Originally Posted by
wtphock
Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but can you pay with cash or miles to get a confirmed upgrade from economy to business on a BA flight booked through AA? Context is - I have some upcoming work travel but can only book economy through our travel portal. Flying BER to LHR to LAX, and I want to book whichever way will give me the best chance to upgrade the LHR to LAX route. The best itinerary I can see is all on BA, but I can book through either BA or AA. Would be happy to use cash or miles for either, but I'm not sure how likely it is that AA will have an offer to get a confirmed upgrade in advance.
If you book through BA, then any upgrades would be with avios and subject to whatever availability and T&C's BA has.
If you book through AA, you can upgrade with AA miles on BA metal flights with 2 major caveats:
1) Upgrades are only one class at a time, i.e. from economy > premium economy. So to upgrade to business you need to buy premium economy.
2) These upgrades require full fares, which are typically very expensive. You can usually just buy discount business cheaper than a full fare premium economy.
There's a reason these upgrades are discussed so little here, they're all but useless in most cases due to #1 and #2 above. Details:
AA.com - Upgrade With Miles