tags, maybe there would be space in the overhead bins.
- Alan says:
  
  25 Apr25 April 09:12
  
  The “small bag under the seat in front” rule really annoys me. I travel witha relatively small bag so that I don;t take up too much room in the overhead locker, leaving plenty of space for others. But, if other passengers are less considerate, and bring the most luggage on that they can, I am the one to suffer restricted footwell space as my small bag has to be stowed at my feet.
  
  If there is not enough room for all the carry on, the larger bags should be stowed in the hold when you get to the aircraft door.
  
  Just my tuppence worth
  - Anna says:
    
    25 Apr25 April 09:45
    
    American Airlines have introduced a fare where, unless you pay extra, you are ONLY allowed a piece of hand luggage which will go under the seat in front. If you want to use the overhead bins it costs more – expecting BA to follow suit soon with “enhanced” HBO fares!
    - Jonathan says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 10:12
      
      Dont all these different type of fares make it extremely difficult to police both at the airport and in the sky? I find it very confusing as the end user who actually just wants to get from A to B for a decent price. I don’t have any preconceptions of what that good price will be i just dont want to get ripped off and will compare several carriers just to ensure my price is in the right ball park. Now i have to compare about 6 different fare types, times 3 carriers and then work out which fare type i want based on what each one offers and if i might use those extra features.
      
      It’s like broadband internet. When you buy 5Gb usage per month for £X – you as the consumer are very scared about downloading too much and what the cost will be if you go over it. You are very cost driven. When you buy a package with 500Gb per month you will download everything and anything to get the full value for money – becuase you paid for it you want to use it. When you buy the unlimited package you dont care about usage – you might use 6Gb one month and 600Gb the next but you just browse what you want to browse and when your browsing habits change to include Spotify and Netflix etc you dont worry about what the broadband cost is going to be.
      
      Office 365 is another example, buy the full Microsoft Office product and it will last you 5+ years and cost you far less then 18 months of Office 365 subscriptions. But you dont have to worry about upgrade costs or support costs as they are included.
      
      To me airlines are going the opposite way tot he rest of the world who are offering you more for your money and adding the bells and whistles rather then removing everything and charging you extra for them.
    - Andrew says:
      
      26 Apr26 April 09:12
      
      United already have that fare.
      
      I only spotted it last minute on a holiday booking to DC last year from EDI on Expedia. I was so focussed on making sure that I had booked a fare that had hold luggage included, I failed to spot until the day before that only a “small bag” was allowed on board.
      
      That was a rushed trip to SportsDirect for a suitable bag. Not that anyone actually checked the size of my bag at EDI & EWR on the way out or DCA & EWR on the way back.
Irish Scot says:

25 Apr25 April 08:27

Landed at a remote stand EDI-LHR on Monday and the 8 of us in Club Europe were whisked to the terminal on a dedicated bus. Appreciated as a 30min delay meant a tight connection. Enjoyed 2 glasses of Jacquart in Galleries First,! #thankba
Kinkell says:

25 Apr25 April 08:35

Flew INV to LHR a few months ago. 5 of us in CE. Disembarked onto bus, which drove off before any other passengers were let of the plane.
- Tim says:
  
  25 Apr25 April 11:00
  
  That occasionally happens. But only if the computer calculates that the passenger load is to be split over more than one bus and the division can be done between EC and ET without increasing the overall number of buses needed. On your flight the computer must have decided that the load was 1,2, 3,4 or 5 over that which would have fitted in fewer buses and so the split by class was done.
- Save East Coast Rewards says:
  
  25 Apr25 April 11:01
  
  The Club Europe dedicated bus has been a thing for a long time. It’s not always available but is provided when it can be. What’s surprising is they didn’t do anything similar for First Class until now. Fortunately I’ve never had to be bussed at LHR after arriving on a longhaul.
Justin says:

25 Apr25 April 08:37

I think that BA sometimes get a lot of flack over baggage handling, some rightly justified. However it does genuinely seem to be improving. Coming back form LAS last month into T3 bags were waiting as we got to the reclaim. Plane to car in less than 25 minutes was pretty good going
Nick says:

25 Apr25 April 08:47

I have always thought it completely disingenuous of British Airways to put a Priority label on my luggage given that in every HighLife magazine (one of the worst magazines of any airline) and on the One World website it clearly says “**Priority baggage handling is not currently available on flights operated by British Airways“. On several occasions I have asked cabin crew why my bag was tagged and showed them the page in the magazine. The stock reply is to speak to Customer Services.

Maybe we should run a campaign with all HFP readers with with priority tags raising the issue with cabin crew and showing them the wording in HighLife.
- Steve says:
  
  25 Apr25 April 09:56
  
  British Airways: the feel of the premium.
  - Rob says:
    
    25 Apr25 April 10:06
    
    ‘BA is a premium airline’ – Alex just told me so, again, 10 minutes ago. He was a bit too chatty this morning and I have a nice story for tomorrow.
    - Aeronaut says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 10:14
      
      Methinks he doth protest too much!
    - DV says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 10:19
      
      Did he tell you what the net promoter score was?
    - Julian says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 11:00
      
      Do other Premium Airlines also not even now allow you free water or tea or coffee in short haul economy these days or also deliberately put you in the last four or five rows of the plane and also deliberately ignore your longstanding window or aisle seat preference as apparent deliberate punishment for not booking hold baggage (lowly Blue of 25 years duration speaking so not reprieved on no free seat change on HBO under 24 hours before departure). And have they also started closing the gate far earlier than before (due to the adoption of the sneaky new Boarding At rather than the previous clear Gate Closes Boarding Pass Information). Also do other premium airlines then not email you or communicate with you at all if you don’t get on to your flight due to the inevitable outcome of the above tactics as happened to me on BA in Spain a few days ago. And when you then contact Customer Relations do other Premium Airlines also keep you on hold for 15 minutes to get through and then manage to accidentally on purpose disconnect your call just as you thought you were about to speak to a supervisor? I assume that when BA short haul flights do actually begin to turning round in 25 minutes like Easyjet and Ryanair (as Cruz must surely be planning) that there will be a point to all of this new unpleasantness? Although they did manage to forget to load the Buy On Board cold drinks and sandwich cart on our 2 hour flight out to Spain from LHR two weeks ago, just like a true LCC would……
      
      Regarding Priority baggage tags when travelling out of LHR it always seemed to have had the desired effect of earlier baggage delivery at destination airports with that baggage definitely coming through first on the carousel (out of what are often several separate luggage carts from the plane to the terminal) on the several CE flights I have taken from LHR to Spain in the last five years. At Heathrow I probably didn’t notice because baggage handling is often surprisingly efficient and I am frequently one of those to get off the plane last rather than first (out in Spain you do notice as in peak season economy baggage quite frequently doesn’t turn up until you have been in the baggage hall for some time)
      
      Regarding a dedicated bus when travelling to overseas short haul airports in Europe I have experienced the Club passengers being let off the plane first (while non CE passengers are kept on board) and having our own separate bus to the terminal several times overseas. At Heathrow it seems rare to end up on a remote stand on the services I’m travelling on but flights that go out to Spain from the A gates in T5 often seem to come back in to the B or C gates in the evening (with both Iberia Express and BA itself) which is somewhat annoying, especially when BAA perversely close the escalator route in the main terminal and everyone has to wait for the lifts to reach Passport control as they did last Thursday night.
    - Mark says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 16:03
      
      A bit like our recent CW flight to Tokyo. Sat in the lounge waiting for gate information. Went to gate open and then literally 10 minutes later just as we were finishing our drinks it went straight to a flashing red gate closing. Wife shot off in a mad dash to the gate with me in pursuit… Of course when we got there boarding hadn’t started and it was a full hour after the gate was apparently closing until the last passenger boarded.
      
      Not the most relaxing start to our “premium” experience.
      
      The crazy thing is someone still managed to get offloaded. The way the process is managed I’m sure results in some people just not believing the information, which doesn’t help anyone…
    - ankomonkey says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 17:18
      
      On the Sangria early was he? Or the breakfast Bucks Fizz?
- Catalan says:
  
  25 Apr25 April 10:11
  
  Why is HighLife magazine ‘one of the worst magazines of any airline’?
  - Rob says:
    
    25 Apr25 April 10:34
    
    I like it – and Business Life is very good.
    - Tim says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 11:01
      
      Agree, Business Life is great and HighLife is OK.
    - Julian says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 11:08
      
      Yes I must agree with Rob that I think these magazines have always both been very tolerable efforts.
      
      Although when slasher Cruz reviews the numbers I wonder for how much longer we will continue to enjoy them in short haul economy and especially in the new BA Steerage or Third Class known as Hand Baggage Only (where we lowly Blues at least are all quite deliberately stuffed in to the back few rows of the plane without any right to change our seat for free and where adding baggage later will cost you double what everyone else pays – even online).
      - Rob says:
        
        25 Apr25 April 11:44
        
        I do agree that the weight vs revenue trade off may not make sense ….
    - Lumma says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 18:56
      
      Strangely, before I got status last year, my last few HBO tickets I always got auto allocated a middle seat in the exit row. I even ended up with the window once when a couple clearly booked window and aisle in the hope that they’d get the entire row to themselves.
    - Newquay Brown says:
      
      25 Apr25 April 19:11
      
      Travelling out at Easter, 4x Avios redemptions plus my wife on an HBO, she got allocated 1A. I thought it only decent to swap seats with her as she likes talking to the kids & doesn’t use the Champagne to the full.
      
      Got an emergency exit window on the way back, as well.
bosco says:

25 Apr25 April 08:54

they can’t guarantee it, but if i’ m flying club or first, i’d say 90% of the time my bags come out within the first tranche. Perhaps you lot are just unlucky.
- Matt says:
  
  25 Apr25 April 16:26
  
  +1