British Airways checked baggage policy from Feb 13

[Dave Noble]

In October BA was due to change it baggage policy but it was delayed.

BA has rescheduled its implementation ( with a couple of changes ) for Feb 13 ( British Airways - New simpler baggage policy )

New allowances :

Longhaul

1st Class : 3 Pieces
Club World : 3 Pieces
World Traveller Plus : 2 Pieces
World Traveller where itinerary includes US, Canada, Caribbean, Nigeria, Brazil or Mexico : 2 pieces
World Traveller other itineraries : 1 Piece


Shorthaul

Club Europe : 2 Pieces
Euro Traveller : 1 Piece


Customers will be able to carry one piece of sporting equipment free of charge in addition to their checked baggage allowance ( see British Airways - Sporting Equipment for details of acceptable sporting equipment )


NOTE: Maximum weight per piece 23Kg and maximum size per piece 98"x 39" x 31" / 2.5m x 1.00m x 0.80m


Excess fees per bag

Longhaul ₤96 if paid online , ₤120 otherwise
Shorthaul ₤48 if paid online, ₤60 otherwise
Domestic ₤24 if paid online, ₤30 otherwise



Dave

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

More bad news for UK travel. There has been a lot lately.

BA new seating allocation rules
Doubling APD
APD backdated - applies based on date of travel
Cabin crew union threatening strike


All this on top of carry-on limits and no liquids rules. Makes for unpleasant travel

 

[Dave Noble]

I like the new baggage allowance; it is a lot more than the current allowances for those in cabins other than economy to London

Currently : allows 23/23/30/40 Kg for Y/W/J/F

New : 23/46/69/69 Kg for Y/W/J/F

Plus on top of that, another piece of sporting gear can be taken FOC. Under the new scheme I can take 100Kgs with me ( with my 31Kg dive cylinder ) vs the current 30/40 for J/F


The new seating policy I am fairly neutral to slightly positive about. A Sapphire/Emerald member can still pre-select seats regardless of fare type , so no real loss to me

I cannot join the "sky is falling in" view regarding these 2 changes

The APD increase is definately an annoying thing and will add GBP40 to my trip from UK-US ; fortunately my other flights through the UK are connections which will not incur the fee

Dave

 

[garyjohn951]

Is there a link to the new seating policy ?

 

[simongr]

Plus on top of that, another piece of sporting gear can be taken FOC. Under the new scheme I can take 100Kgs with me ( with my 31Kg dive cylinder ) vs the current 30/40 for J/F

Dave

Slightly OT - why do you take your cylinder with you? I can understand regs, BCD, suit, fins etc - but tank & weights? Related to that - do they list a dive bag with regs/BCD etc. as a piece of sporting equipment?

 

[Dave Noble]

Is there a link to the new seating policy ?

In post number 1 I added links to the policy ( British Airways - New simpler baggage policy ) and to the sporting good description

Dave

 

[Dave Noble]

Slightly OT - why do you take your cylinder with you? I can understand regs, BCD, suit, fins etc - but tank & weights? Related to that - do they list a dive bag with regs/BCD etc. as a piece of sporting equipment?

(a) I prefer not to have to trust gear from places I don't know
(b) most places that provide cylinders tend to provide coughpy small aluminium single cylinders
(c) I like my twin set due to the additional safety factor, especially when diving solo

They do list under sporting gear

Diving equipment kit
Diving equipment kit comprises of facemask, pair of fins, pressure gauge, regulator, safety vest, snorkel, tanks and weights belt, snorkel,
NB Sporting goods weighing over 23kg will require pre-notification. E.g. diving equipment up to a maximum weight of 45kgs and the cylinder must be empty to ensure safe handling

Dave

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

In post number 1

Dave

seat allocation changes not baggage allowance changes!

 

[Dave Noble]

seat allocation changes not baggage allowance changes!

D'oh. I must learn to read properly

In AskBA, it is detailed ( https://ukprepin.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ukprepin.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=39 )

To make the process of choosing a seat simpler and easier to understand we have made some changes to our policy. These changes come into effect from 5 December 2006.

To make more seats available at the time of check-in we are reducing the number of seats that can be pre-assigned. This option will be limited to specific groups of travellers:

The following customers are able to choose their seat at the time of booking:

· Customers travelling in our FIRST cabins
· Gold and Silver Executive Club members
· Customers travelling on a BA corporate dealt ticket
· Customers holding fully flexible tickets booked in J, C, W or Y booking classes
· Customers travelling with infants (aged under 2 years)
· Customers with additional needs with specific seating requirements

The following customers will be pre-allocated seats prior to check-in opening:

· Families with young children (under 12 years)
· Children travelling alone (Skyflyer solo)
· Specialised large groups who require seats together e.g. school trips

The best way to choose your seat is by checking in online as early as possible, from 24 hours before your scheduled departure time. At the time of check-in all seats on the aircraft, that have not been pre-assigned, will be offered for a customer to choose from. The earlier you check in, the greater the choice of seats you will have.

In order to keep queuing times down to a minimum, once your boarding pass has been printed our staff will be unable to change your seat.

 

[JohnK]

Which means for anyone flying economy with a 30kgs allowance on QF avoid BA. You can only check in 1 bag weighing 23kgs or less.

Wow, $300 to check in an extra bag. BA really wants to keep customers.

 

[Dave Noble]

Which means for anyone flying economy with a 30kgs allowance on QF avoid BA. You can only check in 1 bag weighing 23kgs or less.

Wow, $300 to check in an extra bag. BA really wants to keep customers.

The QF baggage allowance for economy is 20Kg vs the 1PC of 23KG with BA

Additional baggage allowances only apply to those with QF status and have only ever been listed as applicable to QF operated services

Dave

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

The QF baggage allowance for economy is 20Kg vs the 1PC of 23KG with BA

Additional baggage allowances only apply to those with QF status and have only ever been listed as applicable to QF operated services

Dave

Yup. It is *A that has standard benefit of extra baggage allowance (1 piece or 20kgs for *G, or any higher amount an airline chooses to offer its own elites - eg 100% for PPS+family flying SQ).

 

[JohnK]

The QF baggage allowance for economy is 20Kg vs the 1PC of 23KG with BA

Additional baggage allowances only apply to those with QF status and have only ever been listed as applicable to QF operated services

Did you even bother to read my post? What did I say that was so wrong that it required a reply.

It specifically mentions anyone flying QF with a 30kgs allowance to avoid BA with their new rules. Yes contrary to what beliefs there are many passengers with status who fly economy. Avoid BA if your 30kgs allowance is important tpo you.

 

[Dave Noble]

Did you even bother to read my post? What did I say that was so wrong that it required a reply.

What merited a reply is that the post had no relevance and wrongly implies that there is a change to the current situation. There is no change in that respect to the current situation since at the moment the economy limit on BA is 23Kg ( just no restriction on number of pieces )

You post implies that QF has a 30Kg allowance, when the allowance is 20Kg which is less than BAs 23Kg

Dave

 

[parsonstrish]

sorry guys for being so thick but does the new ba baggage policy mean that flying economy and going from lhr to usa means i can now only take one piece at 23kg and not the two pieces i was allowed in '05 while travelling with ba? once again sorry for asking something that is probably very obvious.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

no you can still take 2 pieces to/from north america

 

[serfty]

no you can still take 2 pieces to/from north america

As long as NA is part of a booked itinerary you can have the two checked bags up to 23Kg for ANY segment of the intinerary.

e.g. For a routing MEL-SIN-NRT-LAX-AKL-MEL you can check the two bags for all segments; not just NRT-LAX and LAX-AKL.

 

[parsonstrish]

thank you everyone that is a relief re 2 bags. going for 3 months, i could see clothes falling into rags if only 1 bag. route thus far is melb-lhr-yul-jfk-lga-dfw-okc-dfw-lax-bne. thus far i've only 4 stops.
i have to make booking for ret. dfw-lax as it was too early to book when i booked the rest of trip. when i add this part in, is it possible to add another stopover also and it only cost me the 5000 pts. for both. i had to book when i did as there were almost zilch award flts. for start of trip.
cheers

 

[Reggie]

D'oh. I must learn to read properly

The following customers are able to choose their seat at the time of booking:
· Customers travelling in our FIRST cabins
· Gold and Silver Executive Club members
· Customers holding fully flexible tickets booked in J, C, W or Y booking classes

Ok, couple of questions

Does this mean BA are not recognising OW elite levels for seating?
If yes to above, will Qantas still allow BA elites to perallocate seats?
DONE4 is not fully flexible so cant choose seat?
So choice at time of booking, no alteration afterwards?

Reason I ask is that on seat allocation being based on QF listed preference, BA ALWAYS allocate me the window seat on RHS side of plane in J where there are 3 seats, so I have to move my allocated seat to the LHS where there are only 2 seats.

Reggie

 

[Dave Noble]

Ok, couple of questions

Does this mean BA are not recognising OW elite levels for seating?
If yes to above, will Qantas still allow BA elites to perallocate seats?
DONE4 is not fully flexible so cant choose seat?
So choice at time of booking, no alteration afterwards?

If you are QF Gold or Platinum status then you should be able to pre-allocate seats using Manage My Booking (MMB) from the BA site as long as your status if correctly reflected in the booking

You can verify whether your status is reflected in your booking in MMB by clicking on the "at the airport" tab and in the details for the airport, does it indicate lounge access

e.g. for a Club Europe booking from LHR T1 I have the following information

After check-in
Security Area
After you have checked in, go immediately through Security to the departure area. Allow enough time to complete security search and passport checks, and to get to your gate before it closes.

Boarding gate information
Gate closes:20 minutes before departure.

Please check the display screens for boarding gate times and locations. You must be at your boarding gate before it closes, or you may not be able to travel on your flight.

British Airways FIRST Lounge
Location:After Security, the Lounge Pavilion is located in the International Departures lounge. (Lounge access is subject to capacity restrictions.)

FIRST lounges offer an environment that allows you to catch up on work or simply unwind in an area that is elegant, calm and welcoming. The above lounge eligibility assumes Executive Club Gold tier membership.

Unlike under the old scheme, both QF Gold and QF Platinum members have access to all the same seats except that
if travelling 1st class , QF Platinum can access row 1 whilst QF Gold cannot

Qantas Silver members do not get access to pre-allocated seating I believe

Dave