British Airways will offer a free chauffeur service for its first class customers flying out of Sydney from July 1.
Passengers will be whisked from home or office to Sydney Airport, and back again at the end of their trip, in a Jaguar or Range Rover provided under contract by Unity Executive Services.
While the airline has yet to reveal how many kilometres will be complimentary before an additional per-km fee kicks in, it's likely to be within the same radius as offered by Qantas and Emirates (40km) and Etihad (50km).
However, one wrinkle is that those three airlines all provide a free ride to passengers in business class as well as first class, at odds with BA's first-only policy.
Also on July 1st, Qantas will extend its Chauffeur Drive service to flights between Australia and Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, Santiago and Johannesburg, in addition to the current destinations of London and Dubai.
Meanwhile, Garuda will launch a free door-to-door limousine service for business class flyers in Brisbane as part of the Indonesian airline's new Brisbane-Denpasar flights in August.
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 May 2011
Total posts 732
Pretty stingy of BA to only allow F class passengers to enjoy the free ride. Nowadays you almost have to offer a limo transfer to your premium pax to stay in the game. Wonder why BA has decided not to provide business class passengers the ride, probably a matter of not wanting to eat into the margin of the ticket price. Gotta love it though that you will be driven in a Jaguar or Range Rover, quintessentiallly British (ok, I know both cmpanies are Tata subsidiaries, but still)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 May 2012
Total posts 178
Hi David,
Just wondering will BA offer a destination limo service as I am flying LHR- SYD in F in August. Also I am actually getting a BA connecting flight from DUB-LHR and QF J flight from Syd-Mel, will the service be similar to Qantas in that you can use the service for a connecting flight? All the flights are on one booked PNR
Many thanks,
Robert
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Apr 2013
Total posts 146
So let me see if I have this correct. We'll be flying BA in F on Qantas points in September SYD-LHR, I presume we would be eligible for this offer.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
27 Mar 2013
Total posts 6
BA First with Limo pick-up - thats it ?? Why bother for such indifferent service and (these days) rather tired old metal.
Singapore Airlines - The PPS Club
01 Jun 2013
Total posts 1
We can argue all day about the service, but you can't accuse BA of using old planes from Australia - all flights are now on their 777-300ER's, which are only a couple of years old at most. To SIN, for example, I'd choose BA any day over the current QF offering (two class 747 or A330, neither with full flat seats even in Business and an aging IFE system).
Agree about Business class getting limos though - perhaps they could just sign up with Hughes or the like, so something less exclusive than they offer First but still competitive with EK/QF/VS?
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
23 May 2012
Total posts 268
I don't really use the chauffeur-drive services airlines provide. I've only used it three times: once for Virgin Australia's Business Class launch chaffeur-drive offer, and twice at London with Qantas (recently) and Virgin Atlantic.
It is a good alternative to the hotel shuttle buses, cabs and rental cars, however I like to travel at my own pace. I prefer to relax at lounges at my arrival for an hour (especially after a long-haul flight) before I depart to my hotel etc. With most airlines, they pick you up straight away and take you to your destination and I feel that it's too rushed.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
12 Jun 2013
Total posts 1
FYI ....QANTAS PULLED THE PLUG ON Chauffeur Drive service FROM SYDNEY TO SANTIAGO WITHOUT ADVISING CLIENTS WHO HAVE BOOKED. NOT NICE. AND NOW DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THEY EVER OFFERED IT. VERY RUDE TELEPHONE STAFF. QANTAS ALSO DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THIS WEBSITE INFORMATION AS BEING CORRECT OR RELEVANT. I DO WONDER AUSSIE BUS TRAVELLER WHERE YOU GOT YOUR INFORMATION FROM ?? SAME PLACE I DID ...QANTAS WEB SITE???
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