madfish

HMPS

How about full disclosure such as A Often the redemptions you want maybe booked up months in advance ( read 330 days!). High cost of airline imposed FEES .

mikeyfly

What are the UuA additional that Gold get ? Sure I can double up and release but there's no additional redemptions beyond G ?

stewaran

If you want upgrades BAEC is not for you, about 60 BA flights last year, (maybe 5 in the highest class which could not have been upgraded)
Upgrade rate across the other 55 flights Zero%.

coming from a US programme this will be a disappointment!

NWIFlyer

No, you don't - I think there must be some confusion here. It is a one cabin upgrade, subject to availability (of revenue fare classes if booked through a Travel Agent, of redemption availability if used via BA). There's a whole thread dedicated to them linked in the Dashboard.

The only time you'd have to pay extra is if government taxes increased between cabins, for example upgrading from Y to Y+. This is a fairly rare use of a GUF - most would be from Y+ to J or J to F.

However, as you believe you'd only just scrape Gold, these are probably currently out of your reach anyway.

thebigben

Nah, I've always got Y redemptions on short notice when I wanted them from the Gold inventory. Fees, yes, there are fees, but if you value avios at 1p each (who doesn't) that makes the tickets a fair price, such as 130 GBP returns on peak dates for short haul. Or about ~750 GBP for a TATL return.

If you want to get WTP or First inventory... that's another story.

madfish

windowontheAside

But the extra seats are only available in Y. So how can you UuA to Y?

T8191

Ten years of flying BA, and been upgraded once. Period. And nearly all that was as Silver or (in the last few years) Gold. But then we never fly below J anyway, which tends to limit the options ... while BA are solely interested in their operational requirements, not those of ‘status’ passengers.

As noted, if the OP is planning on upgrades ... forget it! There are other benefits, which may or may not appeal (as also noted).

Geordie405

I am not sure how the "Ł3000 at most" figure has been calculated but this needs a big caveat in my opinion. It may be possible to achieve Gold status for that sort of spend if you're based in the UK or Europe and you're willing and able to do an ex-EU tier point run in premium cabins to accrue the necessary tier points to attain status. Not everyone is. I am based in the US so doing ex-EU trips is pretty much out of the question. Work travel is subject to our corporate travel policy which in PE at best. Fares originating in the US also tend to be significantly higher than elsewhere, and the cost to UuA is now also much higher than previously. I think there needs to be a recognition that not everyone who is a BAEC member is based in the UK and can do ex-EU TP runs at the drop of a hat

skippythelizard

Sorry, but I don't think that is true.

Golds get access to V inventory for redemptions, which is an economy fare code. That can useful for short haul RFS redemptions, but it doesn't help with upgrades.

TTmex

I think the previous posts explain quite well why BA don't do upgrades based on status. If someone can get to gold for a mere 3000, doesn't make commercial sense to upgrade people based on status. To be clear, I'm not arguing against the idea of rewarding elits, but I would imagine BA would be better looking at net spend of a customer and rewarding based on their commercial importance rather than mere status alone. I know this is the much reviled method in the US (qualifying dollars), but at least it seems to make sense to the airline in terms of rewarding those who spend. Also, BA make it very easy for non-BA flyers to get to Gold by crediting their Oneworld flights. Some people have 4 flights on BA and 50 on other airlines; again, for me doesn't not make sense to then hand out priority upgrades to these people as most of their spend is elsewhere in the network. I'm sure some people may disagree with me, but just sharing my opinion. I'm aware that there are disadvantages for those who can't spend and have to fly a lot. It's about striking some kind of balance to encourage high spend and regularly flying and looking after those loyal.

cauchy

Welcome to Europe. We do have cheaper tickets (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/10/12/why-are-flights-so-much-cheaper-in-europe-than-in-the-u-s) and whilst there are a range of reasons for this, requiring passengers to pay for upgrades if they want them is one of them.

Have you looked at AA?

Mwenenzi

When it comes to upgrades there is a vast difference between USA & non USA airlines. Upgrades are not given out like confetti on non USA based airlines. Non USA airlines will fly with empty premium cabin seats. With non USA airlines always expect to fly in the cabin you pay for.

In the USA airlines forums you see a lot of threads on upgrades (or rants on not getting) On non USA airlines forums very few threads on upgrades

Oaxaca