BA Holidays

sheramber

davetheman007007 said:

It is going out of my way to check in

How inconvenient will it be of you get ti the airport and your return flight has been cancelled/

Is the difference in cost worth going out of your way?

bagand96

jimi_man said:

silvercar said:

jimi_man said:

Grumpy_chap said:

davetheman007007 said:

Not really bothered re the BA Executive Club points, just want to be sure the return flight is not cancelled, without going through the hassle of having to check into the hotel

Won't the simplest thing be to just check in to the hotel and check out at the end of stay?
If you are a "no show" to the hotel that risks back-firing.

I assume the real reason the pricing works like this is the hotel sold a "job-lot" of rooms to BA on bargain rate and seek to make their money from the guests spending money in the bars and restaurants, but that is a risk for the hotel that they took knowingly.

No, the main reason for the pricing is that the airfares are consolidator fares - and thus significantly cheaper - and only available through travel agents so it’s often possible to get the flights and hotel for the same price or cheaper than just a straight air fare booking. They are generally a lot less flexible than straight air fares but if you’re sure about your travel arrangements then they can represent good value, if you’re prepared to work with the hotel/car side of things. 

Likely it would be ok however no-one is going to say for definite as there have been people who have fallen foul of it. 

It may be true of other travel agents, particularly the online only operators, but BAH only use BA flights and they book into standard booking classes.

That’s not correct I’m afraid. BA operate to a number of destinations where they don’t fly to (Thailand being a case in point, though that’s changing in Oct) so they use other airlines. And even places where they do operate to they offer flights on other airlines as well as BA ones. 

I've an upcoming BA Holiday booking where at least one of my flights is booked in fare code "G".... a quick Google and the reputable blogs/forums tell me that fare code G is usually reserved for agents and tour operators, including BA Holidays. 

jimi_man

bagand96 said:

jimi_man said:

silvercar said:

jimi_man said:

Grumpy_chap said:

davetheman007007 said:

Not really bothered re the BA Executive Club points, just want to be sure the return flight is not cancelled, without going through the hassle of having to check into the hotel

Won't the simplest thing be to just check in to the hotel and check out at the end of stay?
If you are a "no show" to the hotel that risks back-firing.

I assume the real reason the pricing works like this is the hotel sold a "job-lot" of rooms to BA on bargain rate and seek to make their money from the guests spending money in the bars and restaurants, but that is a risk for the hotel that they took knowingly.

No, the main reason for the pricing is that the airfares are consolidator fares - and thus significantly cheaper - and only available through travel agents so it’s often possible to get the flights and hotel for the same price or cheaper than just a straight air fare booking. They are generally a lot less flexible than straight air fares but if you’re sure about your travel arrangements then they can represent good value, if you’re prepared to work with the hotel/car side of things. 

Likely it would be ok however no-one is going to say for definite as there have been people who have fallen foul of it. 

It may be true of other travel agents, particularly the online only operators, but BAH only use BA flights and they book into standard booking classes.

That’s not correct I’m afraid. BA operate to a number of destinations where they don’t fly to (Thailand being a case in point, though that’s changing in Oct) so they use other airlines. And even places where they do operate to they offer flights on other airlines as well as BA ones. 

I've an upcoming BA Holiday booking where at least one of my flights is booked in fare code "G".... a quick Google and the reputable blogs/forums tell me that fare code G is usually reserved for agents and tour operators, including BA Holidays. 

Yes it’s the lowest fare code on BA and BAH try to use it where possible.

silvercar

Doshwaster said:

jimi_man said:

silvercar said:

jimi_man said:

Grumpy_chap said:

davetheman007007 said:

Not really bothered re the BA Executive Club points, just want to be sure the return flight is not cancelled, without going through the hassle of having to check into the hotel

Won't the simplest thing be to just check in to the hotel and check out at the end of stay?
If you are a "no show" to the hotel that risks back-firing.

I assume the real reason the pricing works like this is the hotel sold a "job-lot" of rooms to BA on bargain rate and seek to make their money from the guests spending money in the bars and restaurants, but that is a risk for the hotel that they took knowingly.

No, the main reason for the pricing is that the airfares are consolidator fares - and thus significantly cheaper - and only available through travel agents so it’s often possible to get the flights and hotel for the same price or cheaper than just a straight air fare booking. They are generally a lot less flexible than straight air fares but if you’re sure about your travel arrangements then they can represent good value, if you’re prepared to work with the hotel/car side of things. 

Likely it would be ok however no-one is going to say for definite as there have been people who have fallen foul of it. 

It may be true of other travel agents, particularly the online only operators, but BAH only use BA flights and they book into standard booking classes.

That’s not correct I’m afraid. BA operate to a number of destinations where they don’t fly to (Thailand being a case in point, though that’s changing in Oct) so they use other airlines. And even places where they do operate to they offer flights on other airlines as well as BA ones. 

That's right. BA Holidays also use One World airlines so you could find yourself on an American Airlines, Qatar, Iberia or other OW alliance flight

BA are returning to Bangkok (and Kuala Lumpur) after dropping the route due to the pandemic but it will be from Gatwick and initially only 3 times a week as Bangkok is more of a leisure destination than a business one.

They will use BA codeshares as opposed to only BA operated flights. I’ve only had the standard fare classes.

bagand96

jimi_man said:

bagand96 said:

jimi_man said:

silvercar said:

jimi_man said:

Grumpy_chap said:

davetheman007007 said:

Not really bothered re the BA Executive Club points, just want to be sure the return flight is not cancelled, without going through the hassle of having to check into the hotel

Won't the simplest thing be to just check in to the hotel and check out at the end of stay?
If you are a "no show" to the hotel that risks back-firing.

I assume the real reason the pricing works like this is the hotel sold a "job-lot" of rooms to BA on bargain rate and seek to make their money from the guests spending money in the bars and restaurants, but that is a risk for the hotel that they took knowingly.

No, the main reason for the pricing is that the airfares are consolidator fares - and thus significantly cheaper - and only available through travel agents so it’s often possible to get the flights and hotel for the same price or cheaper than just a straight air fare booking. They are generally a lot less flexible than straight air fares but if you’re sure about your travel arrangements then they can represent good value, if you’re prepared to work with the hotel/car side of things. 

Likely it would be ok however no-one is going to say for definite as there have been people who have fallen foul of it. 

It may be true of other travel agents, particularly the online only operators, but BAH only use BA flights and they book into standard booking classes.

That’s not correct I’m afraid. BA operate to a number of destinations where they don’t fly to (Thailand being a case in point, though that’s changing in Oct) so they use other airlines. And even places where they do operate to they offer flights on other airlines as well as BA ones. 

I've an upcoming BA Holiday booking where at least one of my flights is booked in fare code "G".... a quick Google and the reputable blogs/forums tell me that fare code G is usually reserved for agents and tour operators, including BA Holidays. 

Yes it’s the lowest fare code on BA and BAH try to use it where possible.

It does explain the situation where booking a BA Holiday including a hotel/car can be cheaper than just booking the flight!

jimi_man

silvercar said:

Doshwaster said:

jimi_man said:

silvercar said:

jimi_man said:

Grumpy_chap said:

davetheman007007 said:

Not really bothered re the BA Executive Club points, just want to be sure the return flight is not cancelled, without going through the hassle of having to check into the hotel

Won't the simplest thing be to just check in to the hotel and check out at the end of stay?
If you are a "no show" to the hotel that risks back-firing.

I assume the real reason the pricing works like this is the hotel sold a "job-lot" of rooms to BA on bargain rate and seek to make their money from the guests spending money in the bars and restaurants, but that is a risk for the hotel that they took knowingly.

No, the main reason for the pricing is that the airfares are consolidator fares - and thus significantly cheaper - and only available through travel agents so it’s often possible to get the flights and hotel for the same price or cheaper than just a straight air fare booking. They are generally a lot less flexible than straight air fares but if you’re sure about your travel arrangements then they can represent good value, if you’re prepared to work with the hotel/car side of things. 

Likely it would be ok however no-one is going to say for definite as there have been people who have fallen foul of it. 

It may be true of other travel agents, particularly the online only operators, but BAH only use BA flights and they book into standard booking classes.

That’s not correct I’m afraid. BA operate to a number of destinations where they don’t fly to (Thailand being a case in point, though that’s changing in Oct) so they use other airlines. And even places where they do operate to they offer flights on other airlines as well as BA ones. 

That's right. BA Holidays also use One World airlines so you could find yourself on an American Airlines, Qatar, Iberia or other OW alliance flight

BA are returning to Bangkok (and Kuala Lumpur) after dropping the route due to the pandemic but it will be from Gatwick and initially only 3 times a week as Bangkok is more of a leisure destination than a business one.

They will use BA codeshares as opposed to only BA operated flights. I’ve only had the standard fare classes.

Not wanting to be pedantic or argumentative for the sake of it but that is the complete opposite of what you said in your earlier post. I’m just concerned that with conflicting information the OP won’t know what is correct and what isn’t. Hope that makes sense. 

SW17

I won't quote anyone's posts as there are quite a few. There are a number of ways in which a BA Holiday price can be cheaper than booking flight and hotel separately with BA, and it could be the flight and/or hotel (or car) price.

In terms of airfares, BAH will use package (or consolidator style) fares which can't be sold flight-only. These could be the G class BA fares mentioned above, though G class is used for multiple purposes by BA. However, G. class fares are not published fares, so you will not be able to book them flight-only direct with BA. BAH also packages using the regular published fares, especially in higher cabins.

It's not only the airfares that affect the price, BAH has access to hotel rates (whether through their own direct relationships or via third party suppliers they use) which are lower than hotel-only rates and must be sold packaged. So while BAH doesn't buy "job lots" of rooms, they can gain access to lower rates on this basis. Again, not every hotel rate they offer in a given package falls into this category. The same may or may not apply to car rental, I'm less familiar with the pricing intricacies of that product.

Additionally, BAH can choose to vary its own markup on any given package price, compared to the markup it would apply to a hotel-only booking.

None of this is necessarily relevant to the OP's dilemma. I'm not aware of BAH cancelling flights as a result of pax not checking into the hotel booked, though that's not to say it's never happened or could never happen. However, two points:

1. There is no automated system to pick this up, it would rely on the hotel informing BAH that the passenger was a no-show (by no means a given that this will happen) and BAH manually taking a decision to take action, whether to reprice the airfare to flight-only, or, potentially cancelling further flights in the booking.
2. I'm not aware of anything in BAH T&Cs which gives them the right to do this, as long as the passenger does not try to amend/cancel any part of the booking or seek a refund of any kind for unused services. There is no mention AFAIK, of any consequences of no-showing a hotel. The sole exception is in the additional T&Cs for the BAH double tier points offer, which were amended at some stage to say that the bonus TPs would only be awarded if the hotel/car is used. That may or may not be enforced, but nothing allowing them to cancel a flight.

mdann52

SW17 said:

Additionally, BAH can choose to vary its own markup on any given package price, compared to the markup it would apply to a hotel-only booking.

None of this is necessarily relevant to the OP's dilemma. I'm not aware of BAH cancelling flights as a result of pax not checking into the hotel booked, though that's not to say it's never happened or could never happen. However, two points:

1. There is no automated system to pick this up, it would rely on the hotel informing BAH that the passenger was a no-show (by no means a given that this will happen) and BAH manually taking a decision to take action, whether to reprice the airfare to flight-only, or, potentially cancelling further flights in the booking.
2. I'm not aware of anything in BAH T&Cs which gives them the right to do this, as long as the passenger does not try to amend/cancel any part of the booking or seek a refund of any kind for unused services. There is no mention AFAIK, of any consequences of no-showing a hotel. The sole exception is in the additional T&Cs for the BAH double tier points offer, which were amended at some stage to say that the bonus TPs would only be awarded if the hotel/car is used. That may or may not be enforced, but nothing allowing them to cancel a flight.

They've changed the rules about double tier points, and have punished people taking to take advantage of the promotion not using the car/hotel (partially because of an annoyed hire company at SOF, who had tens of vehicles not being picked up they had to then store!)

I haven't heard of any punishments for people just taking advantage of cheaper fares, but it should be pointed out BAH reserve the right to reprice in their terms (or at least, in my reading of them)

jimi_man

And just to add to the above here are the Ts and Cs for BA Holidays where it does say that in relation to receiving the Double Tier Points (and I accept that you aren't interested in them and will probably be travelling ET anyway) the following.

e) The hotel/car element of the package must be used i.e. hotel occupied and or car rental hired for the full booked duration.

Now whether that applies as a general rule and what sanctions they could impose I have no idea, but I wouldn't want to take the risk of breaching their rules. But then I travel with BA a fair amount whereas you might just want to take the risk as a one off. 

Doshwaster

mdann52 said:

SW17 said:

Additionally, BAH can choose to vary its own markup on any given package price, compared to the markup it would apply to a hotel-only booking.

None of this is necessarily relevant to the OP's dilemma. I'm not aware of BAH cancelling flights as a result of pax not checking into the hotel booked, though that's not to say it's never happened or could never happen. However, two points:

1. There is no automated system to pick this up, it would rely on the hotel informing BAH that the passenger was a no-show (by no means a given that this will happen) and BAH manually taking a decision to take action, whether to reprice the airfare to flight-only, or, potentially cancelling further flights in the booking.
2. I'm not aware of anything in BAH T&Cs which gives them the right to do this, as long as the passenger does not try to amend/cancel any part of the booking or seek a refund of any kind for unused services. There is no mention AFAIK, of any consequences of no-showing a hotel. The sole exception is in the additional T&Cs for the BAH double tier points offer, which were amended at some stage to say that the bonus TPs would only be awarded if the hotel/car is used. That may or may not be enforced, but nothing allowing them to cancel a flight.

They've changed the rules about double tier points, and have punished people taking to take advantage of the promotion not using the car/hotel (partially because of an annoyed hire company at SOF, who had tens of vehicles not being picked up they had to then store!)

I haven't heard of any punishments for people just taking advantage of cheaper fares, but it should be pointed out BAH reserve the right to reprice in their terms (or at least, in my reading of them)

Calling it a "punishment" is a bit strong. I think there was a specific problem at Sofia as it was usually one of the cheapest 80 TP destinations which made them change the T&Cs.

Reports vary on how much it is enforced elsewhere. I recently did a trip to Tenerife and booked the cheapest possible hire car for 5 days to qualify for a BA Holiday. Didn't pick the car up (had a few drinks in the lounge and on the flight so it would have been illegal for me to do so!) and still got my double TP.