Originally Posted by
dfwrob
Hi. In a quandary as how to book a couple flights. Would like to go DFW-JNB-DFW July 10th-26th. Will be purchasing business class on either AA or BA, with AA just a few more $s. Being an ExPlat with AA and Emerald on BA I'm trying to figure out which airline to purchase 2 tickets through that will make it the easiest to upgrade to first class. DFW-LHR it's the AA 777W and LHR-JNB the BA A380. I've plenty of AA miles, systemwide upgrades, and enough Avios. The Admirals Club angels at LHR have converted my BA ticket number on previous returns to an AA ticket so I could upgrade with miles and cash, but some of them aren't as willing to go through the steps to do this. Suggestions? Thank you!
I would book it through BA but get on the AA metal DFW-LHR flight, then upgrade the LHR-JNB flight with avios.
These days there's hardly any difference in the AA soft product between F & J, if you luck out and an AC agent can pull off an upgrade to F then great, if not no biggie as you're still in 77W J which is about as good.
I haven't been following how BA is coming along with their business cabin updates, but there's a huge difference between their awful old business class and F, so that is what I'd prioritize by booking through BA.