British Airways Introduces Hand-Luggage Only Fares

British Airways has announced that it will extend the luggage options for short-haul passengers flying from Heathrow and London City after having a successful introduction of hand baggage only fares at Gatwick airport earlier this year, according to a press release.

The new hand-baggage only fares are currently on sale for travel beginning on September 24 between Heathrow airport and nine other short-haul destinations. They include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Paris, to either Charles de Gaulle or Orly airports.

Customers opting to fly on a hand-luggage only fare can still continue to take advantage of the airline's hand luggage allowance, which allows passengers to carry on a large case (56x45x25cm), as well as a handbag or laptop bag.

In addition to the hand-luggage only fare, the airline is also introducing a semi-flex fare on a trial basis. The fare will be available for flights going from London to Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stockholm, Rotterdam, Barcelona, Rome and Paris, to either Charles de Gaulle or Orly airports.

"The hand baggage-only fare at Gatwick has proved very popular with our customers so we're now introducing it on a selected number of short-haul routes from Heathrow and London City," Robin Glover-Faure, the head of short-haul for British Airways, said. "If it proves successful, we plan to roll it out across the whole short-haul network in the coming months."

The semi-flex option will also offer passengers an option between a standard ticket and a fully-flex one.

"We have listened to our customers and we're introducing a new fare type, the semi-flex ticket, which gives travelers a range of new options, including the opportunity to change their ticket on the day of departure for no extra fee," Glover-Faure continued.

This new flexible fare would allow a passenger with a meeting that runs over or finishes early to just switch to an earlier or later flight as long as their are still seats available. They won't have to pay any change or service fees and they won't have to pay the difference in cost from their original ticket and the price the ticket is selling for on the day of departure.