Ragman

My parents go on a lot of cruises and normally fly BA long haul. Recently they like to fly WT+ on the day flights but Club on overnight flights.

I have just spoken to the TA to get a price of a one way upgrade from Miami to Heathrow (BA 206 on the 22 June) and was quoted £1470 per person.

As this has been booked through a TA, I can't get a quote on line or use my miles to upgrade them.

Anyone know if £1470 is reasonable for a one way upgrade from Miami to London?

It also appears that you can't choose your seat online when booked through a TA - Is this normal.

Thanks and Merry Christmas

potfish

Can't help with the prices, but all my business travel is booked through a travel agent and I can choose my seat online no problem through "Manage My Booking". Your parents will have to wait until check-in time unless they are BA Silver or higher though (or Oneworld equivalent).

G-BOAC

www.ba.com/seating - nothing to do with a TA.

Using ExpertFlyer or KVS you could check the loads on the flight and see what fare bucket availability is there, and what the published fares are on a route. If there are only higher CW buckets left, the upgrade fee from T class to (for example) D class may well be that price.

Swanhunter

The upgrade question is difficult to answer without knowing what the original fare was, and what fare buckets are available to upgrade to.

Seat assigments are only possible for BA Silver/OW Sapphire or higher, or those booked into J or C class. Nothing to do with the TA specifically.

E14 26C

I'm having the exact same conversation with my Princess Cruises for the same route (BA208 in March) all I'm getting is that it's the £479.00 each - I make it £300 total.

sunrisegirl

Just pricing out the MIA route for a random date in March, the one way upgrade from WT+ to CW is pricing at £718 so your rate of £479 each would seem to be a good deal.

Ragman - the upgrade from WT+ to CW prices out at the same £718 pp in June. Are you sure your TA is quoting for one person or do they mean for both your parents.

E14 26C

It would be, but it's WT to WTP the quote is for and there is no option to remove the flight cost from the package

Land-of-Miles

Can't you get a cruise only deal? Most of the major cruise lines offer cruise only as well as the air inclusive package,

LeisureFirst

Your parents can actually book their own flights, WTP out, CW back, for £1408 pp. If they can just throw away the flight element of the package, that would actually be a cheaper way to do it!

Whatever the TA is doing, it sounds to me like they are doing it wrong. If you parents call the TA and point out the figure I have just quoted, maybe the TA can do something more imaginative. They should ask what fare class it is booking into, and if it isn't "I" then they should ask why, as that class is very much available on both MIA-LHR flights on that day.

I believe you can't MFU an agent-booked flight, but can you upgrade with cash directly with BA?

E14 26C

As it was Christmas the other day - I did feel like wrapping up said parents and leaving them on someone elses doorstep

I've tried to explain various things to them but the phrase 'horse pub and drink' comes to mind -

I'm going to try and sort this mess out later this week when I get a bit more time/ have a hangover/ feel like bashing head against a brick wall

Thanks for every posters help on this ^

heartybob

One potential problem with booking the return in I class is that it will also lock the outbound T class into the I class "no changes, no upgrades, no refunds" rule, so if any flexibility is required then this isn't an option.

Also bear in mind that the TA is probably looking at an IT fare, in which case the pricing structure and rules may be different to what's available on ba.com.

So, follow the advice of other posters, find out what booking classes and fare rules the TA can offer, compare with what's available on ba.com, then make your choice.

Globaliser

I know a TA who would probably have the exact answer to these questions. However, they're not working this week so the exact answer probably won't come back any time useful.

However, I can offer some experience on cruise line upgrades. It's much more complicated than just looking at what it would cost to "upgrade" a new cash booking made with ba.com now.

For example, the current apparent Y->W upgrade cost of £300 return is flattered by the fact that it's in the sale, and the cost of "upgrading" to W is historically very low. But this is not an upgrade. This is just the price differential between the current O class fare and the current T class fare - and only looking at published fares available to the public, of course.

Cruise lines work on contracted rates (which I suspect are probably net fares), which may bear little resemblance to what is published at any particular time (particularly during public sales). They will have a contracted rate for the basic Y cabin fare on which the cruise package is priced. But they will have a separate contracted rate for a W cabin fare, etc. And the price the quote for the "upgrade" from Y->W is the price differential between those two contracted rates.

So this can produce apparently strange "upgrade" prices. For example, I'd normally expect to pay about £230 each way between LON and MIA for a Y->W "upgrade" with a particular cruise line. But one year, when we flew to MSY instead, we were connected through DFW and the "upgrade" price was more like £330 each way. However, the reason seemed not to be that WT+ was particularly expensive between LON and DFW, but because the base Y cabin fare which the cruise line was using was particularly cheap, hence the much higher differential.

In addition, cruise lines cannot simply book any seat they can see in the booking class they need. For example, our W cabin seats are booked in T class. But the cruise line has an allocation of seats on any particular flight that they can sell. Once they have sold them, they have to go back to BA to get more, even if GDS availability is showing T9. We have often been in the position of seeing T9 but having to wait a few weeks before BA will allow the cruise line to book us into T class. (We've never yet been disappointed, though.)

Another thing that is worth remembering is that cruise line flights are relatively flexible, particularly when compared to some of the J cabin fares that we see. If something needs to be changed, the cruise line can often organise it for you, whereas if you're on an I class fare the computer will just say no.

So I think that there are many things going on here that we ordinary punters don't see.

When looking at the option of buying a cruise-only package from a UK brochure, it's worth remembering that this means not only that the flights will have to be separately booked, but also any overnight accommodation and transfers. This will be no hassle for the seasoned traveller, but there are many cruise passengers who really need their hands held every step of the way.

Also, if you're going to book cruise-only ex-UK, it really is worth looking to see whether you can buy cruise-only from a US agent. US market prices tend to be considerably lower, plus there is much more flexibility, particularly a full refund of your deposit if you cancel your cruise before the final payment date (which also gives you the freedom to take the benefit of any intervening lower price for the same grade of cabin by cancelling and rebooking).

Ragman

Firstly thanks for everyone who has replied.

I have spoken to the TA (SAGA) now and they have said that the outbound flight is in "T" class and the upgraded CW would be "D". I mentioned the availability of I class but he said he couldnt see it.

He is going to look into it but doesnt seem to be able to get anything other than that price.

If they can really get £1408 pp for both flights then I will consider getting thier flights removed from thier booking.

They don't fly until June so any friendly TAs that you know who might be able to give me more background to build my case with SAGA gratefully received

heartybob

Yes they can book for that price, but flight dates and times will be fixed and their reservations completely inflexible, so bear in mind that if the cruise is delayed in returning for any reason and they miss their flight home your parents may find themselves "up sh*t creek without a paddle" so to speak!

LeisureFirst

They really can, but others have pointed out some drawbacks. You may have some flexibility with the D-fare but you'd have to ask the agent (some D fares are totally inflexible). Also, presumably if you have everything together as a package then you have extra protection; for example, the cruise line will have to accommodate you somehow if there is a flight cancellation. It's probably not worth £62 to lose that flexibility and protection, but £1470 is annoyingly expensive - more than I would pay to move from WTP to CW one-way on a 9-hour flight.

Pity that BA has abolished the £750 (?) onboard upgrade.