KARFA

What exactly is it you are trying to do?

That's correct in the sense that you can't upgrade some of the passengers on a booking, you must upgrade all. So if you have two people but only a GUF1 the only option is to split the booking and upgrade one of them. If you had 2xGUF1s you could of course apply both to the unsplit booking and upgrade both passengers.

Again up to what the TA can and will do and what the underlying fare rules allow. When it gets sent back to BA for re-ticketing though and it now has non BA flights in it, there is a real possibility of BA rejecting it.

Correct, booking direct with BA can include non BA flights.

ermen

Can I just clarify something

If book via BA, they can GUF a ticket with with non-BA segments (NOT codeshare)?

A TA can only GUF a ticket with BA segments(operated or codeshare) but will likely fail once foreign metal is included (non codeshare)?

KARFA

Yes, see the guide post 3 BA Gold Upgrade Voucher Discussion and Wiki Thread

ermen

Thanks for pointing to that great guide!

Henmar

I've got a question regarding pricing with GUF2. The TA is only allowed to issue the ticket after the upgrade is confirmed by BA. So the relevant price is the one that's published at the time the upgrade is confirmed, isn't it? This week I had the situation, that I tried to book a GUF2 upgrade via a TA and the price went up by 500 Euros the day the upgrade was confirmed by BA (so after reservation, but before issue of ticket).

danielbk

If BA does not approve the upgrade within the time the fare may be held (usually 3 days), or, the fare is pulled/expired/removed by the time of the approval and ticketing - the fare may change.
As always, no fare is ever guaranteed until ticketing time.

NWIFlyer

As a resident expert, danielbk may be best placed to provide some guidance here.

My understanding was that the BA department dealing with the upgrade approvals only works Monday-Friday. If holding a ticket late on Thursday, presumably that then expires on Sunday - giving very little time indeed for the confirmation to be processed. It therefore strikes me that it’s always best to try and get the blocks into place as early in the week as possible.

However, my last GUF2 (which was processed by Propeller) was actually held on Thursday but ticketed at the weekend - I think Saturday. Does that mean the advice on the BA Trade pages is wrong, or are there emergency measures that are allowed when the customer would otherwise be disadvantaged by BA’s normal “opening hours”?

danielbk

It is a mystery as to when BA approves them. It ranges from literally minutes to days, and in all days of the week. There is no consistency.

To the OP's question though, irrespective of whether a ticket is a GUF, 'regular' or otherwise, fares are never guaranteed until actual ticketing. (this holds true for any airline,
not BA specific).

Koru Flyer

My experience after 5+ years of successful GUFs is two fold
1. The actual ticketing is done by the TA (approval sent by BA, ticketing by TA), so if you select a TA that is open M-F and send it on Thursday you run a large risk, best to do early in the week. Or pick a 7 day TA, that said the timing of the GUF-bot is certainly odd.
2. Different TAs seem to have different success. One TA I used, could never ticket in /A/ with a GUF if the underlying /I/ was unavailable (even if /I/ was taken between request and approval), whereas another agent in the same city a day later had no problem (and checked no /I/ inventory). (was the same itin and happened a couple of times, checked one TA then went to the next on my list). (or maybe it was just, ah well lets not piss off the GGL too much function...as he is persistent)

There is an unknown agency variable, that said, I do not think anything will protect you from a fare change, they put the underlying fare code but not the price in the booking.

KF

Filthy Monkey

I believe it depends on the validity of the underlying fare. The price quote should be stored at the time the booking is held and sent to BA for approval. If the fare is still valid when approved, the price will remain the same. If, however, the fare has expired (e.g. sale has finished, inside 28 day booking period etc), the itinerary has to be re-priced at the current fare.

Newly Wed

Is it possible to upgrade a travel agent issued ticket booked into selling class R from Club to First using a GUF1?

There is currently no Avios availability in F so would I need to use a joker to force redemption space?

KARFA

so is this an existing booking?

If you want to use a TA and apply the guf at the time of booking you do not need reward space or a joker, just A class availability for your flight.

If you have an existing TA booking and now want to upgrade you can do it directly with BA but you would need reward space and therefore may need to use a joker. some notes on this new process towards the end of this post https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28823617-post3.html

In both cases doing the upgrade from R class is fine.

johnaalex

I know that BA looks kindly on requests to extend the validity of GUF2s that are close to expiry, but I have one that is due to expire in December that I would like to use for an F booking to BGI in March '19.

Has anybody here been successful in getting vouchers extended so far in advance?

TIA.

EDIflyer

Yep, johnaalex - I've managed to have it extended quite a bit in the future previously (when it was erroneously issued early after a redemption flight posted with TPs which were then cancelled off but had tripped the 2,500 level!)

KARFA