Oneworld member British Airways has released its upcoming schedule: To get its crews some much-needed flight hours, the British carrier will deploy its Airbus A380 aircraft on intra European routes from London-Heathrow to Frankfurt and Madrid. That gives aviation enthusiasts the chance to fly the mighty long-haul plane for a considerably lower price than usual.
This deal only applies to November 2021 flight dates:
The flights in question are:
- BA 902 07:10 London LHR – 09:55 Frankfurt FRA
- BA 903 11:25 Frankfurt FRA – 12:15 London LHR
- BA 462 15:15 London LHR – 18:45 Madrid MAD
- BA 463 20:15 Madrid MAD – 21:30 London LHR
There is no guarantee that British Airways will operate these flights using A380 aircraft. You might as well find an Airbus A319 at the gate. You won’t be able to get a refund in that case.
Of course, it is possible to fly just one leg with the A380 and take a different plane back. It is also possible to book both flights in the opposite direction, flying Frankfurt – London – Frankfurt or Madrid – London – Madrid, at similar prices.
If you are keen on trying British Airways Club World business class seats, you can opt to fly one or both legs in business class. The cheapest oneway prices are:
- BA 902 London- Frankfurt at £168 (~€195)
- BA 903 Frankfurt – London at €186 (~£160)
- BA 462 London – Madrid at £292 (~€340)
- BA 463 Frankfurt – London at €244 (~£210)
You can freely combine business class and economy class legs on ba.com. Although there are First Class seats on BA’s A380s, those are not for sale.
British Airways allows you to cancel all flights starting before August 31, 2022, in exchange for a voucher. You can use that voucher for booking made up until September 30, 2023. It cannot be exchanged for a monetary refund, though. A little extra security can’t be wrong for bookings in the second winter of the pandemic.
Search & Book
While finding flights between major European cities is not a problem, you want to make sure the A380 is scheduled to get the best experience out of your money. There are several ways to do that. When using Google Flights, set the parameters to British Airways, nonstop flights and the flight time to the departure time mentioned above:
You can follow this example to find flights these way. Even without the time parameter, you can quickly find the A380 by looking at the emissions – it’s the “dirtiest” option each way.
You can also simply click on the flight, the plane type will be displayed. Last but not least, you can double-check again when booking on British Airways website to make sure you’ll hop on the right plane:
Click on the flight details button to check if an A380 is scheduled for that day and time.
So far, only flights between October 31 and November 30, 2021, have an A380 scheduled for these four flights. We recommend booking on British Airways website, to benefit from the airline’s refund policy.