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In response to the ongoing flight cap at London Heathrow (LHR), British Airways has suspended the sale of tickets to short-haul destinations from the airport for today (Friday 29 July) and tomorrow (Saturday 30 July).
This weekend is set to be one of the busiest yet for air travel in 2022. It’s believed BA’s sales freeze comes as the airline not only looks to meet cap quotas but also free up space on planes for passengers whose existing bookings may be cancelled at the last minute.
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Despite the freeze, BA tickets can still be picked up for destinations across Europe from Heathrow flying today and tomorrow – but with prices such as these you may want to book elsewhere anyway. Economy Plus seats to Berlin start from £651, while a domestic flight to Glasgow will also set you back £400 for the cheapest ticket.
The temporary halt of flight sales was communicated with travel agents this morning, informing them of the reasons behind the sale freeze and apologise for the inconvenience.
The email as shared by Head for Points, read: “To further support this goal and minimise additional close-in bookings which risk us exceeding the caps, as well as to enable us to re-accommodate any passengers whose flights are impacted at short notice, we’ve made the difficult decision to temporarily limit access to inventory on short-haul flights from London Heathrow, currently until 30 July.
“Please be aware that the aim of this additional action is not to favour or drive last-minute sales via ba.com at a time when we’re operating within strict capacity caps and are encouraging customers to voluntarily move their travel plans to alternate dates. For technical reasons, we’re simply unable to open British Airways inventory designed for passenger reaccommodation without the side effect of also enabling some minimal selling.”
Related: Heathrow’s controversial flight cap could be extended until next year
The U.K.’s flagship carrier hinted in the email that this temporary ban may run into next week, adding that it didn’t “intend to keep this additional short-term measure in place a moment longer than necessary and will be reviewing next week with a view to lifting it as soon as we possibly can.”
The email also suggested that the overall reasons for the pause on short-haul tickets were out of BA’s hands and could potentially affect other carriers too.
“We do want to be open and transparent in that limited inventory will continue to be a challenge in all channels for carriers operating from Heathrow until the capacity caps are removed,” the email said.
As Heathrow’s biggest airline with the bulk of its fleet based there, could BA be feeling the passenger caps more than most? It’s possible…
The current measure is designed to help officials get a grip on chaos on the ground by limiting departing passengers to 100,000 per day. That’s 4,000 fewer than average, or, in aviation terms, an entire 13 sold-out BA Boeing 777-300s.
Don’t expect it to go anywhere yet either. “This is not going to be a quick fix,” stressed Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye this week.
“It’s absolutely possible that we could have another summer with a cap still in place,” he told LBC. “It’s going to take 12 to 18 months.”
Related: British Airways pilots could go on strike this summer over pay row
More flight cuts will also be the last thing BA needs, having just averted a major strike of its check-in staff at Heathrow and facing the possibility of industrial action by pilots next.
For anyone flying in or out of Heathrow with BA before 7 August, BA is offering more flexibility for re-booking than usual, including the option for short-haul fliers to rebook onto any other BA flight free of charge for any date within the next 12 months (see here for more info).
However, should you try and stick it out and end up with a last-minute cancellation, click here for a full guide on what your options are.
Featured photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images.
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