It’s Tuesday in GhettoIFE land.. and Tuesdays are rather boring, being the low point of the week before the upward hope of the weekend coming.
Must be time to book a flight to really have something to look forward to.
British Airways have a product called “Hello Daytrip” – allowing you to take daytrips from London to European destinations.
It’s taking the idea of what Eurostar introduced (Paris in a day, Brussels in a day), and extending it a bit further along European network of BA.
Hello Daytrip landing page – ba.com/hellodaytrip
Hello Daytrip advertises it’s availability publicly three weeks or so in advanced on the ba.com/hellodaytrip page
Availability is a bit limited this weekend as the UK heads into Half Term Holidays and the late Spring Bank Holiday.
A bit better the weekend after…
Or, you can book flights you want directly without using the Hello Daytrip page via the main BA booking engine (dates are mostly pre-loaded in the booking systems).
In the example I’m going to show, I’m booking a daytrip to Paris.
Booking the flights via the BA.com page.
Pop in a weekend day return and press find flights. All being well, you’ll get a lovely page like this:
So as you can see, there are three tickets are offered – a Hand Baggage only fare, a low Economy fare and Club Europe. Hello DayTrip is based on the lowest fare possible – the Hand Baggage Only fare. And really – do you need wheeliebag luggage in the hold on a daytrip (especially when BA gives 23kg in the overhead bins)?
For those collecting Tier Points/Avios, there is no difference between HBO and normal low economy fares.
As Hello Daytrip is really two HBO fares, it’ll fire a warning at you, when you select the fare and hit continue:
Last warning – Hand Baggage Only.
If you’re hell bent on bringing luggage back, you need to book the higher fare buckets (low economy) as HBO fares are not combinable with standard economy fares. Then again, the higher fare buckets only add up to £20 return more normally (which is what BA charge to add luggage on an one-way fight.
From there on in, it’s the standard booking process.
Yes, the fare adds up to a grand £12, with £89.70 in surcharges (if you pay by Credit Card, £85.20 if you pay by Debit Card). The tax breakdown is rather laughable, with British Airways imposing £19 of fuel surcharge on this fare
You could actually do the same for 9,000 Avios with £35 (for an almost full flex ticket, minus cancellation charges), but this way offers a few tier points and Avios for your troubles too. Note that BA now charges for any change, so you do fare some heavy fines if you change your mind.
Fares book into the G fare code, offering 10 Tier Points each way and 500 Avios (before any tier bonuses)
Sometimes, upgrades are offered on these flights (I’ll be talking about this another day), which nullifies the HBO component and turn it into a full Club Europe fare, with full Tier Points.
Used effectively, Hello Daytrip can offer some great value if you just want to get away for the day. It helps if you’re in the London area, or can get to Heathrow easily to take advantage of the fare however…
If you’re travelling beyond London… well, it could be a very long daytrip…
… like it’s going to be for me… 😉
