New cost to upgrade?
 

Hi guys

Following the recent avios changes (devaluation), if I had a WT+ booking from DUB-LHR-JFK and wanted to upgrade to J using avios, what is the cost difference (ie taxes)?

Would this be a cash WT+ booking? Basically it is the same calculation as before, the difference between taxes/fees/charges for the two cabins. You should be able to calculate this by pricing up the flights you want as a cash fares on ba.com and looking the two price breakdowns.

As for the avios cost, well that is a bit harder to try and work out.

Checking a return next month looks like the difference in taxes / fees will be as below - the new Reward pricing scheme shouldn’t effect upgrading a cash booking with Avios re fees / taxes

Club fees

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d4f5a9ebd.jpeg
WTP fees

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...45c8e4cee.jpeg

Thanks guys

Just did it & indeed the difference was about €30 each.

Much appreciated for the help

In case it helps anyone. 2 data points from the last week or so.

BOS - LHR WT+ to Club was £200 in extra charges
LHR - SFO WT+ to Club was £80 in extra charges
I assume these dont fluctuate like the Avios required do, but im no expert!

yes and no. The problem is when there are WTP sales sometimes they will discount the YQ rather than the base fare. So when you come to upgrade the difference can be bigger than you might expect.

With each upgrade the new total taxes, fees and charges is applied minus that already paid. So if, for example BOS-LHR was on the same booking but upgraded at a different time to LHR-SFO the change in TFC would be cumulative, paying the uplift to the new total each time.

I upgraded CW to F, LHR-ATL and ORD-LHR at the same time and got charged only €4.50 in fees plus 45,000 Avios. This was not really a change in TFC but a change in currency exchange rate since the underlying ticket was in Egyptian Pounds (ex-CAI) and rates vary daily.

Note also that ex-UK there is an increase in Air Passenger Duty and Carrier Charges as soon as you move forward from Economy. From Premium to Club there is only an uplift to the carrier charge. From Club to First there no change in TFC. For bookings ticketed ex-USA, taxes remain the same but the carrier charge increases for each cabin.

Thank you, Very Interesting, Ill be honest I have never looked at the brakedown, and assumed these parts remained static.


Thanks, All mine are are ex-UK, however the SFO already had the return upgraded upon booking so maybe that had effected it.
I was hoping I had a benchmark for upgrade costs but not as simple as i thought :-)

That will explain the difference. For your SFO upgrade you paid an increased YQ. When later upgrading LHR-BOS you went to full return YQ for club, and I suspect at a combined increased level since these charges have been increasing. You can use ITA Matrix to establish the current taxes, fees and charges for any routing and then compare to the amounts on your E-Ticket to verify. Mistakes do happen, although the numbers you gave look reasonable to me.