British Airways to board passengers ‘In Order of Ticket Price’

Passengers will soon be boarding British Airways planes according to how much they paid for their flights.

Passengers will be assigned a number between 1-5 printed on boarding passes from December 12, with the highest figure reserved for economy fares.

Number one will be assigned First Class passengers on long-haul flights and short-haul travellers on BA’s business class, Club Europe, as well as Gold members of the BA Executive Club

Next will be business class Club World passengers on long-haul flights, and Silver members of the Executive Club.

Group three will be passengers in World Traveller Plus, which is BA’s premium economy, as well as Bronze members.

Normal economy passengers will be in group four.

The indignity of boarding the plane last will be given to those travelling on the cheapest, hand-baggage only fares. These fares were introduced in 2013 as BA sought to compete with easyJet.

Passengers with mobility issues or who are travelling with young children will still be able to board ahead of everyone else.

BA said the move is about simplifying the boarding process, and bringing it into line with other carriers, including American Airlines and sister carrier Iberia.

A BA spokeswoman told the BBC: “We are always looking at ways to improve and simplify the airport experience for our customers.

“Next month we are introducing new boarding procedures to speed up the process and make it simpler for customers to understand.

“This method has been used by airlines around the world for a number of years, including by our partners American Airlines, Iberia and Qatar.”

But BA was faced social media accusations of operating a class system and further eroding perks.

Earlier this year it emerged that BA is on the verge of having its rating cut from four to three stars, by research firm Skytrax.

This would put Britain’s flagship carrier on a par with Ryanair and Uzbekistan Airways, and comes after a string of controversies over baggage charges and the removal of perks for first-class passengers and the withdrawal of free food on European economy services.

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