markmac

Seatspy is showing 3 redemption seats for SAN to LHR available in business class on 1st January 23

USA_flyer

Thank you for looking. I'm transferring the points now...

Hopefully the seats will still be there when the avios credit from amex

Bar Operator

Having read the extremely useful UUA section at the start, am I correct in thinking that having already flown the LHR-LAX part of an LHR-LAX-LHR itinerary on a BA Holidays ticket, I will not be eligible to UUA from WTP to CW - assuming there is award availability in the CW cabin ?

I’m referring to the bit in the UUA section which states part flown itineraries are not eligible for UUA.

USA_flyer

Thanks to Markmac, I know there are redemption seats in CW on my flight. I have never done this before so don't know the mechanics of using the app to upgrade, it doesn't seem to be obvious.

Do I go into "change my booking" section under MMB or somewhere else?

I went Into change my booking but upgrading with miles wasnt an option. I have 44k. Is it possible I don't have enough? Or do I need to call BA?

KARFA

You can try the upgrade with avios option on MMB but it frequently doesn’t work, so easiest it just to call.

USA_flyer

Thank you. I'll do just that a bit later.

Will report results for posterity.

ETA: no UuA availability. Apparently there were seats just for premium card holders. Said seats might be releases closer to the time. Can't uua at overseas airport. Cash only.

ETA: im like a dog with a bone on this. I did a search in ba.com and there is a club seat available. Is this a HUCA situation or should I just drop it.

bzado

Sorry if this is a silly question - but are UuAs from J to F exceedingly limited? In other words, is this something that I will really be able to do only through GPRs? Been looking at a trip to Japan sometime in 2023 and haven't seen a single flight with availability.

KARFA

I don't think BA operate F to Japan now so it wouldn't be possible to UuA from J.

However, yes the principle is right that if you are in J on a cash fare and there is a F reward seat you should be able to UuA (subject to a few other criteria noted in the reference posts at the start of this thread). I don't think you can do a GPR tho to open a seat for UuA.

flyingcrooked

I'm hoping I can ask for some advice in this thread. I need to fly Edinburgh to YUL/YOW about 8-10 times in the next year. I'm currently based on Canada (but would fly these trips EDI-YUL because roundtrips originating in Europe are so much cheaper), so Air Canada/Aeroplan would be a natural choice. But the BA EDI-LHR-YUL flight has more convenient take-off/land times, is shorter overall, and is one connection rather than 2, which most of ACs are. Flying Premium Economy both ways also prices in quite a bit cheaper than AC, e.g, just under £1000 vs £1500 for AC. The current tier points structure also seems to make it very easy to attain gold status, each PE roundtrip would be 200 tier points, I think, so I'd hit gold after 8 trips and total roughly £8000 spend.

Going with AC instead of BA has some advantages. There are more transatlantic route options and times EDI-YUL/YOW, and I'd have the option of building in stopovers in continental Europe, e.g. Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Brussels, Munich, Zurich, etc. AC status seems to offer a lot of perqs at the highest tiers, which I could also use for family holidays and so on (using AC's route network from YUL to the US/Caribbean, etc.). The rewards program also lets you redeem points on every flight (with dynamic pricing), and there is access to Star Alliance, and Star Alliances lounges, which is a much larger network than OneWorld.

One thing I don't have is a sense of the value of BA Gold and Avios currency. There seem to be less perqs than with AC. And for the Avios, I've seen several mentions in this thread about it being difficult/impossible to use Avios for upgrades, as there is no availability. (Although maybe there would be on YUL-LHR since it's much less popular than YYZ-LHR?).

Any advice very much appreciated. Specific info about the availability/value of Avios on YUL departures would be especially useful, but general thought on the value of Avios/Gold would be v helpful too.

thanks.

onlysuites

Would anyone know if this routing would work with a 2-4-1.
GRU-LHR (stop) LHR-DEL > DEL-LHR (stop) MIA or a Caribbean destination on BA.

I can price up the one way with a stop online but errors out when I try do return. Should be no YQ on entire journey right? Just Airport taxes and APD.

bzado

Thank you for your response! I think I saw JL first and got confused (but of course those wouldn't work for UuA). Good to know about GPRs not being able to force availability for UuA!

bzado

Deleted

bzado

I find flying BA much more pleasant than the AC experience. However, I'd stick with AC if you fly a lot domestically. For lounge access, I think the easy thing is to just rely on AmEx plat.

The LHR-YUL Avios value on UuAs is actually so incredible, I had thought I did the math wrong. I consistently saw upgrades into J at a cost of just 37.5K Avios and 770GBP, working out to a mind-boggling 17p/Avios (but do your own DD).

Stranex

I posted the below in the main BA section but thought those here may be better placed to give advice!

I'm attempting the "golden ticket" LON-SYD 2-4-1 Avios redemption shortly and never having done the phoning at midnight wanted to be sure of my strategy!

Appreciate there are some older posts related to this and they make mention of phoning US/Japan/India (with some mentioning during the last few years they then got transferred to Newcastle or India due to overwhelming enquiries with FTV etc).

Has anyone any recent experience of phoning at midnight to book? Which number/office did you call? What time did you call? (2345-2350 seems to be general guidance?) Were you successful? (There has been recent mention, in particular calling US, of being told it's the wrong department and having to call another number or worse, being on hold and not being able to get through and seeing your flights dissappear) Has anyone done it using the cabin upgrade as opposed to 241 voucher?

I've done a couple of dummy online bookings at the strike of midnight and have managed to get to the payment page in less than a minute. I understand those talking to an agent will have the flights "reserved" until payment whilst doing it online means they may show as available but but the time you get to the payment page, an agent has removed them from sale? Assuming (!) you can through to an agent, presumably phoning is your best bet with online maybe as backup?

Worst case, I see lots of Avios availability with QTR via Doha which, whilst costing more Avios and not making use of the 2-4-1, would actually be a preferred option (esp for return where flight timings are better for me) so if I miss out, not all is lost. That said, being able to snare the outbound with BA using the 2-4-1 just for that leg (or maybe even a cabin upgrade would work out more cost effective saving the 241) would be my preferred option.

Any help very much appreciated!!

flyingcrooked

Thanks, yes, I have the Amex Platinum, although I find lounge access is unreliable because lounges can be closed to PP/Amex users.

I'm not sure I understood what you said about LHR-YUl UuAs. Can I just double check (new to BA so have no idea how upgrades work)./ Are you saying you saw upgrades from Premium Economy into Business for 37,500 Avios plus 770GBP for a return trip? I think that's what you meant, except 37,500 Avios at 17 pence each = £6375, and there's no way a J ticket cost that plus 770GBP plus whatever the premium economy fare cost in the first place. (If you meant 1.7 pence instead, that brings total cost of the J return to about £2200, assuming the original premium economy return was £800.)

Related question, if you have time: Are upgrades typically some number of points plus something like £800 on top of the points? Or can you go all points and/or all pounds sterling? Thanks.