Upgrading with Avios
 

I understand that I can upgrade from Y to J for approx 45k Avios on peak dates to and from the US. Am I correct in saying I can book the lowest fare and then email EI to process the upgrade? I previously attempted to contact EI to ask about the upgrade availability and they would not confirm I could upgrade until I had made the booking and had the Avios points in my account.
I am a bit hesitant to transfer the points from my credit card to Avios when the upgrades may not even be available for my selected dates which are not flexible. Should I be hesitant or will the upgrade request go through, once I have the required points in my account? Myself and partner will be traveling together under the same booking. Thanks for any replies.

If you don't mind having points potentially stranded in Avios then I'd go ahead.

What you've described is accurate, you can check availability on avios.com, it'll generally clear if there's seats available to buy there otherwise it's a case of luck in terms of availability opening up for the flights you want.

Thanks for the reply. On the outbound the entire J cabin is available - no seats sold yet. On the return there are a handful seats already booked. I guess the risk is if the upgrade doesnt clear ill be stuck with the Y seat that I have booked, and if i have booked the cheapest fare bucket, ill have to factor in adding baggage and choose seat options. Neither of the flights have any reward availability in J, per Avios and Ba website.

So Expertflyer or the EI seatmap aren't going to give you an accurate read of what the upgrade inventory may or may not be, so I wouldn't rely on it. (Caveat: EF will show Avios award seats in the U bucket, which you've said there are none).

Why not use your Avios to redeem directly into J?

"Upgrading using Avios" is not a good strategy if your requirement is to actually travel in J. It's just there so that, if you happen to be stuck with a Y ticket, you can "try your luck". It's a lottery, a gamble - there never is a guarantee that you can secure an upgrade - particularly when you have to commit to a Y ticket to even enter the lottery.

If there is no J availability for such an outright redemption, I think you can take it as 99% certain that there will be no upgrade space and any request for an Avios upgrade will be rejected.

Isn't J availability for redemptions verrry limited/non-existent on EI?

Theres no availability.

Good points irishguy28. The ultimate goal is to travel in J and since there is no award availability to use Avios, (and being relatively new to Aerclub), I wasnt sure if it was straighforward to upgrade to J from Y using points, or if there is only a set number of seats allocated where you can do this.

Can confirm it's possible for avios upgrades to J to clear even if there is no U availability, but as others have already advised it's by no means a guarantee and be prepared to fly Y. Presumably, the emptier the business cabin - the higher chance revenue management could consider reallocating a cash fare to U, but the reality is many more factors come into play. Would recommend you also consult the 'Avios Upgrade Eligibility' thread on the first page, where I've gone into detail around my recent experience with avios upgrades.
Just as a note, if your avios upgrade does clear, be prepared to:
- no longer be able to access/manage your booking online (best ring them to ask for a particular seat, e.g. throne, asap)
- avios upgrades are non-transferable and non-refundable, regardless of the original fare conditions of your Y ticket. If your plans change, you lose the points and the upgrade does not carry across.
- TCs are earned according to your original Y ticket cash fare class.
- award or upgraded J tickets (be it avios or voucher) are not eligible for a companion ticket in J for example.

I recently upgraded our cash economy boarding with Avios. Like others have said, they would not tell me if there was any Avios upgrade availability beforehand, so I took the risk and transferred Chase miles to Aer Lingus Avios. Once I did and made the upgrade request for my wife and I, it was approved within 4 hours. I did this 3 weeks before the flight and there were 12 open business class seats. Expert Flyer showed no upgrade seats available, so I wouldn’t count on that before doing it.

I paid for a transatlantic econ ticket on AerLingus (fare class L) and then upgraded with Avios to business (now fare class U) during the Amex transfer bonus. Could I earn Alaska miles on the paid econ part or does the new U fare code box that out? Alaska's site doesn't show any mileage accumulation with a U code but does show 75% base miles with an L code. Or is there another way to get some value for the paid ticket portion on another program?

Can't speak for Alaska Mileage Plan specifically, but under AerClub both TCs and Avios are accrued as per the original cash fare booking - i.e. it doesn't get voided because you've upgraded to a reward U fare. Don't see a reason why this wouldn't be the case when crediting to other eligible partner programmes.

It should be the same as what happens at BA - you upgrade economy L class with Avios, it becomes U, but the system awards you L mileage.

The reason for that is the underlying fare basis code is not changed, just the travel class code (in simple terms).

Must one pay with cash for the economy fare in order to upgrade to business class with avios? I have secured economy seats, contacted customer service, and they said they could not upgrade to business class as I had used Avios for the economy fare. Did not see anywhere in their literature that such was the case so checking here to see if that is a rule of theirs. Thanks.

No path to upgrade Y to J where Y is a reward seat

There is a path to upgrade revenue Y to J via Avios