I recently booked a round trip to JFK, ex-DUB (so, DUB-LHR-JFK-LHR-DUB).

I booked outbound WTP, returning CS, and mistakenly assumed this would earn 290 tier points (20+90+140+40). That, along with the positioning flights, both in CE (40+40), was supposed to set me up to reach Gold (before my TP collecting year ends on 7 May).

But it now appears the DUB-LHR first leg in Economy is probably bucket K, so only 10 tier points rather than 20. I will end up 10 points short of the 1500 I need for Gold 😥

I would happily pay to upgrade that leg to business (and earn 40 tier points), but I can’t see any way to do that via app or website. In fact, no cash upgrades seem to be offered now. They were offered briefly, just after I booked, but only if I upgraded the first TWO legs (DUB-LHR-JFK) to business (costing nearly EUR 1,000, which is far more than I want to pay).

If I call customer service, will they be able to upgrade the first leg only (and hopefully for a more reasonable price) and leave the second leg unaltered in WTP? Or are the first two legs “locked together” in some way that I didn’t expect?

And, really just for interest, is it ever possible to upgrade the fare bucket (e.g. from K to Y/B/H) retrospectively (purely to earn more tier points, but staying in the same cabin)?