Cap'n Benj

Op Ups are one of the big advantages of WTP, whilst obviously not guaranteed, I reckon I have a circa 20-30% or so op up ratio, as a blue/ silver. Over the holiday period this number probably jumps up closer to 50%.

(above numbers are to US east coast and one trip to DXB)

dc2447

Cap'n Benj do you use OLCI or check in at airport to achieve those great numbers?

Cap'n Benj

I always try to OLCI ASAP. The actual op-ups themselves have variously occurred at OLCI, the bag drop and the lounge. Don't think I've ever had a WT+-CW opup at the gate.

dc2447

Thanks, appreciate your candor, very helpful

windowontheAside

I wish I had your luck! I reckon my ratio is about 10% from W to J and that's as a GCH.

I have been opupped at the gate though. The magic beep

creampuff

Regardless of how much you value Ł1250 against your income, Ł1250 is a LOT of cash in relation to a basic economy class ticket. Someone may be able to afford it but decide not to on the basis of poor value for money.

stormguy

What WTP is worth to an individual depends on many factors, so different people will have different views.

When I travelled less than I do now, maybe 2 or 3 LH and 10 SH trips per year I thought that WTP for a LH flight was overpriced and would happily fly in Y.

Now I fly LH up to 20 times a year and I would not want to do that in Y. I few LH trips here and there in Y are fine but when your doing it every other week it becomes a real drag and does have an impact on productivity. I can sleep better (I wouldn't say well) and am generally less stressed and tired after a flight in WTP than WT. That adds up over the year and now I will do anything I can to avoid LH in WT, even declining work if the customer won't pay for WTP or I can't add the cost difference to the bill elsewhere. I do think that sometimes the premium for WTP is a bit out of proportion to the product, but it still comes in cheaper than club which many of my clients just won't pay for.

drspear

Interesting point, I called BA about the potential to uua in the 24 hours before the flight and they told me the flight was full so no upgrades were for sale but he only just stop short of basically telling me that I would be upgrade he cited the golds as being first for upgrades, in their pecking order, and that individual airports you are flying from take control of flights 3 or 4 hours before it departs and they have complete autonomy for upgrade calculations.

so to hear of upgrades at olci stage 24 hours before kind of flies in the face of that logic, not sure if it can be defined I seem to recall a thread tracking experiences but cant find it

flibbly

I got one half way down the walkway to the plane a few weeks ago! Heard my name shouted, was asked to go back to the gate and given a new BP.

It was from one of the seats diagonally behind the "throne" on a Hi-J 747 to a middle CW seat though, so not really much of a bonus

paulwuk

Occasionally Ba will select you for an upgrade at olci, sometimes days before.

This year I'm running about 50% WTP upgrades, About half at check in, half at the gate. Once at lounge entry.

That's on flex tickets, Which are about 30% more than flex wt. for that you get twice the space. Bargin.

drspear

mine were first one at lounge entry at B gate lounge, although I set off from ABZ more than 5 hours before the main LHR so that would tie in with this 3-4 hour thing. But I had also entered flounge about 3 hours before the flight and nothing when I checked in there, must have been a late one.

second was a check in of luggage, about 2.5 hours before departure at ACC

its my first pe, so I am at 100% I guess for hit rate and it was totally unexpected I must say.

paulwuk

Trouble is you start to expect it after a lucky streak. I was bumped up lhr-sin and sin-syd last month.

Flight was busy on the way back so I half expected a least one sector. No such luck

Globaliser

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...es-thread.html

If invol upgrades are done at a very early stage (including those that happen days before the flight), that's clearly not being done by the airport but centrally. But it can't be surprising, given how different the selling configuration for some flights can be from the physical configuration of the aircraft.

We've had the full range of possibilities, from days before the flight to beeps at the gate. I understand what paulwuk means: although admittedly I have been flying rather less in the last couple of years (Bronze level, basically), I actually can't remember when I last flew in the WT+ cabin. I've been very spoiled by the airline.

ellienyc

I have purchased BA Economy Plus for as little as about $100 additional one way, and as much as about $500 additional one way, but I would never pay GBP 1250 additional either one way or round trip. At that point I would seriously look into business class.