Dror

Hi, apologies in advance for the long question. Please pardon any noobness...
I'm waiting for my 90k Avios from the latest Iberia promotion (fingers crossed...), and trying to figure out what to do with them once they arrive.
The current plan is for my wife and I to fly TLV-LHR-SFO early October 2019 and then SEA-LHR-TLV a ~month later. We would want to purchase WTP and upgrade to CW using the Avios. That'll take somewhere from 100k to 165k Avios, depending on whether it's peak/off-peak and whether we upgrade all legs or just the longer one. I can also use an additional ~70k Avios from my parents' household account (I'm not in it currently).
Questions:
1. What's the best way to use all Avios? Should me/we join my parents' household account? I understand I first need to transfer the Avios from Iberia to my BA account and then join.
2. Assuming upgrade availability will be sparse, will it be possible to purchase the outbound flight+upgrade a year in advance, even before the return flight is bookable? I fear that trying to book it a month later will leave me without any upgrade availability.
3. Is there an online way to make such a booking+upgrade, or do I need to contact a support centre?
4. Will transferring the Avios to BA leave me with a negative balance with Iberia even if I use them before Dec. 1? I hope to be able to find the upgrades as I book, but might be forced to wait for an available upgrade as the flights nears.

Thanks!
Dror.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum Dror, it's good to see you here and I hope your plan works out, as I'm sure you are aware there are some queries about the Iberia promotion which are currently unclear. I don't quite understand question 1, and question 4 I think is unknowable until we get to December. For question 2 and 3, you should be able to book and upgrade WTP to CW at day 355, buying a return in the process, with the return leg left initially in WTP. That you can do online. However for the return you would have to add the CW component via calling the contact centre. However! There are 2 issues I see here: WTP is most cost effectively bought as a return, so you would have to call for the first flights since your return flights won't appear as an available date on the system. There is a workaround for this, which allows the date to be added later, but you need to call BA to get that to happen. Secondly fares issued at T355 are often very expensive so you would almost certainly get a better deal deferring the purchase, but then you'd have to take your chances on CW space becoming available later.

madfish