Fly to Athens with a flat bed in BA Club World for £197 – and earn 160 tier points

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

• Jason says:

  24 Sep24 September 12:19

  We fly on that flight recently and ended up in premium economy as it was full in club, so best to book seats as you can’t book in online ( I assume it’s to do with ensuing customers have their QR code)

  • tomdoyle says:

    24 Sep24 September 12:50

    And what did they offer you as compensation?

    It’s funny how CW is ‘celebrated’. Bit of a joke really. Look at how Singapore Airlines do their regional business class for one!

  • Lady London says:

    24 Sep24 September 13:37

    Were you bumped to PY when you had booked in Club?

    BA owes you 75% of the value of your PY fare – whether in avios and cash, official cost to purchase avios, or cash price paid.

    You will need to claim it. As it’s BA they will deny and try to ignore you. But it’s open and shut you are due that compensation for downgrade under EU261 and if you take 10 mins to fill out a moneyclaim dot gov dot uk online form after 3 refusals or not hearing/getting resolution for max of 3 months, your small fee to lodge the moneyclaim will be returned to you along with the 75%. (Don’t forget to add 8% pa
    statutory interest as from 7 days after the flight, requested in your claim calculated daily pro rata up to the date your compensation reaches your account.)

    If you simply couldn’t find a Club seat available to book (avios or cash) then of course no compensation is payable… and no the right to compensation for being bumped down a class involuntarily is still in force, as is EU261.

    please advise us as to the success of your claim – or confirm you actually bought only PY

    • jason says:

      24 Sep24 September 14:17

      So we had 5 seats booked in club Europe on Avios, we were allocated PE at check in. I stupidly thought that was ok (?) as it was better that Club Europe!

      • jason says:

        24 Sep24 September 14:22

        should I log complaint with BA first?

        • Jonathan says:

          24 Sep24 September 14:33

          I wouldn’t bother as you’re chance of winning at MCOL is minimal to zero. You booked CE, you got CE service & a seat that is better than normal. You don’t have an entitlement to a CW seat or the highest cabin on the plane. Same as some people in CE may get to sit in First on a 777 to Madrid, that doesn’t entitle those sat in CW to compo.

          The fact CW & CE both have Club in the name is also meaningless as they’re completely different products.

      • Nick_C says:

        24 Sep24 September 15:47

        Did you have an empty seat next to you? Isn’t that part of what you are paying for?

        • Jonathan says:

          24 Sep24 September 18:44

          London City?!

      • Lady London says:

        24 Sep24 September 20:43

        Where were you flying to? I didn;t know there was a Premium Economy class on any BA short haul flight?

        I don’t really understand Jonathan’s comment below. If you booked in Club, in Europe so far as I understand it the only 2 choices are Club and Economy.

        On longhaul many flights do have Club, Premium Economy and Economy.

        So were you actually in a lower class than booked?

        If so then Yes of course MCOL is last resort. You have to give BA the chance to provide the remedy or compensation you believe you are due, first. You have to make “reasonable efforts” to communicate with them and to resolve the dispute with them if they do not believe they owe you anything (or if they ignore you or drag it out).

        Normally reasonable would be something like 3 requests, or going 2-3 months at least, trying to communicate with them to get it resolved without success, or if they ignore you, or they say “No and that’s our final answer”. At that point you are regarded as having tried directly with the company and can go to MCOL.

        So which route was this on please and were you definitely booked in Club and did you definitely have to travel in Economy, or Premium Economy if that existed on the flight? instead.

    • marcw says:

      24 Sep24 September 15:14

      Total BS. You don’t pay for CW flying to Athens. You pay CE – the fact you are lucky and BA rotates a plane with a better seat doesn’t entitle you to get one.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        24 Sep24 September 18:19

        That’s not true.

        The CLUB seats on a 787/777 are Club World.

        PE is offered to status economy passengers. The OP was bumped but BA will try and get away with it.

        • Jonathan says:

          24 Sep24 September 18:53

          Absolute tosh! You’d only be entitled to compensation if you bought a Club World ticket eg. the previous A321 services to Beirut & then got a Club Europe seat. The huge price difference between a Beirut & Larnaca ticket despite similar flight time makes it very clear it’s a different product as does the BA website/App when you buy a CE ticket.

          If you buy a Club Europe ticket & get Club Europe service in a PE cabin with other CE passengers you’ve got what you paid for (in fact a better deal). BA would be well within their rights to put all CE in PE & keep J closed or just put the overspill in J as they do with F/J sometimes. Just cos someone has got a better deal than you doesn’t mean it’s compo time.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          24 Sep24 September 21:58

          What are these suggestions that it’s absolute tosh based upon?

          If you buy a ticket on a route that is regularly sold as CE on a wide body 777 like Madrid has been on a single rotation per day for years it ALWAYS books you into a CW seat. That’s what they sell as CE NOT WTP seats.

  • Judy says:

    24 Sep24 September 16:24

    Are there 48 Club seats on a 787? If so that’s impressive if all were booked and some had to go in PE.

    • jason says:

      24 Sep24 September 17:35

      and PE was fulltoo!

    • Lady London says:

      24 Sep24 September 20:55

      Wait… is someone saying that if BA runs a decent plane, like a 787, on a shorthaul route, then BA is refusing to let people booked in Club sit in the “Club World” cabin on those planes? And that instead BA is putting people who booked in “Club Europe” into the same seats that would normally be sold as “Premium Economy” on those nicer planes?

      In which case I can kind of see what @Jonathan might be saying? He’s kind of saying as PY doesn’t exist normally on that shorthaul route, so nobody could have paid for it, then it is OK for BA to put people who paid for Club on short haul, into the seats that would normally be sold as Premium Economy on long haul? And that BA is delivering to those PY seats what would normally be delivered to someone sitting in Club Europe seats, so people weren;t downgraded and don’t have a claim?

      This is very interesting, if so. Is it so?
      If so, then why on earth would any of us bother to see which rotations to Athens have a 787 booked on them, since BA will put us into PY seats anyway which are not really paying that much extra for? no point in us chasing decent equipment now.

      If the above is true, then @Jason has a fight on his hands to get compo, in that case I would agree with Jonathan they can get away with it.

      • marcw says:

        24 Sep24 September 21:44

        That’s the definition of a CE seat:
        Comfort and style
        Your comfort on board is our highest priority. The Club Europe cabin is situated at the front of the plane. We keep the middle seat free so you can always enjoy a guaranteed window or aisle seat and more personal space for working and relaxing:

        contoured leather seats with 76.2cm (30″) seat pitch that are innovatively designed to maximise your personal space
        in-seat power
        fully movable headrests
        eye-level magazine storage for your comfort
        contemporary LED lighting that adjusts throughout the flight to help you relax
        complimentary newspapers on most flights
        dedicated cabin crew looking after you on board

        I guess you can’t get compo for a better seat.

        Usually what happens is that it’s unlikely that they sell that many seats in CE to fill the CW cabin of a long haul plane. But we aren’t in normal times.
        I think it’s kinda stupid to book based on plane model, as this things are rather liquid and plane can change until T/O. Go for schedule.

• JdeW says:

  24 Sep24 September 12:59

  And I should have added that, in order to use vouchers, you have to call BA. Wait time was very short.

• Lucy says:

  24 Sep24 September 14:28

  Thanks! Does the B787 arrangement for Athens extend beyond October?

  • Rob says:

    24 Sep24 September 15:06

    Not yet.

• Steve says:

  29 Sep29 September 18:30

  FWIW
  The 1240 flight on the 16th is now £204
  The 1240 flight on the 23td is £264

  • DaveP says:

    30 Sep30 September 12:34

    You snooze, you lose – sadly I was snoozing so lost out on the cheaper fares

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