Can a BA holiday flight be upgraded using avios I ask because it's not available using MMB
Thanks in advance
John

Yes it can although you may need to phone up and obviously there has to be reward availability. You can't upgrade using Avios from most Euro/World Traveller fares.

Issues with Avios
 

I have been attempting to book a First Class rewards flight from SFO-FCO now for several months. I am open to different dates and have been playing with the site everyday to see if availability comes up. There has been zero availability for months now and I am truly starting to lose my faith in being an Avios member. I even did the Visa Signature card and spent well over the 30K in order to receive the "Travel Together Ticket", which I received via e-mail today. Is this a common problem? Should I dump the BA Visa and go with another airline? It's no good to me if I can't book reward flights in first. This is ridiculous. Please help. Thank you.

I just checked out the award calender on ba.com for SFO-LHR and found quite a few open dates. LHR-FCO should be easy to tack on once you settle on your transpac segments.

Look for SFO-LHR return dates that are available in CW and First.
Then look for LHR-FCO return dates in Club Europe and WT (there is no first).

If you don't find any dates that match up, either book a stopover, cash fare, or find another destination.

You can book mixed class over the phone and can change if a different class becomes available (ie book SFO-LHR in First, LHR-FCO in economy, FCO-LHR-SFO in Club).

Does this mean that if there are two members of the household account and one has a 0 balance, everything will be taken only from one of the two Avios accounts?

Yes. They won't allow any accounts to go negative.

Upgrade and Avios booking with cash.
 

If I have an Avios booking in WT+ is it possible to upgrade this to CW with cash?

(I'm sure the answer is somewhere in these pages but I'm short on time and would appreciate any help)

You may be offered a POUG in MMB or at OLCI, or may be offered a cash upgrade at the airport.

None of the above mean you will earn avios/TP's however.

I'm not bothered about the TPs avios at this point. Is it permissible to go to the airport and upgrade with cash from an avios booked WT+ ticket to CW. (Naturally if there are CW seats available)

As noted above you can do a cash POUG or airport upgrade promotion with an avios redemption if you are offered one.
If you want to upgrade with cash at the airport all you can do is ask if there are airport upgrade promotion seats available. Whether or not you will be able to, will depend upon whether there are any aircraft upgrade promotion seats available.

Avios booking to LHR from SFO
 

Hello again and thank you for the previous responses/help, we greatly appreciate it. So, again we had issues between booking online and over the phone. BA has different availabilities over the phone Vs. online. Long story short is my wife and I want to travel to LHR from SFO anytime between 11/21/2014 and 12/03/2014 in First Class using a combo of Avios and a "Travel Together Pass" that we have from our Chase Visa. I have booked and purchased (but have 24hrs to cancel) the only thing we could find which was departing on 11/25/2014 and returning 12/03/2014. The only issue is the return leg. The leg there is SFO-LHR First Class (Flight # 284). The leg back is LHR-ORD (Flight# 297) and then we are on our own to get back to SFO. Should I cancel this reservation and wait for something to become available in first that will get us there and back without ending in ORD or am I lucky to have this leg and should I keep it? I am not real familiar with reward travel so that I would put it out there to the community and see what the verdict is. Again, we truly appreciate all of your help and opinions.

RE: Avios booking to LHR from SFO
 

By the way, we also don't mind flying out of and back into LAX if we have to. Thank you again!

Avios Transfer
 

Hello,
I am novice here and joined this community today. I wish I could have known about this site earlier.

I have 100,000 points in British Airways avios (in household account)

How to redeem / transfer the 100,000 British Airways avios AND 40,000 Chase points to United/Qatar/Emirates, so that I can either travel to India or Hawaii using only points?

I do not want to travel British Airways due to high fuel surcharge.

I am not sure as to how can I transfer my British Airways avios to other airlines?

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

You cannot transfer Avios to any other airline programme (except transfers between BA, Iberia, and Avios.com). You can, however, use Avios to book flights on Qatar Airways (but not United or Emirates).

Is anyone else having trouble seeing JL flights on BA's website? When I searched for ORD-ICN before, it used to show JL routes (ORD-NRT-ICN), but now it does not show anything... Is there any other non-software based method to search for award availability using partner miles (namely BA and AA)?

Try the Qantas website.. you will need to open an account, which is free and doesn't take much time.. and you can search for OW partners award space.. I always have trouble finding award space on AA..

Can I not search for one way awards on QF website? Do I have to do RT? Also, I can't seem to search for CX award on QF...

Better to book what you can now, as it can be changed later.
If you wait, your outbound SFO-LHR will likely disappear.

You can use BA avios to book any oneworld or BA partner award, you need to book through BA (either on the website or over the phone).

You can use the QF website to search for oneway awards. It will show any CX availability also.

Also search by segment, so if you are trying to find for example LHR-SIN on CX (via HKG) search for LHR-HKG and HKG-SIN individually.

Someone help me please.. I am trying to book AUS-SFO for 17th Jan night using my Avios. I can see the availability on AA but not on BA.. I called BA customer care, but even they can't see the availability for that particular flight, but AA is still showing it.. the tax difference is HUGE, otherwise I would have booked with AA..

Is there anyway to solve this issue and book it through BA Avios..???

Yes, phone. The AA availability is NOT for a direct flight. AA.com is showing one-stop routings e.g. AUS-DFW-SFO. Each segment is available via ba.com but only individually. If you phone they can link them together on the same PNR. You will probably have to pay the phone booking charge but could argue for them to waive it. You will pay in Avios on a per segment basis.

Mind you, you could go ahead and book each segment individually on the website and AA should protect you if irrops occur as per their usual policy.

Thanks man.. it din strike me to look for them individually.. it should have, but it din.. anyways, before I could check FT again for your response I just randomly called BA again and told them that the flight is available on AA so they should be able to pull it up, and voila-they did.. and they waived the online booking charge without even me have to ask for it.. so all in all - PARTY TIME..!!

Didn't find it upon my search, so my apologies if this has been asked before.

Let's say I've made an award booking in J, as there was no F availability. But as the departure date gets closer, I notice that BA has opened up award availability in F.

To switch from J to F, other than the additional Avios needed, does BA charge any change/cancellation fees to make the switch?

Standard change fee applies unless you are Gold card holder.

Interesting. Thanks for your help!

2014 Reboot
 

Please continue the discussion in the new digitally remastered http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...os-2014-a.html thread.

Thanks for your understanding

Prospero
Moderator: BA forum