British Airways Plc, BA

(known as "British Airways")

British Airways welcomes interline colleagues travelling on our flights. Here are some tips to help to make your journey with us pleasant and enjoyable.

**Coronavirus (COVID-19): For updates on travel restrictions and affected BA flights, refer to ba.com

 Important information **

Please visit www.gov.uk/uk-border-control for more information, including exceptions.

Customers are still required to wear a face mask at certain airports and onboard to some destinations  

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Ticketing

BA requires that you issue standby e-tickets in M class, in order to match the class that we will use to list you on BA flights.  Our check-in system is not able to process tickets that have a class mismatch.

All tickets must be closed to BA.

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Flight listing policy and procedures

Listing is required for all flights. Passengers without a listing will be refused travel.

For travel on flights operated by BA, BA CityFlyer and our BA Franchise Sun-Air,  listings should be made between 72-30 hours prior to flight depature via https://idtravel.ba.com

If you are listing within 24 hours of departure or outside 72 hours you may experience difficulties at check-in since we will have been unable to make necessary adjustments during the relatively short window of opportunity we have.

Our listing site will continue to reject users for valid reasons (incorrectly issued ticket, etc).  If this is the case please refer back to your own staff travel office.

If you need to change your travel plans, please cancel original listing and set up a new listing

If you merely need to check loads for existing listings, it is possible to still use the manage process.

Using the web-site

BA cannot accept coupons for different airport pairs.  The airport pair on your coupon must match the flight on which you wish to travel.

Please be sure to complete the Flight Choices section on the web-site: this gives our check-in system information to help us allocate seats, for example, whether you are prepared to split across cabins or across flights if you are travelling with other people on the same ticket type.

If you have any problems using the site, please check that your eticket has been correctly issued.  If you are sure your eticket is correct, and are still having problems, please advise your Staff Travel office.

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Visas and Passports and API

Please remember that for international travel, each passenger must have a valid passport, and must have relevant visas for the destination, and for scheduled points en route, in case off-loading becomes necessary.

Also, some countries require Advance Passenger Information (API), and BA requires that this must be provided before check-in, using the Manage My Booking section of ba.com.

USA: (Secure Flight data) 
Please note that with immediate effect, our listing website will collect the following data items for all travel to or from the USA before the listing is created:
Gender, First name (as on passport), Last name (as on passport), Date of birth.   
This information is sent to the USA authority 72 hours before departure, or at the time of listing if that is within 72 hours.

In addition to API, the USA requires all Visa Waiver passengers to have completed the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) application, ideally at least 72 hours before departure.  You do not need to enter travel details or address in the USA, and if approved, the authorisation is valid for two years, so it is worth applying well in advance if you think you have any intention of travelling to the USA in the coming two years.  If you do not have the authorisation, you will not be able to travel on BA to the USA.  The link to the web-site, which does show who is included in the Visa Waiver programme, is:

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov

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Embargoes

The standby listing web-site at https://idtravel.ba.com will not permit standby listings on embargoed flights. Alternatively, please check with your own staff travel office for information on any staff travel embargoes on BA flights.

The following information is correct as at the date shown at the top of this page:

There is a permanent embargo for all personal travel on all flights between LCY and JFK.  This is a business class service only.  (This embargo also applies to duty travel.)

During HAJJ, both duty and personal travel is embargoed to and from JED.

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Flights excluded

Code-shares:

The following routes are excluded from our agreement. The operating companies are shown.

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Baggage

For details, please see:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagchk/  

Checked baggage

Please note that once you have made a listing on BA (see Flight Listing section above), you can go to ba.com and check the baggage allowance for your specific flight.  It is essential to check that information, because that is the allowance which will apply, regardless of what may be on your ticket.

No single bag or piece of baggage will be accepted if it weighs more than 23 kg/51 lbs, regardless of the allowance applicable to the flight on which you are travelling.  If you have an item which exceeds that weight, you must re-pack into separate bags.  If this results in you exceeding the baggage allowance, you must pay any applicable excess baggage charges.

Duty travel checked baggage:

Your allowance will be in accordance with the type of ticket you are using.  JIDxxS1 will mean you are eligible to the business class allowance.  YIDxxS1 will mean you are eligible to the economy class allowance.

Cabin baggage

One medium bag, maximum dimensions 56 x 45x 25 cm (22 x 17.5 x 9.85 ins), maximum weight 23 kg/51 lbs (but you must be able to lift it into the overhead locker yourself).

Plus

One laptop bag OR one briefcase OR one handbag

Boarding policy

When there are two or more interline employees travelling on the same flight, the time of check-in at the station where you are boarding your flight will determine the onload/offload and the cabin upgrade/downgrade order.

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Check-in Personal or Duty Standby Travel

All airports with self-service check-in kiosks:

• Please present yourself at a self-service check-in kiosk at least 60 minutes before your scheduled flight departure.
• The kiosk will tell you what to do next, so please read the screen carefully.
• The kiosk will print a boarding pass, which will show your booking reference: this is key information, especially if you are not allocated a seat number by the kiosk.
• If the kiosk prints a boarding card with a seat number, this means you have been accepted for the flight; please go immediately to the fast bag drop desk and then through to the departures lounge and the gate.
• If the kiosk prints a boarding card without a seat number, the kiosk will tell you what to do next.

Additional information about Heathrow Terminal 5:

• You must present yourself at the ticket presentation point by 35 minutes before scheduled flight departure time.  This point is immediately before Security.

Check in: First port of call is the check-in kiosk 

If you are allocated a seat at the kiosk:

With bags to check - go to bag drop
Hand baggage only - go straight to Security

If no seat is allocated at check in:

Get bags tagged at any Bag Drop desk.

Once confirmed/accepted for travel, go to any bag drop desk to drop your tagged bags and have your boarding pass issued. Passengers with hand baggage only should also go to any bag drop desk for the boarding pass to be issued.

Passengers should then go straight to Security.

If you are not accepted for travel:

You must relist yourself online via https://idtravel.ba.com.

Additional information about Terminal 3:

Go to any eligible bag drop desk to check in and tag your bags  Note: there is no dedicated bag drop desk for staff passengers.

British Airways’ services at London Gatwick  are now located in the South Terminal (LGW) 

Check in using a kiosk.

If allocated a seat, go to the Bag Drop.

If you are not allocated a seat, go to desk 251, in Zone C.  

If you are accepted for the flight, desk 251 will issue you with your boarding card and accept your bags.

If you are not accepted, you will be automatically listed for the next flight to your destination, if it is on the same day.

All other airports:

If there is a desk signposted for standby travel, go to that desk.  If there is no signposted standby desk, go to the World Traveller or Euro Traveller desk.

Check-in Duty travel positive space:

Where kiosks don't exist check in at the counter for the class to which you are eligible, which will depend on whether you have JID..S1 - meaning business class, or YID..S1 - meaning economy.  At LHR T5, should you have an issue with acceptance, go to desk E18, in zone E. 

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Check-in times

To allow for the added security procedures now in place, please ensure that you have completed check-in formalities by 60 minutes before scheduled departure time

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Through check-in

Through check-in is not available to standby (or "space available") passengers. When planning your trip, please ensure you leave yourself enough time to land and check-in again at any intermediate point.

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Dress code

General

BA has a dress code which is applied to rebate passengers. 

You must be appropriately dressed and well-groomed when using Staff and Duty travel benefits. 

Colleagues (and nominees including children) are expected to use their best judgement when deciding what to wear for their journey. Regardless of which cabin you are in, please think of our fare-paying customers and show sensitivity towards them.

Today's customers often have a more relaxed approach to their own dress, and it's fair that BA colleagues should feel relaxed too.  Jeans, t-shirts and casual shoes are acceptable in every cabin, provided that some basic rules are applied (see below).

If you are travelling longhaul/overnight and want to change into sleepwear, please show sensitivity with this too.

Unacceptable attire (in any cabin):

- Overly revealing or sheer clothing, including bare midriffs

 - Sportswear or Activewear

- Jeans with cut off/frayed hems or holes

- Beach clothing (including swim wear/beach footwear e.g. any type of flip-flops, or any 'V' style sandals which slide between the toes)

- Clothing with questionable/offensive wording or graphics

- Shorts of any description (except for children) 

Special service requests

Special meals

It is not possible to pre-book special meals for rebate passengers. Therefore you and/or your eligible nominees who for any reason require a special diet, must provide your own food, in sufficient quantities to last for the duration of the flight.

Seat requests

• Seat requests are not permitted on Staff Travel. If the flight is open, the check-in agent may ask if you want an aisle or a window seat, but this depends on availability.
• Even if you are assigned a specific seat at check-in, this may be changed to accommodate commercial requirements.
• Please note that staff passengers must comply with requests from BA check-in staff, cabin crew, and flight crew, and must change seats if asked.
• Use of a safety seat for an infant is not permitted on board for rebate passengers.

Unaccompanied minors

• Children under 16 years cannot travel on a rebate ticket unless accompanied by an adult travelling on the same type of rebate ticket.

Other

No special service requirement is permitted when travelling on standby travel.

Amenity bags will not be given to staff who travel in premium cabins.  If offered, we ask that you politely decline.

Useful extra information

Flight deck

UK law prohibits acceptance of any person in the flight deck of a BA aircraft other than a BA employee. Similar rules apply to our affiliate airlines.

Insurance

BA strongly recommends all employees and their eligible nominees to have comprehensive travel insurance. We cannot offer any free-of-charge special arrangements if you sustain an injury or contract an illness during your stay away from home, or if you lose money or documents or personal possessions etc.

Back-up tickets

BA expects employees to purchase all tickets they or their eligible nominees are likely to require for the entire journey before departure from base, as local stations are not resourced to issue rebate tickets.

Aircraft configurations

• BA has various aircraft configurations which apply on different routes.
• All aircraft have an economy (or coach) cabin, which is called EuroTraveller within Europe, and World Traveller on longhaul routes.
• Aircraft operating international flights also have a business class cabin, called Club Europe within Europe, and Club World on longhaul routes.
• Aircraft operating international longhaul flights can have one of several different configurations, with the most common being a four-cabin configuration, with a First class cabin, and an extra cabin called World Traveller Plus, between World Traveller and Club World.

Duty free shopping

BA's selection of duty-free items offered for sale in-flight, under its Shopping the World brand name, can be viewed at www.highlifeshop.com - so you can browse potential purchases before you fly.  BA's High Life Shop promises top brands from around the world, great value, a one-year quality guarantee, and full return and refund service.

This includes Concorde memorabilia.