FlyingHighlander

Good morning, I'm hoping the BA Flyertalkers can advise me here.

I have my own ticket. My wife + 2 kids are on a separate ticket. Itineraries are identical. When my wife logs into MMB she is presented with an offer to upgrade the 3 people on the ticket from WT+ to Club World for $779 (for 1 of the 4 segments) per person. I do not see this offer at all when I log in. I understand she was likely targeted and not everyone gets the same offer. I called BA - after 30 mins on the phone with what felt like someone who didn't know what he was doing, it was stated that I could not get the same offer. MMB wont give me any price to upgrade - says I have to call. When I called, they wanted twice the price, and I'd have to upgrade the full outbound journey (both segments). I only want to upgrade the long haul, segment 1.

Itinerary
BWI-LHR 2040-0835 Dec 23 (wife offered upgrade from WT+ to CW for $779 per person. I want the same price).
LHR-INV Dec 23
-------------
INV-LHR Jan 8
LHR-BWI Jan 8

If I can upgrade from WT+ to CW, then I will upgrade all 4 of us on both tickets for $3116. CW cabin is currently showing as almost empty. How would you best go about asking BA if they will do this? The guy on the phone said it couldn't be done.

If all else fails, is it likely I could get a cash upgrade at the gate on the day?

rapidex

There is no way in this world you can do what you suggest. That would require the agent to talk to revenue management which wont happen.

Get your wife upgraded with the kids first, then see if BA offers you a poug later, or ask at check in about an airport upgrade. It may be that if your wife and kids upgrade that will empty the seat pool, or if you vacillate too long they may offer a seat to someone else and the offer for your wife will disappear.

Oaxaca

I was interested to see that a POUG has been offered on an itinerary with connecting flights, is this now a regular thing? It used to be one of the things that scared away the POUG fairy.

Airprox

How was your individual ticket bought, directly from BA or via a travel agent? Corporate TA?

mikeyfly

$3000+ a lot of money to move into CW on a 6.5 hour flight …. WT+ on the 787 is not too shabby

antichef

It may be a small price to pay to keep SWMBO happy

FlyingHighlander

Both tickets bought direct from BA.

I hear you. I'm not convinced we should defintely do it, but it would be a nice treat.

😁

FlyingHighlander

That could be an option. Not sure I want to risk upgrading them without me.

rapidex

That way you have a chance to get all 4 upgraded. I doubt you will find 4 seats any other way.

Globaliser

Is 3 upgrades and 1 non-upgrade a worse outcome than 4 non-upgrades? These are your two options at the moment, and you may never get the third option that you'd prefer.

FlyingHighlander

It probably is worse to split us up. We are currently sitting together as a group in WT+.

lavajava

As others have said POUG's are not guaranteed. If it makes sense to you, snap up the three as they can also disappear.

If you end up with three seats in CW, then pick your favorite child to join you whilst the other gets to enjoy the freedom of WTP . (of course I am joking - no idea on kids ages or if that really makes sense).

Perhaps there is a better use of that $3K? Perhaps keep an eye out for avios availability if you have some

ratypus

how old are the kids....depending on the answer, some might consider having 7+ hours back in WTP whilst someone else looks after them in CW to be the real upgrade...

FlyingHighlander

lol. Kids are 15 and 16, well behaved. However, they dont fly often so we would prefer not to split us up. One is diabetic so whatever happens we will keep him with a parent to assist with food choices, insulin injections, etc.
Dont have any Avios (nothing significant anyway).
I'm leaning toward just keeping us all in WT+ now. It's only 6.5hrs in the air. The $3k would be better used putting the wife and I in J on our next trip without the kids 😁

15 and 16. Quiet and low maintenance. Other than mild diabetic supervision mentioned above, they need no monitoring.

FlyingHighlander

For what it's worth, I do actually have 72,000 Amex points that I could convert to Avios.

Edit- Per MMB, there is no availability for any Avios upgrade.