Simon says: New BA fee aimed to minimize luggage

 
16 September 2013

I read a short article in the Standard headlined “BA brings in £10 luggage charge”. I am flying with BA from Heathrow to Barcelona in October. Will I have to pay more? Name withheld, Harrow

No, assuming you booked before last Wednesday when the new policy was introduced. Existing reservations retain the same benefits as prevailed when you bought the ticket: you can check in a 23kg bag free of charge.

British Airways’ latest move reflects the intense competition between airlines flying from London to Europe. What BA has actually announced is a discount of £10 each way for passengers who are prepared to forego the checked baggage allowance on flights from Heathrow and London City. The policy takes effect for flights from September 24.

The theory is that fewer checked bags allow the airline to save on handling, fuel and turnaround times.

Given the way fares fluctuate from hour to hour, the £10 saving is a difficult assertion to check — but looking at the deals between Scotland’s largest cities and Heathrow, the fare cut seems genuine enough. With a bit of advance booking and flexibility you can fly from Edinburgh or Glasgow to Heathrow for just £36. (It costs a minimum of £55 in the opposite direction, because of Heathrow’s steep fees for departing passengers.)

BA has operated the system for several months from Gatwick, where it is up against easyJet’s biggest base. The airline began with a few routes, but rapidly rolled it out across the short-haul network from the Sussex airport. From Heathrow, at present only those two Scottish airports — plus Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Rotterdam and Stockholm — are affected. But I expect the remaining routes will follow soon. Long-haul services are unaffected.

Email your queries to s@hols.tv

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