BA has announced to its Travel Agent partners that on 8 March they will be changing their short haul fare structure and whilst there are unanswered questions, at first blush it looks like it could be good – if you are prepared to pay more.

The new fares (when not connecting to a long haul flight) will be of three types:

• Hand Baggage Only
• Checked Bag
• Fully Flex

Hand Baggage Only (HBO) fares – cheapest but without the ability to check a bag unless you pay a lot, have these features:

• Standard hand baggage allowance
• Seating allocated at check-in or pay in advance (this includes elite members of Executive Club)
• Flight changes for a fee, plus the fare difference.

Checked Bag Fares (CBF)- allowing checking of one bag also features:

• 23kg bag plus standard hand baggage
• Free seat selection at 48 hours before departure. It is unclear whether this will apply to elites (Gold and Silver) as well as non-elite members and will be a big issue if elites are denied access to advance seat selection as many think it might mean. BA are currently silent on this on all social channels.
• Free changes on day of departure, up to one hour before booked flight. This is huge and as long as the price difference between HBO are CBF is not large will give a great new benefit.
• No change fees, but if you change before the day of travel you need to pay the fare difference.

Fully Flexible Fares

• Fully flexible
• 23 kg bag plus standard hand baggage
• Free seat selection at time of booking
• Free changes on day of departure, up to one hour before booked flight.
• No change fees, but if you change before the day of travel you need to pay the fare difference.
• When travelling on BA Domestic flights these tickets are branded UK Business and get Lounge Access and Priority Boarding

So why is BA making these changes?

It does make their fares easier to understand and still allows them to advertise cheap fares competing against the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair for price sensitive travellers.

The real question is whether the Checked Bag Fares will be as good as they seem. The same day change is a big deal as I am often at the airport early and so could switch to an earlier time without charge. Of course there is a danger that BA get greedy and charge a lot for these tickets making them unattractive to passengers, except those trapped by having to check a bag.

No one yet seems to know if the 48 hour advance seat selection for CBFs is going to apply to Golds and Silver members of Executive Club who could, until HBO fares came along, pick a seat at time of booking. Everyone hopes this doesn’t change. As BA has form on watering down the advanced seat selection I wouldn’t be sure that the current position will stick.

This is the current rule around advance seat selection for Executive Club members:

²Free seat selection is not available on hand baggage only fares and excludes exit row seats on longhaul flights for Bronze and Silver Members

Let’s see if that changes on 8 March! I’ll be running a story as soon as the booking engine is updated.