Dear all

I have read through all the wikis but still need your collective wisdom on what my options are.

I am BA Gold with around 160,000 points. Plus another 75,000 on Amex.

My mother needs to fly back to Hong Kong in the next month or so due to her sister being ill.

Obviously I want to use my points. I am happy to use them all as I actually never really fly BA long haul.

As far as I understand it it isn’t worth it to use miles to get a economy reward seat? As there are so many taxes to pay it is almost equivalent to a full price ticket.

It is better to upgrade? But you can only use miles to upgrade one tier? So if I buy an economy I can only upgrade to premium economy and not business?

Also you can only upgrade if there is a reward seat available? With only a month to go it looks unlikely? Especially as it seems to be around the Easter holiday period?

My other option is to use the miles to get a reward ticket on another oneworld partner I.e. Cathay Pacific? But I can’t use miles to upgrade? I can only use it to get a full reward ticket?

Personally I would prefer to get a CX business than a BA business reward ticket. But I assume because I am only a BA exec member and not a Marco Polo member it will be more expensive.

What are your thoughts? What is the best way for me to get the best for my mother?

My other option is Emirates where I am Gold as well. But I only have 60,000 miles + 75,000 Amex and my preference for my mother is a direct flight and not to stop in Dubai.

It I don’t suppose my status actually has any affect seeing as I am not booking for myself?

I also assume to allow my mother to use my points I need to create a household account and add her to it?

Thanks