mmxbreaks

That is very high... but is there any cash exchanging hands for the tax at all? If not then it could be lucrative for the Avios rich, because zero impact on bank balance.

How that's worked out in the potential future on other routes from other destinations I don't know. Especially when an exUS departure from, say, ORD-LHR WTP-CW will cost several hundred dollars in tax on top of the Avios amount.

EuropeanPete

Next up: Economy passengers allowed to drink J champagne, but at 500GBP a glass.

geronimo

Soupdragon62

July 3rd - Asked at the desk in B lounge, for cost of upgrade using avios CW to F, LHR-SFO. They had a laminated sheet of A4 with the redemption levels printed out. 110,000 per person. Declined.

The lady I spoke to didn't seem particularly surprised by my response.

Joshm300

This was available today, I asked at checkin as I had to get my visa checked anyway. It didn’t seem to be dependent on reward availability, just seat availability.

I had to go to desks 1 & 2 in the first wing as they couldn’t process it at club checkin (what a treat as a silver). The cost from WTP to CW for LHR-DME was 60,000 avios!!! Usually it’s 4000 online to do it off peak on this route, so I declined.

Bit of a joke really!

Raffles

It's only a joke because you compare it to the normal Avios upgrade.

All BA is doing is taking the cash price to upgrade, giving you 0.5p per Avios and quoting you that number of points.

The problem is that people don't see it that way.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, it's a bit funny that the only desk usually staffed is now in the First Wing, on the left hand side. It implies that Golds are seen as the best source of bookings, when persumably they are also most likely to clued up on the alternatives.

The huge gap in this case is due to the fact that DME still qualifies for Reward Flight Saver, and in the case of Moscow RFS is a total bargain. Unsurprisingly it's not always available. That is essentially £600 for the upgrade, which wouldn't be too outrageous on say LHR-CAI, compared to UuA of around 11k or 12k. Plus it's the one way to burn Avios to earn Tier Points. But it's an expensive way to use Avios relative to other options.

navylad

Appreciating most seam to be comparing with the Avios upgrade rate, I have been known to part-pay to burn through some Avios; I wonder whether which is more cost effective.

corporate-wage-slave

To generalise massively - there are a lot of variations so that really the specifics matter. I'm ignoring the fact that those with a * also earn while churning, at varying amounts
- Airport Avios Upgrade: 0.4 to 0.6 pence per Avios *
- Part pay via BA.com: 0.6p (sometimes there is a promotion on which gets nearer to 1p) *
- Reduce redemption Avios with more cash: 1p (can quirk up to 1.2p) at certain bands only
- Upgrade Using Avios: can easily be 2p per Avios or more but generally best at WTP to CW.*
- Redemptions with tax paid: 1p to 2p range. Often unrealistic at WT level when compared to inflexible revenue Basic fares
- Redemptions but paying tax in cash: 2p to 3p range often possible, particularly RFS
- Best redemptions (e.g. Santorini, Moscow): can go to 5p
- Best redemptions plus Gold Priority Reward: at best 2.5p generally, but always the option to flex to a normal redemption at the last moment. Easter and Half term sweet spot.

So the problem with Airport Avios Upgrades is that for you are typically getting £50 per 1000 Avios, when it's not impossible to get £500 of value in another context.

navylad

many thanks, that info is very useful ( and yes note your point of generialisation).. Obviously it will unliely be the most economical way based purly on value of Avios, but reamins an option to effectively purchase TPs, for example as you are aware home for me is in MAN and I work in London, so fly up and down fairly regularly, if my Avios pile is getting rather large, I'll chip away at it now and again at the moment with Part-Pay, booking a CE booking to get 40TPs. As an alternative, and taking into account AUP rates, there may be occassions where it is more economical too book a Y ticket and AUP with Avios.

navylad

For info, I note the ‘customer relations/bookings desks’ in F wing now scroll through to Avios upgrades, there were two desks with it when I went through today at 5pm.

mikeyfly

Any idea if this is still in play ? I know the rates were unfavourable - but have a shed load of Avios to burn !

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, it's still available and still lousy value, but not much worse than part pay with Avios.

mikeyfly

Many thanks corporate-wage-slave I’ve abandoned this idea

ratechaser

When I consider that I got >3p/Avio value from my recent WTP/CW upgrades (and that's net of the cash element), I think you'd have to be seriously Avios rich to consider using them this way! Or maybe I'm just picky...