BA 2-4-1 business class fares ( book by 5th May)

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi,

BA is doing a short-time promotion,

Buy 1 Club world (business class seat) and get a 2nd free.

Prices are ( pp) NYC c £850, LAX/SFO £1100.

Must book by 5th may.

Details here;

British Airways - Plan your journey (http://www.britishairways.com/travel/fx/public/en_gb?source=CUG_kr851&eId=111042)

PS As I'm single the offer does not do a lot to me:} ( Expedia are offering 1 CW seat to NYC for £1090):)

Regards

TBS

[SLF3b]

Its a con - it is two for the price of a full fare ticket. Our corporate rate is less than half a full fare ticket anyway. And on the route I use the competitors are 20 - 30% less than the BA corporate rate, which is why we are not allowed to go BA any more.

[Married a Canadian]

I agree with SLF 3B. Where is the "promotion" part.

I looked into the two for one deal through a BA credit card and the cost of the one flight PLUS the tax on the other (which of course you have to pay)...came to double what it would have been by just booking two tickets online!! Oh but you don't get tier points on those fares..I was told!

What market are these promotions aimed at??????

[FormerFlyer]

They are aimed at the people who aren't savvy shoppers. They're also an excellent way of raising the profile of the brand & product. If you then bag some more savvy shoppers who book the cheaper fares who perhaps wouldn't have booked at all would you not argue that the promo has worked?

cheers ;)
FF

[GroundedSLF]

They are also aimed at corporate travellers who do not do enough business to warrent a deal on a particular route, and who insist on "flexible" tickets (read full fare).

They never seem to understand that you can buy restricted tickets for less than 1/2 the price, and just pay a small fee to amend the date/flight.

[jportzer]

[Corporate travellers] never seem to understand that you can buy restricted tickets for less than 1/2 the price, and just pay a small fee to amend the date/flight.It is really amazing. I work for a company with a reasonably large sales force that travels around Australia frequently - usually on unrestricted tickets with Qantas, the main business airline. I pointed out that Qantas's economy fares are usually about 1/3rd the cost of the full refundable, changeable fares. So even if an economy-fare cancellation caused you to lose the full value of the flight in rebooking fees, you'd still come out ahead unless you changed your flight many times. I surveyed some people to find out how often they changed flights, and did a spreadsheet showing how much savings could be obtained by using economy fares at least half the times. (For our sales staff, usually the outbound flight is pretty predictable - it's only they return they often change.) I nearly had a revolt on my hands as the staff refused to even consider changing their habits. Sad, really (but good for Qantas!)

[strake]

It's an "offer". That dosen't mean it's the best offer for everyone but it may be the best offer a particular individual or organisation can get.

I am flying to Narita soon with VS on flexible business fare. The BA fare is circa £4800. My corporate fare is less than £3700, plus I get all the transport facilities at both ends...worth at least £500 for me as I live 220 miles round trip from LHR and then 2 x Narita/Shinjuku return. Of course, the only reason I get this is because we spend a lot of money with VS.

However, if people are prepared to shop around and visit online consolidators, deal for individuals are there. EG for £3900, you can fly First to Narita with Cathay via HK if prepared to add a few hours to the trip.

[GroundedSLF]

Strake - depending on your dates, I can get a business fare on CX for under £1800.00 return inc all taxes.

With some consolidators, airlines provide fares which must be sold with accomodation, so for your example to Tokyo, I can get 5 nights 4* hotel, on a non stop flight in business for £2055.00 inc all taxes.

I admit it doesnt include the "free" transport to/from the airports, but with a saving of over £1600 - you could book separate private transfers with the travel agent.

Theses are non refundable, and do carry a £100 fee to change date - but again, with the savings on offer, you would need to change flights a lot no to make a saving.

In my experiance, the only reason for travellers not wanting to take these types of ticket is because they dont accrue f/flyer milage - so the pax doesnt gain.

Get your companies travel managed by a good travel company, and you can see huge savings.

[strake]

Grounded,

Agree, plenty there for everyone if you look hard enough. In my case however, the key word is "flexible". Sometimes we will change timings/flights for a ticket three or four times for a trip..before and during so we have to be able to do that without penalty which takes away the opportunity to use most consolidators.

I think our deal with VS is pretty good on the basis it is a true discount on the fare..in other words: normal miles accrued, normal transport available and full flexibility. Mind you, we are putting a very large amount of business to them.

[Scumbag O'Riley]

A couple of months ago, the Mrs and I looked at flying BA Business for a holiday. Price for both of us through BA website was £3600, which we didn't think was too bad actually, though we didn't end up going.

Just priced the same trip with their buyone-getone-free offer. Price for both of us £3600.

Smoke and mirrors.