British Airways launches Club Europe flash sale from Gatwick – 13 destinations at £150

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• Jordan D says:

  13 Oct13 October 06:49

  I looked late last night, and there wasn’t a single Marrakech seat at £150 for November or December. Will take a look again this morning, but very disappointing indeed.

  • Laura says:

    13 Oct13 October 08:26

    Definitely check again today – I’ve just booked a weekend away to Marrakech in December for the stated £150 return – along with 4 other trips to the other destinations at the same price!

    • Jordan D says:

      13 Oct13 October 09:27

      Laura – you’re definitely right. Now to decide whether to cancel the Avios RFS tickets (in econ, off-peak) for these flights. TPs could be handy, but cost is obviously a lot more vis-à-vis the Avios tickets.

    • Wembleygal says:

      13 Oct13 October 15:50

      Hi Laura – I have just booked Marrakech too (for late Feb) … any idea on what hotel you might be staying in?

• harry says:

  13 Oct13 October 06:50

  Not quite as bad as that in cattle class. First, if you are quick on the draw you can nearly always get an emergency exit seat; failing that, ALWAYS a window seat at the frontish. Second, it’s the same seat as CE. Third, unlimited booze if you’re prepared to put up with an exaggerated weary sigh on the third or fourth one. And not crisps but a sandwich and a sweet bun currantly lol

  Which is as much as to say I don’t think it’s worth it for 2 hours – but then again, I don’t need TPs.

  • Brian says:

    13 Oct13 October 09:27

    Probably worth it at that price, if you can get it – doubt that the economy price is going to be much lower.

    • harry says:

      13 Oct13 October 10:32

      It’s a fair point, though the HBO saving vs CE is more interesting, eg £53 saving on the Vienna route, which I guess is typical, with a mere £19 saving if you need checked baggage. I probably wouldn’t consider the extra cost vs HBO is worth it on a 2 hour flight, though on checked in luggage fare I guess the small difference would justify the extra elbow room etc

  • Peter K says:

    13 Oct13 October 13:59

    Sandwich and bun if you’re not gluten intolerant. If you are then just double mini-crisps >:-(
    It’s crazy in this day and age that you can’t book for dietary requirements short haul.

  • Aeronaut says:

    13 Oct13 October 15:13

    Gotta agree that saying that “it’s a world of difference” is a bit OTT, IMO.

    • RK says:

      13 Oct13 October 15:23

      +1 The main benefit by far of CE is lounge access and if you already have status, that is moot. Middle seat free and a very average snack/meal are not worth much more than £20 to me on a 2 hour flight. I did like that you can ask for drinks more often on Club Europe so that is a plus.

      I don’t think i would ever describe it as a world of difference. It’s like 20% better.

      • RK says:

        13 Oct13 October 15:35

        That said, there is no doubt this is a great deal. If you are Gold, you get 7000 avios return to Marrakech. You can use the option 7500 avios for the £50, and basically get the flights for £99 return, break even on avios and still pocket the 160 tier points. Assuming you have 7500 avios already, this is about as good a TP run as you can get.

      • Rob says:

        13 Oct13 October 16:32

        Have you sat in the new tight Eco seats with a stranger?! Either you or your other half would be rammed in the middle. You’d really only pay £20 to avoid that (plus all other benefits)? Avios alone on CE are worth £10+ over discount Y.

        • RK says:

          13 Oct13 October 17:41

          Well like someone else mentioned, I usually get the emergency exit seat in Y due to status which is probably as good as having empty middle seat but thats down to personal preference. But I have also flown many times on BA in Y in regular seats with my partner and for a flight to Berlin or Rome, for 2 hours, its really not that big a deal, having another person in the row.

          I have admittedly only flown CE once, from TXL to LHR last month but I would be hard pushed to pay more than £10 for the meal I got (Cold Salad). As I have all the status benefits such as lounge, fasttrack, baggage, all there is extra is the same seat with middle row free and better drinks service. For a flight to somewhere like Marrakech I might pay more like an extra £40 or £50 one way, but for Berlin or Dublin, I genuinely don’t think i would ever pay more than £20 one way per person for the upgrade, even if I didn’t have emergency exit seats in Y.

          Personal preference I guess.

        • RK says:

          13 Oct13 October 17:44

          I am not including the extra avios or TPs in that analysis.. Lets assume the £20 is after taking the value of any extra avios into account.

      • harry says:

        13 Oct13 October 17:32

        You can have the same number of drinks in economy, no limit enforced. They won’t serve more drinks to drunks, though – seen that on a flight with a rugby group. I find that if you ring the bell & expect service for drink 3 onwards, you have screwed things up for yourself. Not that I do that, but my kids certainly have, obviously for Coke etc not booze. The cabin staff soon get fed up & you’ll know it. The way to do it if you fancy 3 or 4 drinks etc is to go to them, be pleasant and save them a journey. Never had a problem in my life this way. And I also remember the old days on long haul when most of us just wanted to get semi sloshed and then sleep for 5 or 6 hours, you had to neck about 10 drinks in 2 hours for that to work, but the same technique (& more relaxed approach by the crew) meant we never got refused.

• Kev says:

  13 Oct13 October 07:30

  Just glancing through and seen some for £75 for Malta. Even found one date with it pricing up as £59 in CE. Pity the dates don’t really work for me.

  • Sebastian says:

    13 Oct13 October 07:44

    That’s a great deal are you sure it’s right? As that screams a TP run.. To be honest, I no longer rate the Club Europe product enough to justify selecting it ahead for a front row Easyjet redemption – especially since I am not a big drinker and I have a PP pass. That said on a TP collection basis a £300 return from Malta/Morocco is a good deal if you need a few points to tip you over a BA band.

• Zoe says:

  13 Oct13 October 07:35

  Just picked up Alicante for Feb half term week as we are planning on buying an apartment in Javea. Just the 2 of us so went for a fiat 500, last time we did a similar trip they upgraded the car for having Avis preferred membership. Just need to see if the Plat Amex gives any better Avis status.
  My finger slipped at the payment stage and my Ukranine billing address meant no £10 charge for paying on Amex.

  • harry says:

    13 Oct13 October 07:59

    Must remember Ukraine. However, it’s been nearly a week since I used PayPal for a flight & they still haven’t billed my bank a/c (though the cost IS reserved but not taken in my PayPal a/c) – just starting to get my hopes up, either pretty lax in the Finance dept or have they messed up? Ticket is there fine.

    • harry says:

      13 Oct13 October 14:20

      JQ if you’re out there: the PayPal transaction (a BA ticket in EU currency) has actually gone through now and I haven’t paid a 4.5% fee, I’ve paid no fee except no doubt on the exchange rate, which as I said before was competitive.

      It’s not the exact same rate I was quoted when I bought the ticket, but reflects the slight shift in currencies in the 4 days it took BA to process it. Nothing like 4.5% though – it’s not even 1%.

      • JQ says:

        13 Oct13 October 17:30

        The 4.5% is paypal’s spread, not a fee. Perhaps I worded it badly. Basically, what I should have said was, if I used paypal instead of my Capital One or Halifax card, I would certainly be paying 4.5% more in GBP and losing out on Section 75 protection (not that it means much with a flight).

        So tell me what was the price in EUR and how much did you pay in GBP? And if you wouldn’t mind, the date of booking and date of the transaction on your card statement please.

        • harry says:

          13 Oct13 October 17:45

          It wasn’t EUR but other EU currency. Date of booking was 8/10 but it wasn’t processed until 11/10 (bit shocking really).

          But rest assured on the currency, I checked it carefully vs HiFX and the PayPal rate was good both dates (was similar to MC/Visa), shame they didn’t process it immediately as the rate moved against me slightly but I guess it could have been the opposite.

          It was just a HBO flight about £75, so the 4.5% would have been seen as maybe £3.30 – and it didn’t show as anything. Are you sure about this JQ? – as when I buy something with PayPal normally, I don’t pay any fees but the retailer does. Isn’t this the same situation?

        • harry says:

          14 Oct14 October 06:51

          PayPal money out for the flight has finally hit my bank a/c today, quite shockingly slow, really. So I booked the flight on 8/10 and it’s taken 6 days for BA/ PayPal to actually make me pay for it, though the amount was ‘reserved’ from day 1.

  • Gabe says:

    13 Oct13 October 11:15

    how does the ukraine trick work?

    • JQ says:

      13 Oct13 October 17:31

      Ex-UK tickets, paying with Amex – change your billing country to Ukraine. Name is whatever you like, then you need your house number and the digits from your postcode (i.e. if your postcode is SW1A 1AA, then just type 11 and it will go through).

• Zoe says:

  13 Oct13 October 07:37

  If you aren’t tied to school holidays there is great availability to Geneva for skiing.

• Tom C says:

  13 Oct13 October 08:06

  Rob, you beauty. We were looking to go to Aman Venice in February and I was going to book it this week. Now the fights are more than half price.

• Allan says:

  13 Oct13 October 08:27

  Not sure if it’s part of the offer but just booked EDI-LGW-RAK and return for just under £300. 200 TP & 5222 Avios (blue). There will be another 35 on top for a night at the Ibis as there isn’t a same day connection.

• Colin MacKinnon says:

  13 Oct13 October 08:38

  Oh well, £298 from GLA or EDI – or, of course, I can just buy the Scotland LGW flights for £78 on BA or £70 on Easyjet (with no connection protection).

  I understand BA have to pay the airports for connecting passengers, fuel for a second flight, staff, etc, but why charge so much more for a through ticket than I can pay by splitting. After all, a connecting ticket saves UK APD!

  It just drives me away from BA more and more into the hands of the direct operators..

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