Dante2312

Hello, first post here. So apologies for any wrong doings

We have found a very good deal for flights and hotel to NYC from London. BA Club world.

We were excited when we saw that the flights were going to be on the new club suite, however, this has now been changed. Im not a major fan of club world and I don't particularly enjoy the backwards seat.

Enquired about an upgrade to first but v v v dear as we got such a good deal, and can't justify it.

I have avios coming out of my ears, but there are no available upgrades to first... any other suggestions? When would be best to push for a first upgrade... at the airport?

We have club suite (if it doesn't change) on the way back .... so not all that bad!

Thanks

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk Dante2312 and welcome to the BA forum.

An Avios upgrade could still be possible, just check once a day in the morning using a dummy new booking for a full redemption in First. It may be possible even a few days before departure.

See the POUG and AUP threads for cash upgrades in the BA Forum Dashboard. POUGs are pro-active upgrades offered as a "Limited Time Offer" in Manage My Booking, AUPs are airport upgrades for cash. You can now deploy Avios in the airport too instead of cash but it is very poor value unless you have zero other use for Avios.

I personally prefer reverse facing seats: one flies at a upwards angle so reversed seats have your feet below your head, forward facing can have your feet above your head! But no matter, if you really dislike it, just have 2 aisle seats and you will both be facing forward.

CS could come back again of course, but for the next few years I'm afraid this is going to be an ongoing risk on BA.

golfmad

Hello Dante2312 and welcome to FlyerTalk.

It's possible for First redemption inventory to appear at any time. If you have an ExpertFlyer account you can set an alert for your flight. Failing that, if redemption availability is going to open up it's more likely to do so in the week prior to the flight. Some other options you may wish to consider include:

1. If you're Gold or above you could use a Gold Priority reward provided that you're more than 30 days out from departure
2. If you have a GUF you could use that
3. If you have a joker/space release you could use that

Failing that you could ask to pay for an upgrade (AUP) at the airport. How busy does that flight look? If you care to respond with the flight number and date I'm sure one of us will look it up for you.

Do any of those options above work for you?

Dante2312

Thanks all. I appreciate the advice.

I will keep on checking. I would normally pay the upgrade cost, however, we got such a steal on the whole holiday to upgrade to First would be 3k plus...

The flight is BA0115 and the date is 12th March 2020. Any advice would be good about whether there is a change of a first upgrade.

If an avios upgrade was available would it cost the difference in avios points between CW and F, even though we got such a cheap deal? First time booking a BA holiday!

Thanks again BA0115BA

BA0115

corporate-wage-slave

At the moment there are 3 passengers in First out of 14 seats in the cabin, so that certainly gives you something of a chance, however 12 March is a long way off so a lot could and will change.

Upgrade using Avios from CW to First is just the difference between a full rate First Avios redemption and a full rate CW redemption. Sometimes there are changes in taxes too, but that shouldn't be a lot. BA Holidays has to make the change over the telephone, you can't do it online, but you can track First redemptions via the dummy booking process mentioned above and then calling BA Holidays.

Dante2312

Thanks. I really appreciate it. Hoping I can get some first class tickets for next to nothing. Some good bargains during BA holiday sale.

I will keep on looking! Wish me luck

Dante2312

Still waiting and there are still the same no of seats booked in fc. Its like a hobby now!

IAMORGAN

If on the 747, have you tried Club World on the upper deck? You might be able to pre book a seat up there & it is quieter / more private than the main deck. You’d have to book an aisle seat if you don’t like the rearwards-facing seat though.

toothy

The other thing to do is to use sites like baredemptionfinder.com. You can set up alerts to tell you when seats come available. Has worked well for me in the past. It's probably worth the £3 a month for the pretty immediate alerts, so you can then call straight away.


T

GinFizz

Can you use the Gold Priority reward thing for Avios upgrades (rather than pure redemptions)? I hadn't even thought of that possibility before, but if it is allowed it could be useful in some situations.

golfmad

Wouldn't that be nice? No I don't think it's allowed under this clause in the terms. Looks like sub-clause [iii] rules it out.

Gold Priority Reward may not be used in conjunction with Avios & Money, [ii] Gold Upgrade for One or Gold Upgrade for Two; or [iii] Avios for Upgrade or [iv] American Express Vouchers.

corporate-wage-slave

GPR is only for pure redemptions, it can't be stacked, but it can be used in all cabins.

BertieBadger

The rules say not, it is explicitly ruled out in the T&Cs, see item 7 in the "Gold Priority Reward" section

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...ditions-of-use

I haven't heard of anyone successfully doing so, but maybe it has happened? Even if someone did successfully do it once, there would be no entitlement so it could not be relied on.

DFB_london

keep checking... if the new club plane (with 8 first seats) goes back to old club then there’ll be 4-9 extra F seats to fill (old configuration 777s), so there might be sudden reward inventory release 3 or so days before travel. It’s still just a slim chance but worth a few minutes checking. There might also be an airport upgrade (again worth a check)

Avallon

You can also use SeatSpy to set up a free reward availability alert.