BA Economy Basic

[shawny122]

We’re looking at booking flights with BA and are happy to fly with hand luggage only. If we book economy basic rather than economy standard (saving nearly £300 for a family of 4) is there anything else we’re missing out on?

We’ll be flying with two children 8 and 4 and we’re not planning to pay to book seats as we’ll be flying low season. I’ve never booked anything below economy standard before so would like to have some opinions please

[ukitr]

Can you add fly drive... free luggage

[Disney_time]

If you needed to add a case coming back for your purchases/souvenirs, pay online, rather than at the airport as it's a bit cheaper. I have a folding holdall which we take everywhere with us for that reason.

[shawny122]

We don’t need a car as will be doing ME and from experience the fly drives are more inline with the economy standard prices, although I have had a bargain before where the car hire reduced the price and ended up probably closer to economy basic prices! Folding holdall for return is a great idea. My only worry of hand luggage only was souvenirs coming back haha! Where did you get yours?

[returnplanning]

I might be wrong, but I think you also board last, so potentially your hand luggage may be put in the hold - so probably worth having a small bag inside your hand luggage that you can pull out easily with anything really important e.g. apart from documents, I always pack spare underwear/socks/Tshirt in the hand luggage so I at least have 1 change of clothes in case the main luggage gets lost.

[Guest]

I don’t think you get the option to move your seats at check-in with basic.

I would highly recommend using packing cubes if you’re taking limited luggage. Compression packing cubes are great for stuff that doesn’t need ironed. Learn to fold properly too!

[Peko]

Originally Posted by returnplanning

I might be wrong, but I think you also board last, so potentially your hand luggage may be put in the hold - so probably worth having a small bag inside your hand luggage that you can pull out easily with anything really important e.g. apart from documents, I always pack spare underwear/socks/Tshirt in the hand luggage so I at least have 1 change of clothes in case the main luggage gets lost.

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You are not wrong, Basic Economy fares are in the last boarding group. However, with a 4 year old there is a reasonable chance of the party being allowed preboarding (BA is a bit inconsistent in this area, but those with under 5s, especially with a stroller, are likely to be given preboarding), which would eliminate the risk of hand luggage being checked.

For seating, of course the OP is also very unlikely to have the party split up due to the 2 under-12s in the party, and seats will be assigned 3-6 days prior to travel. Just to remember that with Basic Economy, it will not be possible to change the assigned seats without paying.

[Disney_time]

Originally Posted by shawny122

Folding holdall for return is a great idea. My only worry of hand luggage only was souvenirs coming back haha! Where did you get yours?

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amazon/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I only paid £15. Its gone up!

[TheHughesCrew]

Originally Posted by Disney_time

amazon/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I only paid £15. Its gone up!

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I've bought this one...

amazon/Gonex-Folda... 36101&sr=8-3

[shawny122]

Amazing thanks everyone. We wouldn’t be too worried about boarding last and having our hand luggage put in the hold. We’d have everything we needed for the flight in one rucksack which could go under the seat in front anyway and we’d have a pushchair that we’d need to pick up after the flight too. I guess the biggest downside would be if we get allocated rubbish seats and then we can’t move them without paying but hopefully with two young children we’d be sat together anyway. I’ll definitely get one of those bags, they look great thank you!