BA Basic Economy v Standard Economy

kuepper

Looking to book a package through Expedia and at the choosing flights stage it gives options for Basic Economy and Standard Economy.

Basic Economy option has no extra charge but you pay for seat choice /changes / snacks. You have a 23kg carry on bag included but must pay £60 for 1st checked bag and £75 for a 2nd checked bag.

Standard Economy costs £111 but like Basic Economy you pay for seat choice / changes/ snacks and you have a 23kg bag included and  a 1st checked in bag included - but you still have to pay £75 for a 2nd checked bag.

So what is the benefit of paying £111 for the Standard Economy when you can get Basic Economy and 1 checked bag for £60 - why pay an extra £51?

Caz3121

Is this is one-way or a return ticket? baggage fee would apply each flight so if a return would cost £120 more making the standard ticket more cost effective if you have bags

Westin

Is the £111 extra not based on a return fare, therefore a small saving on buying the Basic plus checked bag separately on two flights?

Grumpy_chap

kuepper said:

 You have a 23kg carry on bag included

That is worth double checking as 23k is greater than normally permitted as carry on and above the rating for the overhead lockers.
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials/checked-baggage-allowances

mtc95

On the BA site it says that Standard Economy allows you to choose your seat from 24hrs before departure.  With Basic you just get allocated a seat.  Also you can board during general boarding with Standard, while you board last with Basic Economy (I suppose that might make it harder to get space in the overhead lockers).

I was surprised by the 23kg limit for hand luggage as well but the BA site does seem to confirm that. 

kuepper

Caz3121 said:

Is this is one-way or a return ticket? baggage fee would apply each flight so if a return would cost £120 more making the standard ticket more cost effective if you have bags

return ticket but I only got as far as the outward flight as I noticed the anomaly that I've posted about. I just assumed it was the same coming back ie 2 lots of £60 or 2 lots of £111

kuepper

mtc95 said:

On the BA site it says that Standard Economy allows you to choose your seat from 24hrs before departure.  With Basic you just get allocated a seat.  Also you can board during general boarding with Standard, while you board last with Basic Economy (I suppose that might make it harder to get space in the overhead lockers).

None of that is mentioned at Expedia

Caz3121

on some random searches on the BA website the difference between Basic and Standard is less than the cost of one bag. If shorthaul flights the other benefit of standard is being able to change flight time on the day of travel for free. (I sometimes travel on separate tickets and it is great to book a late risk averse flight time and then find you can make and earlier flight so change it...have twice recently done from international baggage reclaim, change flight online, check in online, drop bag...flexible tickets are usually expensive)

kuepper

Solved! I was using my mobile before and for some reason it didn't show that the price in question was per trip not per flight which I can now see is the case now I'm looking at it on a laptop. Thanks to those who replied, sorry to have wasted your time, panic over!

Doshwaster

kuepper said:

mtc95 said:

On the BA site it says that Standard Economy allows you to choose your seat from 24hrs before departure.  With Basic you just get allocated a seat.  Also you can board during general boarding with Standard, while you board last with Basic Economy (I suppose that might make it harder to get space in the overhead lockers).

None of that is mentioned at Expedia

This is one reason, wherever possible, I would book direct with the airline rather than through a 3rd party agent (though Expedia are one of the more respectable agencies)

It's also worth noting that if you have status with BA (or Oneworld) then you can book in Economy  Basic and get most of the benefits such as priority boarding and seat selection but you won't get additional baggage allowance