Upgrading LHR-DOH?
 

Long time reader, first time poster.

I booked a BA Holiday to Doha departing 27th Dec on BA0125. We're booked in Economy (O Class) as we didn't have a secure job at the time so we were uncertain if we would be able to afford Y+ or J. Now we do have secure jobs and we would much rather travel in a bit more comfort (at least on the way out as we'll be travelling a lot in the days before).

Looking at the same flights J is just £680ish on the way out. Is the upgrade cost , if I call BA likely to be the difference between what we paid and that fare? (I.e. no more than that?)

Would we be likely to get a better price if we just asked at check in?

Thanks for any help people can give.

Welcome to flyertalk citiflyerUK!

I have recently done a few upgrades that were part of BA holiday bookings and yes it can be done.

First of all with regards to doing it at check in (and I am sure others can verify) my experience is you can only pay to upgrade to the next class and even then its down to what's available so you take your chances and will only be able to get a WT+ seat if at all.

I called up recently to upgrade the outbound leg of my BA holiday booking from WT to WT+ and was given a price (about £700 each I think) that I wasn't happy with so didn't bother. A few days later however I called again and managed to get the upgrade for about £350 for both of us so its worth calling and seeing what they have (they were also able to upgrade me to CW but the price was too high for me). I did notice that the price difference was what was showing online when I did another holiday booking and there was no charge for a change, although some on here have been charged a change fee in addition.

If you have some avios its also worth upgrading to WT+ and then doing a UUA if there is availability as this will likely be a lot cheaper than outright J fare and that's what I did with the above booking. If you don't have the avios (and want CW) it may also be a lot cheaper to buy the points and still do the UUA rather than paying the fare difference.

No, it is more complex than simply taking the fare difference. You will also need to pay a change fee. Calling BA is your best bet.

At the airport they may offer discount upgrades, but this is not guaranteed, and it may be no cheaper than what can be offered over the phone in advance.

If you have sufficient avios, you could look to upgrade to WT+ and then hope for CW award availability to upgrade to with avios.

Thanks guys. I called and BA quoted £1600 for the outbound leg, for both travelers (so £800 each). Was ideally hoping for slightly less. WT+ is even more expensive as there are only fully-flex fares remaining and as far as I know you can't upgrade an O class economy fare.

Oh well. We've got BA001 to look forward to next year so maybe I'll just have to wait for some luxury. :) Once again thanks for the swift replies.

Welcome to FT citiflyerUK. ^

You can upgrade an O class fare for the change fee (GBP 100 each) plus the difference in fare.

GBP 800 per person each way seems in line with current fares plus a GBP 100 change fee.

The flight to DOH is quite long due to the stopover in BAH. As you are both in secure jobs I would certainly take that upgrade! :)