Originally Posted by
holocker
I am looking at a British Airways flight from LHR-ORD redeeming AAdvantage miles and am considering whether the extra 12,500 miles are worth it. I do know about the high co payments - about $850 for 2 tickets. So far this is my only option using advantage miles to get home from Barcelona Spain to San Diego next June.
I didn't realise you could redeem AAdvantage on BA flights. Duh. That's good news as I'm sitting on 50k plus AA miles. Anyway, to your question:
The difference in seat/sleep comfort between CW and F is marginal. What you get in F is some extra pampering and a feeling of exclusivity. Rationally it's not worth the extra to upgrade. But like most people I'm not always rational so I do upgrade on about 40% of my flights. But I only upgrade on long long-haul (10+ hours). LHR-ORD is short long-haul in my book so I would fly that route in CW.
Personally, with your scenario, I'd forget ORD and focus on fights to west coast. LHR-SAN is only one 3-class flight daily and the 2 CW seats per flight released at T-350 have been taken. There may be more nearer the time but LAX or SFO are better bets. For June there's a strong chance of seats in J and/or F coming free nearer the date. I'd book 2 reward seats in Y as a safety net and monitor the reward seat releases regularly.