Thanks for sharing all this info I have learned a lot the past day reading boards. I have just switched flying on BA as VA has lost all its Scottish connecting flights to LHR. I have purchased a LHR-SFO rt WT plus T class ticket for 18 Jan to 1 Feb and received an offer to upgrade to Club for cash. Is there any realistic chance of using avios for an upgrade in next two weeks? I think its unlikely I will ever get transatlantic award seats as I will never reach gold so am wondering if I will ever be able to use avios for anything but short hops across Europe, which seems like an "expensive" way to use my avios.