Pro-active Upgrade cost tracking and questions thread
 

I wonder if it might be worth trying to compile a list of MMB upgrade prices as it might be helpful for anyone looking for TPs who is prepared to buy a cheap economy return and gamble on an MMB upgrade being available.

My contribution to the list is that on MMB recently I have seen:
LGW-MRS: £80 (£160 for a return)
LGW-BLQ: £80 (£160 for a return)
LGW-NAP: £100 (£200 for a return)
LHR-HAM: £100 (£200 for a return)
LHR-OSL: £125 (£250 for a return)
LHR-ARN: £125 (£250 for a return)

LHR-HKG (WT to WT+) - £135/one-way
LHR-DUS and DUS-LHR (ET to CE) - £100/each-way

LHR to AGP in December is showing as £150 each way.

As a Silver there's not much value in that offer as I get lounge access anyway and I'm not that desperate for the TPs and on that route I have a fairly good OpUp record.

This week a WT -> WTP from LHR to BOS was £115.

A couple I have seen recently for ET->CE.
A couple of months back:
LGW-VCE £80ow (alternatively only €80ow if the booking is ex-Italy)
LHR-IST £150ow
A couple of days ago:
LGW-FAO £100ow

I've split these posts out as I think the subject merits a seperate thread.

Swanhunter
Moderator, BAEC

A couple of weeks ago:
LHR-NRT: £399 (WT+ -> J)
NRT-LHR: £399 (WT+ -> J)

LHR-VIE: £125 (Y -> J)
VIE-LHR: £125 (Y -> J)

Recently I've seen:

LHR-BSL: £100 each way (Y to J)
LHR-NBO: £94 each way (Y to WT+)
LHR-VIE: £125 each way (Y to J)
LHR-CDG: £100 each way (Y to J)
LHR-AMS: £100 each way (Y to J)

LHR-FRA - £100 will get you some Champagne.

LHR-VIE: £125 each way (Y to J)

Several months back had ~£70 HEL-LHR which I used.... was on codeshare too I think

LHR-HEL and HEL-LHR both GBP 150 about two weeks out (outbound wide open, return J5 C5 D3 R1 I1 Y5 B4 H1 K0 M0 L0 V0 N0 Q0 O0 S0 G0).

LHR-ARN and ARN-LHR both GBP 125 about four weeks out (both wide open).

LHR-GVA this week saw the Other Half offered an upgrade for £100 each way.

Are these inclusive of exclusive of additional APD ?

Whenever I've used these in the past, they have been inclusive.

LHR - DEN £135 Y to WT+ (4 days out, steadly rose from £300 at time of booking to £1000 5 days out)

.....

On the CE fares, is everyone sure that these are bargains? Unless the starting Y fare is next to nothing (or at least less than £50), some of the upgrades quoted sound no more than the CE R fare. For instance LHR-DUS is only about £150 each way in CE, so is £100 extra each way for CE upgrade that good?

LHR -LAX 300pounds WT+ to J
LAX -LHR 350 pounds WT+ to J

yhis was about a month ago

LHR-JFK: £513.09 WT to WT+;
JFK-LHR: £326.40 WT to WT+.

'Save' :eek: £90.00 by upgrading both flights for a total cost of £749.49.
(future booking)

This correct unless your employer has a Y or W only policy for travel. The hit for the PAX will then only be the upgrade costs, which makes it ok to good value.

As always YMMV.

GBP399 J to F, HKG - LHR Autumn last year

For upgrades from ET to CE, I think the upgrade amount will usually bring your total payment to more than if you had booked CE in the first place. For example, LGW - AMS, the upgrade amount is £60, but the difference between ET and CE can be only £50 at the time of booking.

LHR-OSL 125 GBP

Seems that a zone two CE upgrade is about 125 GBP if LHR-VIE is 125 GBP. Only worth it for the TP

Am I correct in thinking upgrades at the airport do not earn the higher rate of tier points?

It would be good to know which of the rates quoted on this thread actually earn the related tier points.

Do TA Bookings get offered these?

Not until BA take over the ticket T-24.

£100 to upgrade from BRU-LHR and similiar, IIRC, for DUS-LHR from Y to J.

IST-LHR was more last year, but I am not sure - £150?

In December last year, I paid £125 for the upgrade to CE for LIN-LHR.

.....

Thanks, that is very good to know. A bit of an urban myth going on there then, I'm sure I have read that in some other threads.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but given that BA miles can be purchased in increments of 1,000 (up to 19,000 per annum?) for GBP16 per 1,000 plus a GBP15 handling fee; i.e. 1,000 miles = GBP31 / 19,000 miles = GBP319, does anyone have any recent experience of good 'MFU with miles vs cash upgrade' scenarios?

Despite spending BA miles on a regular basis I've currently got circa 500k miles in our HHA, and having never actually purchased BA miles previously I sometimes suspect that purchasing miles might nonetheless be a good investment.

Like HIDDY also got offered £100 o/w LHRFRA ET>CE for a flight next month.

Based on what's been posted to far s/h is obviously done in bands. Anyone know what they are? So far we've got £100 for short hops and £125 for slightly longer ones. Longest? £150?

LHR - DXB (25/6/10) - LHR (4/7/10) in WT booked 03/08/09

Offered upgrades to WT+
12/09 out £84 rtn £240ish
01/10 out £89 rtn £240ish
06/10 out £125 rtn £850ish
OLCI out £125
OLCI rtn £125

£150 is indeed what I have seen for LHR/IST.

.....

Is it as simple as Band 1 = £60, Band 2 = £80 and Band 3 = £100?

Phil, if I understand your post, you are questioning how often it is better to buy miles and MFU, rather than paying cash?
Two issues spring to mind, firstly availability for MFU (and having the correct fare bucket to upgrade from) and secondly you earn more miles and TP's by paying cash to upgrade.

LHR-SFO one way WT to WT+ £135, but not book-able online and call centre refuse to deal with it.

Hotline fare, so no great shakes if I could not do anything in terms of upgrade. Fare paid to SFO, £268 return. Bargain.

anyone know if BA offer the same type of upgrades from CW to F?
Got a LIS-LHR-LAX flight coming up next month, and interested to know if its likely to offer an upgrade price on the LHR-LAX segment?? Booked as a Travel Agent ticket so nothing showing on MMB at the moment

See post 21 ;)

last week JFK-LHR US$649 J to F one way

for the return they were looking for US$8000 :eek: