Indeed. It's a tough situation that I tried my best to avoid, but I don't place blame with anyone else.

The passenger is 83 years old and doesn't have a computer - so wants to book a ticket over a counter. BA Travel Shops are no more, and I don't disagree with BA's rationale behind closing them.

BA doesn't really want to pay travel agents commission (when it could pocket all the money for a ba.com sale) so has cut this to 1% - leaving the travel agent all of £6 or £7 - so they can't afford to hire the best people or keep them trained on the minutiae of what sort of fare basis BA needs for MFU. I agree with posts above about checking every detail of the ticket with the travel agent, but not all of them have the vocabulary or knowledge to know or understand some of the questions above. I don't blame the agent for saying it should be eligible howver; this is not PPI-style deliberate misselling!

I checked that the booking covered the main rules required for MFU (BA metal, WT+ fare, not a group booking) and still got caught out. The phone agents I spoke to said this was because they couldn't see the original fare paid, and therefore couldn't work the difference that would need to be paid as part of the upgrade process.

It's sad, as BA have a flight tomorrow from LAX with an unsold CW seat, I have £200 worth of fuel surcharge payments burning a hole in my pocket and there's a woman who isn't getting to sleep in a bed as a result of this policy. I can see why it won't be anywhere near the top of the list to look at, hence this thread to remind people that TA upgrades can be a bit of a crap shoot.