Globaliser

There seem to be two fallacies here:-

1. [*]

MiteMom

Ok forgive me, but I tried to search, but it was rejected as the word "miles" is too common (that makes sense). I scanned through about 10 pages of this thread and didn't see the answer.

The sticky guide says that to upgrade from a purchased WT+ to CW (Bus) ticket it requires .50 of the base miles. The BA calculator says that the BA miles for a return (which I assume is round) trip from DFW-LGW is 50K...so does that mean to upgrade a round trip from WT+ to CW it takes just 25K miles for the round trip, or is it 25K for each way?

Thanks!

Swanhunter

MiteMom it is 25K for the return journey i.e. .50 of the 50K required for DFW-LGW return. One of the better value awards BA offers.

G-BOAC

MiteMom - as Swanhunter says, North America WT+ to Club World MFUs are 25K in total for the return. Instead of this thread (which is indeed a tad unwieldy sometimes), you may find the ULTIMATE BA guide:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=582881

of more use if you have questions - it's more of an FAQ than this thread.

In addition to only being 25K miles BTW, my experience is DFW generally has excellent availability...enjoy!

MiteMom

Thanks much for the info.

Here's another issue I ran into when I went to book the travel.

My actual trip is

DFW - VCE

and

LGW - DFW


When I went to book the tickets this AM I was told that I cannot fly into zone 2 and fly out of zone 1 and use my miles to upgrade my ticket.

Is there some way around this?


It seems silly especially since if I booked a return flight from VCE, it would stop in LGW and I'd be on the exact same flight.

Is it feasable, given I have about a 6 hour layover to book a round trip, DFW-LGW and then book a one way from LGW-VCE?

I guess the challenge there is the extra baggage allowance issue huh? Given I'd only be allowed free baggage for 1 bag per person on the LGW-VCE portion and I wouldn't be granted any the exemption a through ticket.

Any solutions? Is there another ASKBA that covers this? I we are going on a cruise and plan to spend the end of it in London, so going back to VCE to fly home isn't an option.

Thanks again!

LHR Tim

I would go for the roundtrip DFW-LGW-DFW with MFU. Then buy a single LGW-VCE. Note that even though you would be on separate tickets, since it is a BA flight, you can check in all the way at DFW (I think layover is irrelevant here) and I am sure they'll just put the lot through anyway. Worse case you might have some excess baggage charges, which will be a load cheaper than a Club ticket to VCE, n'est-ce pas? LGW-VCE can be had for about £70.

fatmac70

Had to change a LON-SIN J flight at a very late stage and was put on waitlist. Cleared waitlist quickly but could not get a UD seat nor could I check in-online very early.

Checked-in and got a aisle on the main deck but requested upstairs. When I came to board my boarding pass was rejected and I had been moved to 1K.

Also Purser came to me first when it came to selecting dinner which I am sure was more to do with the fact that I was in row 1 than anything else. However I do feel if you are upgraded they should come to you once the ticked 1st passengers have selected their choice.

But I am not complaining.

ella2001

Do cabin crew actually know who is an UG and who isn't ie is it on the manifest?

On a F night flight back from Canada last year there was a couple behind me who were having dinner and the whole works -- they were the only ones and everyone else was trying to sleep. He had a particularly loud voice and was trying to impress his companion with his 'man of the world' observations.

After about an hour of this, I asked the FA if she could politely ask him to be a little quieter, which she did (and he did, to a degree... he just had one of those 'carrying' voices). She confided, not unkindly, that he had been upgraded and was obviously set on enjoying the experience. I wondered if she knew for sure or if it was a guess based on experience.

nixande

The AA manifest indicates they know and I dont see why this should be different with BA.

On my recent (my first so far upgrade is was clearly visible (probably not to the other passengers, because it was too subtle for that) that I was ask last on every choice when a choice was in place by one person.

Upperdeck, 63b, she started in front until it got to my row, then ask the other side down und last she came to me.. Menue choice, menue servicing, drinks, everything. As well as serving when she was serving.

The other FA in opposite just got up and down and treated everybody equal.

Because I did not know how to manage the foot rest I had to ask (did I miss somewhere where it was explained on one of the papers). I kindly ask if I could help with the foot rest, she got to my space and just unplugged with a glance in my direction it in a way you show a person who has no clue and is stupid how bothered you are in managing such easy tasks for them.

She was smily smily to everybody else, in my case you could see the different, forced smile. As for the other flight attendent - lovely, helpful and everything.

It did ruin the upgrade quite a bit for me and I am not even a passenger who splurges on the bar or makes a fuss or anything.

She might have seen it as me being an imposter or what ever, what she is not understanding that I might as well choose to buy an CW ticket in the future.


I thought about if I am too sensitive or overreacting, but going over this again I have never ever seen a mixed going down the row ever and if at all a FA wants to break up the routine so the last chair is not always asked last, I understand that. But then it would be on different places.

Shuttle-Bored

You do quite often see "the ordering dance" in action (particularly in the UD where it's a bit more noticeable) - where the crew take meal orders in descending order of status, to make sure that Gold's get first choice of meal, then Silvers, etc etc etc.

I think you mentioned elsewhere that this was your qualifying flight to get Silver - maybe it was the case that she was taking orders from your side in order of priority and you were unfortunately the lowest priority pax?

nixande

I probably was - little cabin and upgrade should put me down low on the pecking order.

IF everybody else around me was exactly sitting in the order of their points / status and such from first line to the end around me - which I highly doubt.

Recognition of status in serving somebody first - great. Serving them meal first - no problem. Special attention? Great.

Swarming around the cabin to take orders first from highest pax - okay if done so not so obvious.

Explicit handling of me last to make it noticable on simple things like handing out the menu cards? Stupid.

Being ignored by a fa in such a small cabin for something like your choosing of your second coffee in the morning added with an impatient "i will come to you " - not acceptable.

To sum up: special taking care of higher pax: good. Explicit handling of what you expect to be a lower passenger in even uneccessary aspect so that it is visible (especially in comparison to the other fa): you need training in customer service and marketing.

fatmac70

On BA they do - I think it says INVOL U/G due to Over Sales or something like that.

I must mention that the purser on this flight was excellent and I never felt I was getting treated any differently than the full fare passengers. In fact I felt I was treated better than when I have been fare paying!!!

richie_ja

I had a terrible experience last May on the first leg of our honeymoon from LHR to DME.

We got updgraded to CE at the gate, with new seats scrawled on BP. (My new wife had asked for an UG - much to my embarrassment, but I guess honeymoons are one of the very few occasions when this might work/is acceptable)

On boarding, FA said "oh, I see you have updgaded yourself". I had to explain that it was the gate that had upgraded us.
Then, the drinks came round. FA asked what we'd like. I said "I'd like a champagne please".

"..huh.. of course you would", was the reply, accompanied with a sneer. Several other bad looks were offered to us throughout the flight

For someone who travels CE and CW for business, I found this attitude totallly unacceptable.

Similarly once was UGed from WT+ to CW (crew rest seat 61B?), and got lots of looking-down-at-me looks from a FA on requests for wine-top-ups which weren't offered.

nixande

Yes that described the feeling I had. And I did not even ask for anything special (other than assistant with my foot rest once and *gasp+ for milk in my second coffee).

I am wondering if such flight attendents would even notice if at the end of the flight you go up to them and tell them "it would have been a nice experience if not for your behaviour. Thank you for saving me momey as it is obvious that if this is all I get in CW it is clearly not worth it".

Or in my case to the flight attendent which did serve nicely and friendly "thank you YOU made this a nice flight". As it was a younger one, this would probably only lead to repercussions towards her from the older one
..

richie_ja

we were asked to complete a cust. satisfaction questionnaire. I made sure my complaint was logged there.

Although 8 times out of 10 the FAs are fine, I really don't understand the attitude of the other 20%. It's as if its YOUR fault you've been upgraded. They seem unaware that you are likely to be a frequent/Silver/Gold to have been upgraded in the first place.