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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:01 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 209
More expensive to UUA?
Hi all,

Am I being thick? I am trying to price up a rtn LON - NYC. Out in Premium on 14/09/19 back in Club 17/09/19. When I price up straight cash tickets BA.com (BA115 / BA172) it quotes me £2,278.44. However when I try to UUA on the rtn leg, same flights it quotes me 48000Avios + £ 3,076.44.

Why the £798 to upgrade using my Avois? The taxes should be the same so is it that it will only upgrade a full price W ticket to J rather than the I class when paying with cash?

Or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance!
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:13 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, Honors Gold
Posts: 227
I think the general consensus is that something odd happens on the BA end with regard to inventory buckets when trying to make this booking in one go. Make the cash booking in one transaction and then call up to UUA straight afterwards.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:15 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BA, Hilton
Posts: 2,091
Originally Posted by Sharratt4
Hi all,

Am I being thick? I am trying to price up a rtn LON - NYC. Out in Premium on 14/09/19 back in Club 17/09/19. When I price up straight cash tickets BA.com (BA115 / BA172) it quotes me £2,278.44. However when I try to UUA on the rtn leg, same flights it quotes me 48000Avios + £ 3,076.44.

Why the £798 to upgrade using my Avois? The taxes should be the same so is it that it will only upgrade a full price W ticket to J rather than the I class when paying with cash?

Or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance!
At a guess, it may be a Dual Inventory Fare (DIF) in WTP, which when you try to UUA BA.com just gets it horribly wrong. It's a known problem - the solution is book the WTP fare then phone up and apply the UuA. You can always cancel in the first 24 hours at no cost so there should be no risk in doing this.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:17 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BA, Hilton
Posts: 2,091
PS - there will be additional fees (BA will no doubt call them "taxes") when applying a UuA from WTP to CW. My last one on that route was around £75 per person, per sector.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:22 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Originally Posted by BertieBadger
PS - there will be additional fees (BA will no doubt call them "taxes") when applying a UuA from WTP to CW. My last one on that route was around £75 per person, per sector.
Is that not APD, which is a legit tax?
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:29 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BA, Hilton
Posts: 2,091
Originally Posted by skywardhunter
Is that not APD, which is a legit tax?
I'm happy to be corrected, but I thought there was only an APD uplift between WT and WTP? I thought going WTP to CW the additional was just BA fees?

Perhaps one of the experts could chime in, although whatever it is, the OP will need to pay it!
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:31 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 858
No, for BA flights there are just two rates of APD:

Reduced rate for the lowest class cabin in the aircraft (also has to have seat pitch of less than 40 inches, so Baby Bus doesn't get into this category!), and
Standard rate for all other seats.

There is a higher third rate of APD, but this only affects aircraft of more than 20 tonnes with fewer than 19 seats: i.e. corporate jets.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-an...uty#rate-bands
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:32 am
  #8  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Originally Posted by BertieBadger
I'm happy to be corrected, but I thought there was only an APD uplift between WT and WTP? I thought going WTP to CW the additional was just BA fees?

Perhaps one of the experts could chime in, although whatever it is, the OP will need to pay it!
Indeed, checking on ITA Matrix a return fare in WPT vs CW both have the same APD of GBP172
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:35 am
  #9  
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
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Originally Posted by BertieBadger
I'm happy to be corrected, but I thought there was only an APD uplift between WT and WTP? I thought going WTP to CW the additional was just BA fees?

Perhaps one of the experts could chime in, although whatever it is, the OP will need to pay it!
you're entirely correct. The difference is mostly the higher yq for business. That’s entirely a ba choice and income.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 7:39 am
  #10  
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 209
Thanks everyone! Seems like I might not have been as thick as usual! Will take your advice and book then call to upgrade. Thanks again!
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 8:17 am
  #11  
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Join Date: Aug 2002
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Originally Posted by Sharratt4
Will take your advice and book then call to upgrade.
You have to make a call anyway, so an alternative is to simply call to book and upgrade in one transaction. You should not have to pay the offline fee, as the website was quoting you an incorrect cash element when you tried to use the book and upgrade part of the website.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 8:19 am
  #12  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,076
Even when I call to UUA, I'm often given a wrong figure for "taxes", so good to be armed with your owned calculations.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 8:56 am
  #13  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Originally Posted by BertieBadger
PS - there will be additional fees (BA will no doubt call them "taxes") when applying a UuA from WTP to CW. My last one on that route was around £75 per person, per sector.
Although it is entirely possible that the agent will call the additional charge "taxes" it is no more than additional fee going straight to BA. The last couple of times the charge for me WT+ to CW to the US was £100 per passenger in each direction
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 9:27 am
  #14  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Originally Posted by Blueboys999
Although it is entirely possible that the agent will call the additional charge "taxes" it is no more than additional fee going straight to BA.
Indeed so, that was rather my point and we appear to be in violent agreement For all that the fees are entirely under BA's control, I will say I do still find WTP->CW UuA on the East Coast USA & Canada routes as something of a sweet spot in terms of Avios value, especially on peak dates.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 10:49 am
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Posts: 4,350
Originally Posted by BertieBadger
Indeed so, that was rather my point and we appear to be in violent agreement For all that the fees are entirely under BA's control, I will say I do still find WTP->CW UuA on the East Coast USA & Canada routes as something of a sweet spot in terms of Avios value, especially on peak dates.
Indeed. I am currently looking at some Florida destinations which have very cheap WT+ fares meaning that the cash difference between them and CW fares is many times more than the £100 each way cost to UuA and make much more sense even than using one of the three 241 vouchers I have awaiting triggering. Of course I have to spend the avios but I still reckon it is a good deal.
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