Originally Posted by
Trav+
One of the key parts of that thread (which I would have thought might have been pointed to, since 25,000 Miles plus availability doesn't necessarily point to an upgrade being allowed under these circumstances:
Another extremely important caveat is that you can only upgrade a ticket that has been purchased directly from BA. This applies to ba.com or over the ‘phone. If you are in North America, you can upgrade a ticket, but it must have been purchased from a “BA Preferred Travel Agent”. One North American Preferred Selling Agent (who so far will remain anonymous) confirms that currently (and valid for at least all of 2007), a PSA is always (subject to availability) able to upgrade ex-North American full J (J1US, J1CA, etc.) fares in to A class for the outbound leg (only). This is similar to the 'Buy J, fly F one way' promos BA often run but apparently a little known fact/permanent offer. You would, however, need to find yourself a PSA to take advantage of it…
I had also remembered a travel agent who could do upgrades with BA explaining to me that one thing they cannot do is upgrade any portion whatsoever of an itinerary that involved non-BA flights. So if a reason for buying at AA.com is that there is a leg or two on AA (often the case when I buy BA fares at AA.com) then if what I'm told is true, regardless of who I bought it from, it seems like it would be non-upgradeable. I think I once had a BA phone agent tell me basically the same thing (for the same itinerary, as it happened). In the end, since the one-way fare difference between D and A was only $750, I just paid the A fare anyway (even though the majority of the itinerary didn't offer a FIRST product in the first place, which is what got me thinking I'd just pay for Club and upgrade the applicable leg).