candacegar

I am having the same problem. I want to use my 2-4-1 voucher and miles in First from SFO to LON in September and there is nothing. I check every day. I need a three week span too as my trip is that long.

nobbyclark

Suspect that will open up very soon as July/August dates were made available in the past couple of weeks.

pancakex

<deleting out of date information>

nmenaker

I THINK the consensus was the inventory popped up around 00:15 GMT, and that it isn't dependent on a human, it's a system release.

handspring088

Hi!

I have collected a fair number of Avios with my travel on British Airways. However, I am slowly becoming convinced that my idea of an award ticket and BA's is completely different.

I have tried for over a year to upgrade my bookings from WT+ to CW, and there is never a price point that beats just buying CW outright. My latest attempt at a booking NYC-LHR-BLR-LHR-NYC resulted in an Avios "upgrade" of 90,000 Avios +$5962, compared to a straight on CW booking of $5,342.

I thought that the idea of a reward ticket was just that- a reward for loyalty. This seems to me to be bait and switch. "Fly with us and we will reward you- with a ticket that will approximate (or increase ) the charge that we make to non-loyal customers."

Just doesn't seem worthwhile to collect AhhVeeOOS anymore.

DWFI

What is the cost of booking a straight WT+ trip on the same dates? If the WT+ price is different by more than about ~$400 than the Avios upgrade price to CW then something is wrong with the website.

i.e. if WT+ is $2300 and the upgrade price is $5900, there is something seriously wrong. Only time the upgrade price should be that high is if WT+ was about $5400-$5600 outright.

dunk

As all WT+ booking classes are upgradeable, I can't see an Avios upgrade scenario that would require that amount of cash. Yes, the fuel surcharge carrier charges would be higher, and possibly taxes, but not $6K

Care to give us more detail ?

handspring088

The WT+ ticket for that itinerary was $2496.10.

My point is that trying to upgrade that ticket results in the same price (actualy more) than if I book CW without the Avios.

dunk

Still bizarre that the cash part of the upgrade would be c. $3.5K

Just to confirm ... you are talking about upgrading an existing WT+ ticket to CW using Avios + fees ? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l#post19160506

And not 'Avios & Money' where you top up insufficient Avios with cash when booking a full redemption ... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l#post19160501

At the moment, I'm with DWFI and call computer error

DWFI

You should be paying no more than $3000 plus the Avios in that case.
Can you post a screenshot?

flibbly

If you're trying to book and upgrade with Avios in the same single transaction, are you selecting the right class? If you want to fly CW, you would select WT+ (as the class to be upgraded from). If you select CW you are actually trying to book CW and upgrade to First.

Globaliser

I think you may be onto something here.

Upgrading the whole of a JFK-LHR-BLR-LHR-JFK itinerary from WT+ to CW would cost a total of 45,000 Avios + difference in TFC (which is about $484.00 using today's levels).

However, upgrading JFK-LHR-BLR-LHR-JFK from CW to F would cost a total of 90,000 Avios + difference in TFC (typically zero).

It would be unsurprising to find that the difference in fare between an already-bought WT+ ticket and a freshly-bought CW ticket (used as the basis for an Avios upgrade to F) is $6,000, particularly as the date of travel approaches.

I wonder whether handspring088 has had any better luck when phoning BA to try to do the upgrade, which would be the obvious thing to try if there is award availability but the website is throwing out apparently incorrect numbers.

nux

You are booking CW and upgrading to First, not WT+ to CW.

90,000 avios for that journey is the price to upgrade from CW to First. Upgrading from WT+ to CW is half that at 45,000 (10,000 for NYC-LHR each way, 12,500 each way LHR-BLR).

So the $5962 + 90,000 avios price you are seeing is made up of:
$5,342 price for a CW ticket, plus seemingly $620 + 90,000 avios to upgrade (additional fuel surcharge, carrier fees, taxes and charges).
The screen with the price would also show each segment being booked in First class.

Perhaps before you start throwing around terms like "bait and switch" you should get your facts straight.

handspring088

This does make sense- thanks. I will say, though, that I did do this through the EC site, and did select upgrade from WT+ to CW. I do not have the screen available any longer. But, with your information, I am hazarding a guess that there might not have been any more eligibility in the fare class requested and that it bumped me to CW on the initial fare.

Globaliser

In "Flight class" or "Class", you need to select "Premium economy" in order to price a WT+ to CW upgrade using Avios. That gives you a premium economy (WT+) underlying fare, together with the extra costs needed to upgrade to CW.

This is the same whether you use this page or this page.