British Airways: ‘Yes, you can travel a few hours earlier – for an extra £900'

Independent

4 days ago

The musicians struck up on Friday afternoon in the middle of the airside departures level at Heathrow Terminal 5. The guitar and double bass combo were called The Cash Cows – a name which will raise a hollow laugh from airline bosses who say the French, Qatari, Saudi and Australian owners of the UK's biggest airport enjoy a licence to print money.
The first song, as I recall, was Brown Eyed Girl. Van Morrison 's classic contains the line 'In the misty morning fog'. But outside the skies were clear and air-traffic controllers were coping with the busiest day of the year so far.
Entertaining though the band was, I wished I was halfway to Istanbul. And, as I discovered later, someone else would have been glad if I had been airborne.
The back story: I had paid £266 for the early evening British Airways flight to Turkey's largest city. There was an afternoon flight, but it was priced at over £400. And besides, work commitments meant I probably wouldn't make it to the airport on time.
For once, the Tube and Elizabeth line journey from central London to Heathrow proved smooth and swift. As a result I turned up ridiculously early for my booked flight – and just in time for the earlier departure to Istanbul.
As (almost) always, I had only cabin baggage and could easily speed through security. I found a helpful BA agent and asked if there might be any space aboard the afternoon flight.
Yes, he said, there are two seats left. For a moment I pictured myself enjoying a drink beside the Bosphorus on Friday evening, rather than touching down after midnight as my ticket prescribed.
'But unfortunately they're not in your class of travel.
I have no interest in BA's short-haul business class for a three-hour flight. From what I can seek, economy class on Turkish Airlines is more than a match. Yet I bet there were economy passengers on that flight with better British Airways Club status than me (not a high bar) who would have been delighted with a free upgrade. It might have cost BA a few pounds in complimentary drinks, but the lucky passenger would be more likely to choose British Airways in future.
Such an upward move would create a space in economy . For the pleasure of an evening in Istanbul I would gladly have paid, say, £60. That would constitute free money for BA. But the only option I was offered: upgrading to Club Europe on payment of over £900.
I thanked the agent and wandered off, puzzled about the British Airways policy. I can see that allowing passengers to board earlier flights for little or no extra cost could impact revenue. People (including me) would routinely book later, cheaper flights and then try to switch at the airport.
Charging a £60 fee would offset any losses, with a crucial added benefit: freeing up space for a flight several hours later. With 50 minutes remaining before the afternoon Istanbul flight was due to depart there was no possibility of BA selling either of the two empty seats to a new customer. But had I been moved earlier, there was some chance of selling a ticket to someone desperate to travel at short notice for many hundreds of pounds.
One more reason for allowing passengers to switch is summed up for me by a former British Airways manager of overseas bases. 'If someone wanted to travel earlier I would always let them,' he told me.
'That stopped them being a potential problem later.'
As you may have noticed, stuff frequently goes wrong with flying: from technical problems to crew sickness. (Earlier this year I had two flights in a row cancelled – one from each of these causes.) Moving people to earlier flights that are poised to depart reduces the airline's exposure to extra costs.
British Airways might riposte: 'How the heck are we supposed to micromanage all this as the minutes tick away to departure?'
Well, US airlines seem able to handle such requests – either free or for the odd $75 (£56), as I was charged by Delta at Atlanta last time I arrived in time for an earlier departure. And I know for a fact that one passenger would have been delighted if I had already been in Istanbul at the time the later flight was taking off.
He was the gentleman travelling on a staff ticket. With no space remaining, he was assigned a 'jump seat' – provided mainly for cabin crew. Unfortunately, on the Airbus A321 his assigned place was the jump seat built into the door of one of the rear toilets.
Had BA made me a reasonable offer to travel on the earlier flight, he would have had my seat. As it was, he had to spend most of the flight standing up. But at least he got on board.