Brittany Ferries withdrawing friends and family discount

[TDub49]

Inevitable. Greed never pays.

 

[Wombles]

If Brittany Ferries wanted to stop the "abuse" of the Friends & Family discount they could easily have set up their booking system to only allow a very limited number of uses per membership, crossing or time period - think it was always just a clever marketing ploy! Presume someone in the organisation has decided that their sales are strong enough to drop this discount now & make more margin even if overall passenger numbers are a little fewer. If it affects sales too much they can always launch another similar scheme at a later date...

 

[stevewagner]

Eurotunnel did the same with the frequent user scheme

 

[Dorset Diver]

If Brittany Ferries wanted to stop the "abuse" of the Friends & Family discount they could easily have set up their booking system to only allow a very limited number of uses per membership, crossing or time period - think it was always just a clever marketing ploy! Presume someone in the organisation has decided that their sales are strong enough to drop this discount now & make more margin even if overall passenger numbers are a little fewer. If it affects sales too much they can always launch another similar scheme at a later date...

The use of the code has been limited to 15 per year for ages. They could have reduced that as a control.

 

[bigtwin]

If Brittany Ferries wanted to stop the "abuse" of the Friends & Family discount they could easily have set up their booking system to only allow a very limited number of uses per membership, crossing or time period

That’s how it works.

The use of the code has been limited to 15 per year for ages. They could have reduced that as a control.

They already did; my membership is limited to eight codes.

There is no suggestion that stamping out abuse is the motivation for the change.

Ian

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[Spriddler]

There is no suggestion that stamping out abuse is the motivation for the change.

Why would there be?
Marketing avoids negative phrases, just like my bank who wrote: 'We are pleased to advise you that we will be transferring your account to Burgess Hill branch [5 miles away] to improve your customer experience when we close your local branch'.

Many years ago I produced and supplied digital speech information systems to transport companies . When I was given the script to record for a rail operator it included: "The buffet car will be closing in twenty minutes" the guy sighed and said: "We seem all too often to be giving negative info to our customers". His face lit up when I suggested that we changed it to: "We are pleased to advise travellers that our buffet car will remain open for a further twenty minutes".
Simple!

 

[KevinTuplin]

This year the Caravan and Motorhome Club had their ferry discounts stopped by Brittany Ferries on all of their winter sailings so it is not only family and friends discounts that will be affected.

 

[chippie]

I wonder if the 5% discount offered when booking via the AA or English Heritage websites will go as well.

 

[EuroTrotters]

If Brittany Ferries wanted to stop the "abuse" of the Friends & Family discount they could easily have set up their booking system to only allow a very limited number of uses per membership, crossing or time period - think it was always just a clever marketing ploy! Presume someone in the organisation has decided that their sales are strong enough to drop this discount now & make more margin even if overall passenger numbers are a little fewer. If it affects sales too much they can always launch another similar scheme at a later date...

Hopefully, they will change the system to allow only club members to be able to book for a short period when the schedules are released.

 

[The Wino]

It's just a change of marketing. They used to sell by allowing people to share a discount code and have now decided it's cheaper to sell by different offers. They clearly weren't bothered whether the sharing was with genuine family and friends after all there's a very broad definition of "friend". I don't think it's at all influenced by people giving codes willy nilly.

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[royandsharont]

Did the email to members give an end date for F&F who have used the discount to contact them to buy their own membership at the half price? The extract above at post #4 just says from 4/11/24 to, and no date

I also cannot find for the life of me their season travel dates on their web site so you can see the % discounts, can anyone point me in the right direction. I know Bolti had posted them on a thread a long time ago but not their location

 

[bigtwin]

Did the email to members give an end date for F&F who have used the discount to contact them to buy their own membership at the half price?

Yes:

Ian

 

[royandsharont]

Thank you Ian bigtwin. That’s good I have some reasonable time to consider joining before 19/12. I think if I were to get £60 discount plus the 10% on food and the 25€ vouchers it would almost cover the membership cost of £90 if I only sailed once a year. Last January they offered a no joining fee period as I recall. I had 2 sailings this year but had to cancel both re surgery for my wife so lost a few quid

 

[bigtwin]

I think if I were to get £60 discount plus the 10% on food and the 25€ vouchers it would almost cover the membership cost of £90 if I only sailed once a year.

We cross in winter and recoup the costs on a single sailing so our return crossing more than covers it.

Ian

 

[Bolti]

Did the email to members give an end date for F&F who have used the discount to contact them to buy their own membership at the half price? The extract above at post #4 just says from 4/11/24 to, and no date

I also cannot find for the life of me their season travel dates on their web site so you can see the % discounts, can anyone point me in the right direction. I know Bolti had posted them on a thread a long time ago but not their location

Here you go, scroll down for the discounts.

Brittany Ferries

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

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[Barclaybasher]

Thank you Ian bigtwin. That’s good I have some reasonable time to consider joining before 19/12. I think if I were to get £60 discount plus the 10% on food and the 25€ vouchers it would almost cover the membership cost of £90 if I only sailed once a year. Last January they offered a no joining fee period as I recall. I had 2 sailings this year but had to cancel both re surgery for my wife so lost a few quid

I'm a member and now buy only Flexi tickets - costs a little more but saves losing any cash. Last trip I had a last minute problem with the MH and swapped to my car - £130 refunded

 

[Fragle]

I'm a member and now buy only Flexi tickets - costs a little more but saves losing any cash. Last trip I had a last minute problem with the MH and swapped to my car - £130 refunded

A lot of the time flex is the same price as the cheapest if you don’t buy last minute.

Also remember to buy separate crossings out and back. It means that you keep the flexibility on the return crossing as well

 

[Bertilak]

The news is full of how tourism has been booming since covid, and especially in Spain, with all the protests.
- If BF have a limited resource to sell in a boom market, why should anybody expect to keep the incentives they enjoyed when times were harder?
If it's too expensive for you, you are part of the market correction! Be pleased for the savings you've banked...

 

[royandsharont]

I'm a member and now buy only Flexi tickets - costs a little more but saves losing any cash. Last trip I had a last minute problem with the MH and swapped to my car - £130 refunded

Yes I had flexi too but re the surgery had to change one from March to August then couldn’t really travel out of UK so couldn’t flex it to March 25 as we would be over the 12 months on return. So lost the deposit unfortunately but surgery went great

A lot of the time flex is the same price as the cheapest if you don’t buy last minute.

Also remember to buy separate crossings out and back. It means that you keep the flexibility on the return crossing as well

If I’d have known this at the time I would have been able to have moved the whole bookings to 2025, I will know for future.

Thank you Bolti I was looking everywhere for general info not in the voyager terms

 

[Clive Mott]

Yes, got that email as well. There is a time limited half price joining offer in that same email. Even if you only sail to Spain once a year it is worth joining. But should existing members get a half price annual renewal?

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[chris McKenny]

No using codes from Nov 4 , will have to think about renewing next month
Already posted

Why would this effect your renewal ?

 

[bigtwin]

Why would this effect your renewal ?

Because, before, the membership fee was reduced by an amount related to how many times your code was used by friends and family. Now, the member will have to pay the full membership fee.

Ian

 

[Jim]

I renewed just a week ago. Ironically, I wasn't going to... as we now travel with the dog and the kennels are dire and the pet friendly cabins booked years in advance. But I was confident that the F&F discount would get most of the fee back. Then they pull that rug from under me.

I asked for a refund within an hour of getting the email, and they laughed and pointed to a clause that said they can amend club benefits at will, and I have to lump it. Though rather helpfully, they said if I insisted, they could close the account, but there would be no refund. I've written to customer services, but not holding my breath.

 

[carolyn]

You don't need Club Lounge on Pont Aven because it's a much more comfortable ship than the new rubbish ships that they have bought from China..I only use Santander Plymouth because of the ship..Shan't renew now..Will stick with the Tunnel.
BUSBY..

We thought the new ship was great. The Club Lounge included all your food and drink. It was warm bright and inviting. The Club Lounge on Pont Aven is cold and all you get is coffee if you’re lucky.

 

[Jo662]

Eurotunnel did the same with the frequent user scheme

And ever since when travelling via the tunnel it’s so much quieter.
They must of lost many customers.

I have been waiting in vain for some deal to take its place,but looks like that’s not going to happen.

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[Bolti]

There is also a two tier membership policy, new £90/yr the old club voyage £125/yr. This I didn't mind paying as it was offset by the f&f discount voucher. But now sounding expensive.

 

[bigtwin]

There is also a two tier membership policy, new £90/yr the old club voyage £125/yr. This I didn't mind paying as it was offset by the f&f discount voucher. But now sounding expensive.

There’s a wider range of discounts available on the old scheme though so still better than the newer scheme.

Ian

 

[royandsharont]

I’ve just emailed them to ask to confirm the costs for taking up their offer of half price and the closing date of 19/12/24. Is it half of the £180 initial joining & membership or what.

I recall last February talking to them when there was an issue with my f&f booking and the lady couldn’t understand why I didn’t join myself, especial as at that time they were waiving the one off £90 set up fee making it £90 it total fir the year and future years.

I didn’t know the old members was £125 but as they were able to get £150 back rather than £80 it does not surprise me.

It’s like in March 2023 the commodore lounge was £30 on the brand new Santona, and we used it sailing out. The return crossing had gone up to £80! We didn’t get it and had a fabulous crossing almost entirely on deck in beautiful weather.

I think it’s a real bummer for members like Jim but they seem to be changing things all the time. I notice now your allocated cabin numbers are not shown in your booking confirmation.

I’ve looked at the benefits and it would appear for a once a year crossing at low season outbound, if you use their inboard facilities then it may break about even, like I think bigtwin suggested. I’m definitely considering it this time, just waiting to hear back from them before deciding. I presume the subscription runs annually from date of joining to same date 12 months hence.

 

[bigtwin]

I presume the subscription runs annually from date of joining to same date 12 months hence.

It does.

Ian

 

[Madmag]

Just been on the web chat to them, very efficient. I wanted to know if by joining now the club voyage benefits could be applied to my 2 existing bookings. As I expected the answer was no ! So not worth joining until after these 2 trips. Hopefully whatever discounts/changes they are considering may be more clear by then.

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