AirlinesLife!

I did it! The first flight I’ve booked since lockdown

As I wrote a few weeks ago, I had been resisting the urge to book flights, despite how keen I am to start planning travel again. That changed at the weekend…

I bought a cheap business class flight with British Airways

I’ve had my eye on a couple of nice British Airways business class fares, including this deal offering cheap flights from Oslo, Norway to India.

Like a number of airlines, BA is also offering cheap business class tickets from Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, to the USA.

Lufthansa and United are currently selling roundtrip business class fares from Sofia to the West Coast of the US for less than £1,000 (USD 1,200) – which is great value for money.

At the weekend, I finally jumped in and booked one of BA’s Sofia fares, travelling to San Francisco (via London) and returning from Los Angeles in business class next spring. The price was around £1,100 (USD 1,379).

Even better, I was able to upgrade the London to San Francisco leg to first class by paying 25,000 Avios (and no extra taxes or fees). For the moment (at least), that sector is due to be operated by one of BA’s A380s, which feature their most spacious first class product.

This trip will allow me to review Bulgaria Airways’ A320 business class, BA’s A380 first class, BA’s Concorde Room lounge in London, as well as hotels in Bulgaria and the US.

I’m also thinking of taking in the Coast Starlight train during my trip to the US West Coast.

British Airways’ Book with Confidence policy

One of the things that encouraged me to go ahead and start booking flights again was BA’s Book with Confidence policy.

The policy gives you the flexibility to change your travel dates and destination, or even cancel your trip – as long as you are happy to accept a voucher for future travel.

ote that Book with Confidence applies to bookings made from June 11 until August 31, 2020, for journeys that are due to have been completed by April 30, 2021.

You can change the dates and destination of your booking without having to pay a change fee, although you will need to cover any difference in ticket price.

Similarly, if you decide you no longer want to travel, you can cancel your booking and BA will give you a voucher to the same value for a future booking (as long as your trip satisfies the date conditions mentioned above).

I’m based in The U.K., so it’s not particularly convenient for me to start my journey in Europe, though I’m willing to do it when the prices are this low.

The good thing about BA’s policy is that I can easily cancel my booking if another, better deal comes up from London. If that happened, I’d simply cancel the flight from Bulgaria, triggering a voucher which I’d use to pay for the cheaper flight. In theory, I’d then have some credit leftover to go towards another booking.

Similarly, in the unlikely event that travel to the US next April wasn’t possible (or desirable), I could cancel and use my voucher to book to an alternative destination.

Unless I’m reading things wrongly, there’s not much danger in booking now – as you can effectively ‘cancel’ and get your money back at any time (admittedly in the form of a voucher rather than cash).

Obviously I’d think twice if the airline I was thinking of booking with was at risk of going bust…