ccurran88

Hi all,
First post on FT. A quick question...
I'm going to be just short of gold membership with ba
Is it possible to buy an upgrade to CE at LCY? I'll be travelling to DUB on the 0650 on Tuesday.
Unfortunately all of our work bookings are done via a travel agent so I have no way to upgrade with MMB.
Thanks!

Tim1975

don't know the answer to your question, but personally, I wouldn't bother with an upgrade from LCY. ET and CE seats are exactly the same and their is no lounge at LCY.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk ccurran88, and welcome in particular to the BA board. Good luck with your quest, and feel free to keep posting your experiences along the way - we like to see new members here.

Yes they do sell upgrades at the airport, one being a straightforward payment of the fare difference, the other is the cheaper Airport Upgrade Promotion, which is probably what you want. So just as for a price for an "Upgrade Promotion" at the ticket desk and see what happens. You can OLCI and still get an AUP. Note that even with a travel agent booking you may be able to get an advance paid for upgrade - POUG as it is known - at the time of check in. You can't miss it, if it is offered. And AUPs are not always offered on all services.

ccurran88

Agree just trying to get some cheap tier points!

ccurran88

Perfect thanks for the help.
I take about 60 flights a year with ba and haven't seen a POUG. However I always check in with the ba app so perhaps ill give the computer a go.

Oaxaca

If you are offered a POUG, it should be visible in the app as well, but I guess worth checking both in case they are not showing in the app for any reason.

paul4040

Perhaps your TA books you into a fare bucket that is not eligible for POUG.

You may not be offered a promotional upgrade fee at checkin and instead be asking for a "fare difference" - this might be a lot of money! If it is, you may as well spend money on a trip of your own instead of upgrading the sector (time constraints permitting).

orbitmic

Are your flights always nonstop or to/from the uk? No poug for non-uk connecting itineraries. Otherwise as mentioned maybe a fare issue.

Scots_Al

I didn't think you ever got them for tickets with a UK connection either.

fiona

You don't. Never once been offered one.

alexwuk

I have never been offered a POUG for an itinerary departing LCY, FWIW.
Given the seats are identical and there's no blocked middle seat, I'm not entirely sure what the point would be? (beyond extra TPs)

Kgmm77

I've never been offered an ex-LCY POUG to DUB (I think I had one to MAD once, nothing to any other LCY destination) but have had 4 op-ups since the service began in October.

I've had very regular POUG's to DUB from LHR.

Given the frequency of OP ups I assume the route strategy is to oversell Y and push forward via OP-up, which probably makes sense in a route where there are a reasonable number of late bookings but limited CE demand (based on corporate travel policies). Ex-LHR you'll obviously have a lot more connectors to CW/F creating CE demand.

snuffi

It depends what the cost is and if the OP needs 30 TPs. Often the £ per TP can be quite good if you are only paying the additional component. Unless it was in a sale however, the fact that it is a very short hop, the exact same seat, no middle seat to keep free and no lounge at LCY, CE to DUB is not a great proposition.
That said I am doing it for my ex-EU trip later this month, as at the time of booking CE was perhaps £40-50 more expensive each way than ET, and that made it a far better £/TP rate.

ccurran88

OK thanks.
I've noticed I can upgrade via MMB as long as it is at point of check in. More than 24h before and I have to go through travel agent.
The fees were extortionate though - asked for £540 round trip (the fare difference). Also, aircraft change to RJ85.

I think I will be better either booking a round trip to jersey, or upgrading my CW ticket to JNB to F on Sunday to get the extra TPs.

snuffi

Ouch. When you regain consciousness definitely book something else. The RJ85 and a BAe146 are both short-term leases and can apparently occur on any LCY route. Sounds like you have been unlucky. Or at least I would consider it unlucky as I prefer the Embraers.