Aug 16, 2013, 8:51 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

An “official POUG” is defined (for the purposes of this wiki) as the rate that appears in red on the MMB/BA app. It is NOT the rate offered at the airport (please see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ng-thread.html), or the rate offered when you click on the “Upgrade my class of travel with money” link from within MMB, or the “Upgrade to the next available cabin” blue/grey banner in the app.

All POUGs earn full TPs and Avios for the upgraded cabin, subject to the original booking being paid for with cash.
POUGs *ARE* offered on Hand-Baggage Only fares, if available
POUGs only become available after 48 hours of making your booking, until any time up to, and including OLCI. After being checked in you will not be offered a POUG.
POUGs do not seem to become available for travel agent bookings, until 2-3 days before departure (YMMV)
POUGs cannot be requested from Service Centres, except that occasionally BA.com will not proceed with a POUG online and display a message inviting you to call the Service Centre to complete the transaction.
After a POUG has been purchased, the ticket become non changeable and non refundable, apart from government taxes.

Please add to this list as required, and include the month/year when the POUG is offered to you.

LON to Europe from ET to CE (typically £59-£69 for Band 1, £69-£79 for Band 2, £79-£89 for Band 3 and £89-£99 for Band 4):

ACE - £105
AGP – £79 (£99/€119 Dec 2014)
AMS - £69 / £56 (£99 from HBO in Nov 2014)
ATH - £99 (£109 from HBO in Oct 2014)
ARN – £72
BCN – £79 (£89 for Silver/Bronze and £114 for HBO Blue Dec 2014 - same fight, two bookings) // Blue Feb 2015 - LGW - BCN - £89 / BCN to LHR £115)
BGO – £64 (£79 for HBO in SEP2014)
BRI - £119 / €144 (Dec 2014)
BRU - £69
BSL - CHF 85 for BSL-LHR (£55 at then exchange rate) (CHF120 in Dec 2014)
BUD - £79 (£89 and £105 Dec 2014)
CDG - £69 (£75 Dec 2014; CDG-LHR €115 Dec 2014)
CMF - £69 (Dec 2014)
CPH - £79 (£129 from HBO Nov 2014)
CTA - £119/€144 (both Dec 2014)
DBV – £79
DUB – £69/£56 (£99 from HBO Nov 2014, £80 Dec 2014)
DUS – £69
FCO - £170 (Dec 14)
FRA – £69
GIB - £72 (£140 Dec 14)
GOT – £79
GVA - £79/£89
HAJ – £69
HAM – £69
HEL – £89
INN – £89 out / €109 back (Dec 14)
IST – £89
JER – £69
KBP - £80 / USD 129 (BA is not currently accepting Ukrainian currency)
LCA – £89 (£190 Dec 2014 from LCA; separately £134 to LCA Dec 2014)
LIN – £79
LIS – £79 (£119 offered Nov 14, £99 and £145 Dec 14)
LUX - £69
MAD - £79
MAH - £69
MUC - £79
MXP - £119 (€89 MXP - LHR)
NCE - £140 (each way, 21/DEC/14)
ORY - £69
OSL - £79 (£64/640 NOK reported)
OTP - £79/€89
PMI - £69 (Dec 2014)
PRG – £79
PSA - £79
SZG - £114 (Nov 2015)
SOF - £89
STR – £69
TIA – £89 (£99 offered Dec 14 for TIA-LGW) (€119 TIA-LGW Dec 2014)
TRN – £79
TXL – £69
VCE – £79
VIE – £79 [£129 as of Nov14! GBP99 LHR-VIE + GBP99 VIE-LHR Nov14]
VRN- €139 (~£110) Nov 2014 - £89 / €109 Dec 2014
WAW – £69 (£110 Dec 14)
ZAG – £79
ZRH – £79 (£87 (CHF135) for ZRH-LHR): LCY-ZRH + v.v. £69 (offered 11/14)

LON to North America (price shown from lower cabin to mentioned cabin, e.g. WTP means price to POUG from WT to WTP):

ATL - WTP £189
BOS – WTP £189 (mid-2014) £219 (December 2014)
IAD - WTP £157
JFK/EWR – WTP £189 (can be as low as £133) / CW £443 / F £527 (F £599 02/08)
LAS - WTP £180
LAX – WTP £229 / CW £599 (CW £548 Jan 2015)
MCO– WTP £180
MEX – F £447/£525 / £229 WT-WTP (November 28 2015)/ 4640 MXN WT-WTP (December 14 2015)
MIA – WTP £209 / CW £525
ORD – WTP £171 / CW £525 / F £499
PHL – WTP £189
SAN – CW £599
SEA – WTP £199
SFO – WTP £170
YYZ – WTP £171 (return leg) / CW £425 / F £499
YYC - WTP £134
YVR – WTP £175 / CW £350

LON to South America (price shown from lower cabin to mentioned cabin, e.g. WTP means price to POUG from WT to WTP):

EZE – WTP £199
GRU – WTP £209 / F £499 / WT to CW £699
GIG - WT to CW £699

LON to Asia (price shown from lower cabin to mentioned cabin, e.g. WTP means price to POUG from WT to WTP):

BKK - WTP £126-£140 / CW £549 / F £
BOM - WTP £ / CW £450 / F £
DEL - F £499, subsequently reduced to £400
HKG – WTP £199 (offered £172 for a Nov 2014 flight) / CW £599 / F £599
NRT - WTP £199 / CW £ / F £525
ICN - CW £499
SIN - WTP SGD$320

LON to Australia and Oceania (price shown from lower cabin to mentioned cabin, e.g. WTP means price to POUG from WT to WTP):

SYD – WTP £170 / CW £399

LON to Africa & Middle East (price shown from lower cabin to mentioned cabin, e.g. WTP means price to POUG from WT to WTP):

AUH – F £499
CAI - WTP £121
DXB – WTP £179 / F £499
EBB - WTP £142
JNB - WTP £209
NBO - WTP £189

Non-LON routes (price shown from lower cabin to mentioned cabin, e.g. WTP means price to POUG from WT to WTP):

SYD-SIN – F £465
AMS-LGW - CE €79
BCN-LHR - CE £64
BRU-LHR - CE £105 (12.2014)
CDG-LHR - CE €79
DUB-LHR - CE €109 (£85.70-ish) from HBO booked 05.12.14, offered 08.12.14
BOM-LHR - F cINR40,000 (c£395)
JNB-LHR WTP - £189
TLV-LHR - F $600 (c£370)

Pro-active Upgrade cost tracking and questions thread

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Jan 1, 2015, 2:57 am

#3751

Oaxaca

Join Date: Dec 2014

Location: UK

Programs: BA, U2+, SK, AF/KL, IHG, Hilton, others gathering dust...

Posts: 2,552

Just been offered TXL-LHR for £120 in early March. No offer on the outbound yet. Using the c-w-s method:

Quote:

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

So using the new CWS POUG Estimation Method (Saturday Night CE return - cheapest HBO divided by 2).

that should be £100-120 depending on how I'm supposed to measure the cheapest HBO (with/without Sat stay, same or different outbound date to my booked flight). With the same date as my outbound it should be £100, if I compare to outbound a day later, it would be very close to £120.

I'd realistically only be doing it for TP (it's A321, is that "enhanced" CE?), and £4 per point feels like a lot compared to the £69 POUGs I've been offered regularly recently to/from LCY. Methinks it may be better to put that money towards a more productive TP run...

Jan 1, 2015, 5:30 am

#3752

Genius1

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: London, UK

Programs: BA Gold, SQ Gold, KQ Platinum, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver, Accor Silver

Posts: 16,348

Quote:

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

It's not my experience, and I would say I have a fairly hefty slate of flights here. Of my next 30 ET flights coming up, I have POUG offers on 25 of them. Of the 5 without POUG one is soon (but FDH so that may be a special case), the other 4 are the last ones, in March, so some way to go. I seem to have quite a few POUGs thereafter too.

Have you historically (or do you currently) actually POUG these sectors though?

Jan 1, 2015, 5:55 am

#3753

corporate-wage-slave

Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club

Join Date: Feb 2010

Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer

Posts: 63,804

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genius1

Have you historically (or do you currently) actually POUG these sectors though?

Both, if the price is right and respecting the "Hamburg rule" (anything shorter than that isn't worth the hassle of changing, unless there is some other factor involved). I have never done a POUG - or been in a position to do it - for long haul, however.

Two of the March flights have now been offered for POUG as of today, for what it is worth.

Last edited by corporate-wage-slave; Jan 1, 2015 at 6:12 am

Jan 1, 2015, 6:10 am

#3754

corporate-wage-slave

Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club

Join Date: Feb 2010

Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer

Posts: 63,804

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oaxaca

I reckon it's still £120. Viz.: Cheapest CE £321 minus Cheapest HBO £91 = £230, divide by 2 is £115 . I think that's a flat rate given the current cheapest ticket overall within a price period (monthly?), so not necessarily specific to your dates. So if you got a POUG for the outbound I think it would be £115, £119 or £120. If my logic is right it would have been fractionally cheaper to buy 2 singles since the differential is €120

Jan 1, 2015, 6:41 am

#3755

Dicksbits

Join Date: Jul 2014

Location: Buckinghamshire

Programs: BAEC Gold Guest List, Hilton Honours Diamond, Accor Gold

Posts: 2,303

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genius1

Hard to say. A POUG may be offered at any time up to and including OLCI, but it's all subject to availability and if you are a serial POUGer, then you may not be offered one at all.

Is this definitely true? I thought I'd read it only applied too people who regularly paid to upgrade at the airport. Seems silly to me if it is true. They have seats to fill, and occasionally they offer a POUG which is higher than the difference between the Y fare you've paid and the biz fare.

Jan 1, 2015, 8:06 am

#3756

Oaxaca

Join Date: Dec 2014

Location: UK

Programs: BA, U2+, SK, AF/KL, IHG, Hilton, others gathering dust...

Posts: 2,552

Quote:

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

Thanks, am sure you're right, just wasn't sure how you were calculating the HBO fare. I paid about £125 rtn for the ET ticket, but £91 is available around the period. It's a handy calculator, still think I'll probably pass on this if they keep offering £69 from LCY.

Jan 1, 2015, 1:56 pm

#3757

brentford77

Join Date: May 2006

Location: UK London / Salisbury

Programs: BA GGL, CCR, LTG

Posts: 542

I am a fairly regular user of these from Euro Traveller to CE. I often do Helsinki which is normally Euro 99. Today I was offered €155 for HEL-LHR in a weeks time. I have had several recent offers that were much higher than I previously received. Beginning to wonder if they are running some program to see how far they can push users like me. Not griping if they are: it's a commercial business after all. Does it halp does anyone think if bookings are made without the Exec # added in initially or are they just raising the prices all round? The prices I get now are typically above my inflection point and frankly, if it gets to the point where I struggle to maintain my BA status, I'd probably start doing a lot more Norwegian, Easyjet, etc.

Jan 1, 2015, 2:03 pm

#3758

corporate-wage-slave

Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club

Join Date: Feb 2010

Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer

Posts: 63,804

Quote:

Originally Posted by brentford77

I often do Helsinki which is normally Euro 99. Today I was offered €155 for HEL-LHR in a weeks time.

See my earlier comments about this, but:

Cheapest CE return = €445
Cheapest HBO return = €142

(€445-€142)/2= €151 - or €155 rounded up. In which case, I rather doubt that adding or not adding your BAEC number would make any difference.

Jan 3, 2015, 4:48 am

#3759

Prospero

Moderator: British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges and Environmentally Friendly Travel

Join Date: Jan 2003

Location: London, UK

Posts: 22,212

Apologies for breaking this thread mid discussion. As it is our practice to reduce the risk of database corruption, we are in the process of re-booting all mega threads. We hope this also makes these very large and often unwieldy threads a little easier to follow.

Please continue discussion, here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...15-thread.html and do feel free to re-post in the new thread any questions you've not yet received answers to.

Prospero
Moderator: BA forum

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