No option to upgrade to first?
 

Just flew ORD to LHR on BA 296 in paid club world. Not that I intended to ( had 64A) but I still asked about the possibility of an upgrade to first at checkin using miles.

The guy at checkin told me only way to upgrade was to pay the fare difference between my ticket and first. He said they do not offer miles upgrades. This was about 20 mts before boarding started so chances of a walk up first purchase would be minimum.

I wasn't looking to upgrade so no loss but found it curious that they would not offer miles upgrades even when seats are available.

I don't believe BA has ever offered Miles upgrades that close to departure. The cut off point is 24 hours AFAIK...

My bad. Just checked another thread that gives this answer. Am used to the AA world where one can upgrade with miles at checkin.

This is to preserve the value of the premium cabins, the idea being that if you can ALWAYS upgrade yourself on a space available basis on the day of flying, many of those with status (i.e. those high on any wait list or preference order) might decide to chance booking the lower cabin then upgrading on the day.

So with BA you can't upgrade with miles on the day at the airport - I'm not sure what the cut off is though - but before, even with seats available, these may not be released for mileage receptions. You just simply have to call and see what the score is, definitely before you check in. Sadly BA don't even offer a wait list, so you have to keep checking.

The cash upgrade option option and cost values too. On many occasions its simply the difference between the cost of your ticket and the cost of a fully flex ticket in the next cabin - i.e. A lot! But this does depend on route and cabin, and is occasionally offered on a fixed cost. SO its always worth asking if your route has been selected that day. Y to W upgrades are much more freely avaialble on the day on this basis. Around £250. W to J is up to £500 as is J to F. But these can be less too.

So despite BA not running in a 'full cabin' basis for the premium cabins (i.e. upgrade after check-in close till each cabin is full) - they have been playing around with upgrade opportunities - you just have to be on the right route at the right time.

You cannot do anything with miles at the airport. Miles transactions are only possible online or via the call centre.

I read some where in the this forum that many people got cash upgrade offer from CW to F class when they were doing OLCI.

Is that option available to all BA flights or just some selected flights ? If it is so any idea how much this kind of upgrade cost for flights from the middle east to LHR.

What if I do OLCI and don't get that offer, can I still call BAEC and asked them for AVIOS points upgrade after issuing my BP ? Will they accept to do that or they will decline since the flight will depart in less than 24 hours ?

It is possible to upgrade with miles until check-in closes, I think, but only through a BAEC office. I remember upgrading a flight just before heading out to the airport a year ago.

You can only do an Avios upgrade if there is award availability showing for your flight on ba.com.

The cash upgrade at OLCI is not always available, but there will sometimes be a cheap(ish) option to upgrade with cash at check in; CW-F at about £400 LHR-DXB is one that springs to mind. Sometimes there will be a notice at the desk, but if not it's worth asking.

Edit: I've never seen a notice at LHR, but have at the remote/return location.

OLCI upgrades are a pure lottery, but in my experience not very often at all.

more often, but still completely un predictable is looking on line at MMB, which occasionally has offers to upgrade

after you have your BP, i think the only place will be the airport for changes

Doesn't work that way unfortunately.

Certain number of seats are offered for redemptions and once they're gone they're gone, regardless of whether there are available seats or not.

They offer redemptions and miles upgrades within the 24 hours, done it a number of times.

Based on peoples experiences, what is the earliest point at which the "special offer" upgrades for cash (think these re called "POUG"??) tend to become available in MMB? I have a CW flight to JFK in June and was contemplating upgrading to F for the outbound daytime flight if such an offer became available but don't want to miss out. For European flights the £69/79 upgrade to CE offer is widely available however for longhaul I assume they want to try and sell as much of the F cabin at full price until the last minute given the substantial price premium

That's easy. As soon as you've made your booking, look in MMB. There may be an offer to upgrade (similar to the ones you've ignored during the booking process) as soon as your booking has been confirmed.

After completing my booking I looked at MMB and I found an upgrade option with money but it was not attractive (GBP 780) for such 6.30 hours short flight from RUH to LHR :td:

What I see from previous posts, I was expecting an option to upgrade for GBP 300 to 500

In my experience POUG (special offer upgrades) from J to F are very rare indeed.