Using Avios at Airport to Upgrade - Trial 03-30 June 2019
Jun 7, 2019, 3:39 am
#46
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,807
Thats how I read it too.
The rates seem very high (they may be, but so are AUP usually looking at that thread) but if there is no tax to pay on top they may not be as bad as they first seem.
The difference between WTP and J is a lot tax wise so simply comparing to the redemption chart is misleading.
WT>WTP £381
WT>CW £1095
If we assume an exchange rate of 0.5p per Avios then this gives (rounding up) 80000 Avios to WTP and 220000 Avios to CW which seems inline with what people have seen?
EDIT: yes the prices are absurd!
Jun 7, 2019, 7:28 am
#48
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, TK Elite, HHonors Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 7,691
Jun 8, 2019, 10:05 am
#49
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,818
Here is the desk where these UuA-AUPs can take place, the screen says "Avios Upgrade".
H16 is the last desk of the Club World / Sapphire check-in area, and the nearest to the entrance of the First Wing at the South end. There wasn't any such signage in the First Wing that I could see. Unfortunately this was rather early this morning, before the service opened up, so I was unable to enquire more (e.g. if the ticketing ends up in the main AUP buckets).
H16 is the last desk of the Club World / Sapphire check-in area, and the nearest to the entrance of the First Wing at the South end. There wasn't any such signage in the First Wing that I could see. Unfortunately this was rather early this morning, before the service opened up, so I was unable to enquire more (e.g. if the ticketing ends up in the main AUP buckets).
Jun 9, 2019, 8:21 pm
#50
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Mexico
Programs: BAEC Gold / Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,547
Jun 9, 2019, 11:12 pm
#51
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Brexile / Tokyo
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 185
I was in transit on Sunday morning and, while in the First lounge, asked about upgrading from Club to First on LHR-Haneda. In spite of valiant effort by customer service desk in the lounge to make this happen, they were told that upgrades were only available in person landslde at H16. I didn’t even get as far as a quote for number of Avios to upgrade....
Jun 14, 2019, 7:13 am
#52
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 218
They did have a member of staff there taking comments down and I mentioned (and I believe I'm right in saying this) that literally no one who is in any way savvy with Avios will EVER use their points to upgrade this way. I also made a point of pointing out that 60k points from WT to WTP was more expensive than just a simple CW award ticket.
Jun 14, 2019, 7:47 am
#53
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
Of course, that doesn't mean that 60k Avios was good value for what you were being offered. Everyone will have their perception of what they're prepared to splash out. But in theory, if you have a couple of million Avios that you find very hard to use and you're about to board a 788 in Y ...
Jun 21, 2019, 7:41 am
#54
Join Date: Jun 2019
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 39
Extortionate Amount - live from LHR
Currently at LHR, booked on a flight to Washington. To move from WT to WT+ was 70,000 EACH and WT to CW was 120,000 EACH!
Even the really nice person at the desk said, “this is far too much I can’t understand why”. For info, a standard WT redemption is about 30,000 return.
Madness.
Even the really nice person at the desk said, “this is far too much I can’t understand why”. For info, a standard WT redemption is about 30,000 return.
Madness.
Jun 21, 2019, 7:54 am
#55
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London
Programs: BA, VS, HH, IHG, MB, MR
Posts: 26,871
Currently at LHR, booked on a flight to Washington. To move from WT to WT+ was 70,000 EACH and WT to CW was 120,000 EACH!
Even the really nice person at the desk said, “this is far too much I can’t understand why”. For info, a standard WT redemption is about 30,000 return.
Madness.
Even the really nice person at the desk said, “this is far too much I can’t understand why”. For info, a standard WT redemption is about 30,000 return.
Madness.
Jun 21, 2019, 7:55 am
#56
Join Date: May 2016
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, Accor Gold
Posts: 1,430
So how are BA going to judge the success of the trial?
Looking at the number of people that have actually upgraded, the amount of Avios they've managed to take?
Hopefully they'll look at the low uptake and realise that the amount they're trying to charge is a little excessive.
Looking at the number of people that have actually upgraded, the amount of Avios they've managed to take?
Hopefully they'll look at the low uptake and realise that the amount they're trying to charge is a little excessive.
Jun 21, 2019, 9:00 am
#60
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 2,447
Really positive news in general. However!
1. It does concern me regarding catering - because BA can barely cover that for existing loads.
2. The cost not being in-line with other Avios upgrades just seems an oddity. Why not just leave an Avios seat open until the day or departure, then permit in-person upgrades last second if it's still there?
Hopefully they'll see the necessary feedback in the four-week trial to get it right. Because in the future this could be very useful, just as it is with Virgin Atlantic.
1. It does concern me regarding catering - because BA can barely cover that for existing loads.
2. The cost not being in-line with other Avios upgrades just seems an oddity. Why not just leave an Avios seat open until the day or departure, then permit in-person upgrades last second if it's still there?
Hopefully they'll see the necessary feedback in the four-week trial to get it right. Because in the future this could be very useful, just as it is with Virgin Atlantic.