Savvysaz

So I called BA a few days ago about upgrading one leg of my return trip. They quoted me £4,000 which is ridiculous so I left it, however I'd been told that was one leg. Today I called back to see if the price had changed, and was told that they couldn't upgrade just one leg, they had to do 2 out of my 3 return flights. He said to me "you were quoted £2,500" (which I wasn't....) "but if we add on the last domestic flight that takes it up to £5,000"

so.... one minute it's £4K for one leg, then it's £5k (doubles due to "having" to upgrade final domestic leg.). I'm so confused!! Anyone else had BA say you have to upgrade two flights?!

MSPeconomist

What's the fare construction on your ticket? Do the two flights that BA is saying must be upgraded together constitute the same fare component?

Savvysaz

No idea .... but my return flight is a three leg journey so why only two legs but not the third? Surely if it is indeed a thing then it all has to be upgraded?

MSPeconomist

Is the third segment an aircraft without a premium cabin?

Savvysaz

all three have premium cabins. Only difference I can see is one is operated by AA.

SussexFly

I’ve had a very similar experience - I can’t remember the exact figures - but I was quoted £1000 for 2 people, 2 sectors, to upgrade WTP to CW.
I thought I’d better consult my better half before agreeing to it. I called back a day later and was then told it was £1000 per person NOT for both of us. I queried this and was told the person I spoke to on the previous day was incorrect and worked it out wrong.

Savvysaz

They've now confirmed I need to upgrade two legs, which prices it out of the park. It's actually stupid as the domestic flight they want to charge the earth for is 1.5 hrs and not fancy in any way so they aren't really upholding the brand there.

Globaliser

If I understand you correctly, you have a cash ticket and you want to upgrade using cash only. Is that right?

If so, then what you need to understand is that the upgrading you're asking about almost certainly involves you basically buying a new ticket at a valid fare for the higher cabin, and using the old ticket as part-payment for that new ticket.

If there is a cash fare (or set of combinable cash fares) that's valid for travel in the original cabin on two of the three flights and in the upgraded cabin for the one flight you want to upgrade, then that's what you can buy.

If the rules of the only valid cash fare (or set of cash fares) that gets you into the upgraded cabin on that flight necessitates also booking you into an upgraded cabin on one of the other two flights, then that is what you will be buying. The price you're being quoted will be the price for the new ticket plus the change fee specified by the old fare, minus the price for the old ticket.

I hope that goes a little way towards explaining what seems to be what is happening in your case - this is how fare rules upgrades work.

There are other ways of upgrading single sectors of a trip, but in a trip of your type it is likely that you will only be able to ask for this when you get to the airport for the flight you want to upgrade. See here for more details of the airport upgrade promotion: Airport Upgrade Promotions (AUP) tracking and discussion | 2017 thread

Savvysaz

Thanks for this. Yes it's cash and cash. Avois upgrades aren't available for this booking. I've learned my lesson. Next time I'll just book club. I wasn't intending on upgrading but the flight out was rough and I'm straight into work when I get back so I wanted to rest properly.

The frustrating bit is the amount they want. The long haul leg is pricey but I'd pay it. I'd even pay the lhr to abz leg if it were half reasonable, but they want £2,500 for that short flight! That's way more than the normal CE price and also it's more than the long haul upgrade. The change price was only £300, which I was ok with overall. Also, there is space in premium cabins on all three flights, so I'm not sure why I wasn't asked to upgrade that one.

Fingers crossed I can get at airport without having to do the LHR to Abz for that price.

Globaliser

I think that you're still looking at this wrong.

From what you say, it sounds like the situation is not that the airline wants £2,500 to upgrade the long-haul sector and £2,500 to upgrade the LHR-ABZ sector, and that you must upgrade both sectors at the same time.

Rather, the situation is that it is not possible to upgrade the long-haul sector without upgrading all the way to ABZ, because there are no valid fares that allow you to have a ticket in the upgraded cabin for the long-haul sector yet remain in economy for LHR-ABZ. There are simply no valid fares for what you would like to do.

Instead, the only valid fare to which you can upgrade is a through fare that puts you in the upgraded cabin from your long-haul origin to ABZ. The single price for upgrading to that fare is £5,000.

It is exactly the kind of situation in which asking to buy an airport upgrade would work a lot better, if there are any on offer that day. Fingers crossed.

Anonba

Yes i think this is the most likely reason op was told they had to upgrade both legs. There are combinability rules on fares that would mean typically you would be unable to have euro traveller on your short haul/domestic flights and club on your longhaul connecting flight.

Savvysaz

Perhaps they worded it wrongly then as they actually said word for word the long haul leg is £2,400 and the short 2,500 making it a total of almost £5,000

Globaliser

If what they said was a correct description of the situation, it would mean that my earlier surmise was incorrect. But then I couldn't guess any further without a lot more details.

MSPeconomist

I'm starting to guess that it might be married segment availability in the fare classes being used for the upgrade, although it can be very expensive to break a through fare when a ticket is upfared.

It would help to know the exact fare codes and fare construction of the OP's current ticket as well as those of the proposed ticket after the upfare for the upgrade.