Brittany Ferries withdrawing friends and family discount

[scotzsue]

Came back on the pont aven using family and friends, have been considering joining ourselves but dates we hope to use next year, discount out appears to be 0%, will need to look into how much we would save, if anything, if we use the other ships, and the club lounges.

 

[chris McKenny]

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

But just using your membership discount ,you are still ahead ,if you leave then unless you do not use BF at all you are behind the 8 ball ?

 

[bigtwin]

But just using your membership discount ,you are still ahead

Yes you should be, but folks can act irrationally when they have something taken away from them.

Ian

 

[Laughing Gravy]

Don't think I will renew this year...Much prefer the tunnel.Just returned home on Pont Avon ..lovely ship BUT the new ships are rubbish and don't think Pont Avon will be in service much longer..over 20 years old now..Without Friends and family bonus cannot justify renewing..BUSBY.

Yes agreed. Just arrived back from Bilbao. The new gas ships are pretty boring and without any character if I am honest and the journey feels tedious as it progresses, probably because of the slow speed of the ship. As for the Commodore Lounge ?, it was good value but not now at over £80, and the atmos really it feels like an upmarket old persons home. Sorry ! But my opinion. Have to say , the French crew were excellent. Overall just not worth the price.

 

[EuroTrotters]

We have the old membership with 30% off Al year, for now at least.

New memberships have restricted discounts with some months without discounts . So not always cost effective to join.

I wonder how long it will fe before BF strip the old memberships back

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[royandsharont]

Update for those who are considering it.

BF have just replied to my email. They confirmed the closing date of 19/12/24 for application for reduced fee membership to those who have already used the discount scheme to book a voyage, and that it would be a total of £90 to join with an annual renewal rate currently of £90. Also confirmed that it ran for 12 calendar months from the date of joining as said earlier.

 

[Apacheman]

Booked DFDS Newhaven ferry for next year £242 return 2 people + dog with 20% O-60s discount. That’s about £30 more than this year so maybe all the ferry companies are feeling the pinch!

 

[Martatin]

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

Just trying to get my head around flex tickets if you buy separate tickets for out and return say 30/4/25 & 4/6/25 how far can I extend the date if a problem? Into 2026?

 

[royandsharont]

Martatin in you specific example buying a return would mean that the very latest you could sail either way would be 30/4/26, but you couldn’t get back then in the same booking if you sailed out on that date.

Buying separate, which I have never done, gives flex sailing up to 30/4/26 and 4/6/26 in your case on each booking.

I didn’t know this and fell foul last year with having to amend my March booking twice so, cancelled in end and lost the deposit. Had I booked separately I would have been able to use both out and back this year.

 

[Martatin]

Thankyou for explanation
That sounds really good and flexible.

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[Fragle]

Just trying to get my head around flex tickets if you buy separate tickets for out and return say 30/4/25 & 4/6/25 how far can I extend the date if a problem? Into 2026?

As said I think it’s a year from first trip so quite reasonable I think

 

[TDub49]

On the subject of flex tickets, we were caught out back in 2020 when in France when the UK govt told everyone to be back in the UK by midnight on Friday or face 14 days quarantine on return. As we were near Angers at the time and it was Friday morning, we high-tailed it out of France to beat the midnight deadline and made our way home in a leisurely fashion via Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, crossing the channel via Le Shuttle and signing things to say we hadn't stopped in France (apparently it was OK to come back from France provided you hadn't set foot in it).

It may be because the ferries were cancelled or it may be the way BF were operating at the time but when I tried to book another trip (by 'phone), trying to combine the unused return journey with another outward trip, the nice man said he would cancel the unused return and credit me the money, leaving us free to book another return journey. That seems pretty "flexi" to me.

This morning I received my Club Voyage renewal reminder which told me we had saved £90 on the fare for our one and only trip abroad this year (Ports-Bilbao-Ports), not counting the €12.5 food and drink vouchers and savings in the restaurants and free cabin etc. so I will be renewing for next year . . . .

 

[EuroTrotters]

I will only renew to keep the all-year 30% discount . If the pull the plug on that, won’t be worth renewing .

6/7 years ago we were paying £360-£400 return for a car to Spain. Similar dates now have more than doubled.

I don’t want to buy the bloody vessels. Cheap Chinese shit they are

 

[Barclaybasher]

Brittany Ferries are one of the few companies that answer the phone and are actually helpful.....and pleasant

 

[busby]

Booked DFDS Newhaven ferry for next year £242 return 2 people + dog with 20% O-60s discount. That’s about £30 more than this year so maybe all the ferry companies are feeling the pinch!

Or like insurance companies dipping their bread.BUSBY

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[Next Stop]

It's a shame they are stopping the discount, but if I'm reading the terms correctly then if we joined using the 50% discount then we'd save 65.38 on our next trip to France/Spain, and that's after the joining fee. I presume you can use the discount on early bird tickets?