tsastor

I usually save my AY points for L/H upgrades, but I now have about 15k points expiring and an upcoming morning flight to London (HEL-LHR) with the A350. I'm thinking of upgrading to C with my BH on this flight with the alternative of upgrading the return evening flight with an A320 or saving the points for another purpose with the risk of them expiring. My question is is it worth it? I haven't been on the A350 before and it would be nice to experience the C seats but I'm sure the Y class would be nice and interesting as well. If it weren't for the A350, I would probably upgrade the return instead as that would give us dinner and free drinks instead of the breakfast. I do have lounge access for us both anyways and there will be more time for that on the return. What would you do in my situation?

lkrt

Sure, it's great value for the points onboard the A350. The LHR flight is anyway quite nice for upgrades. The A350 also gives you one hour of free wifi (rather generous on a 2,5-hour flight!).

On the other hand, I quite like to use my points for SH upgrades as well, as the flights go by much quicker with a meal and some drinks on hand.

ffay005

Go ahead and upgrade the A350 segment. You'll get a seat way more comfortable than anything on a AY narrowbody and 1 hour of wifi + IFE.

The J breakfast is rubbish, but so is dinner, too (think €9.50 workplace canteen food in minuscule portions), so I wouldn't base my upgrade decision on the meals.

ajeleonard

Decent length flight and reverse herringbone seat. Crazy to waste miles upgrading to eurobusiness when you already get lounge access.

lkrt

Do you think there's a better way to use expiring points?

TTL

For narrowbody non-upgraders: try to sit behind the curtain in those newest AY 321:s with 209 seats! And queue up for the solitary loos far back...

tsastor

I know also dinner can be terrible. But at least you get Napue G&T. Hmm, maybe I should just get stoned in the lounge and then clear up during the flight...

tsastor

The flight info shows an A320 and I have been pre-allocated row 5. Do you think I should choose exit row instead?

Aviating

I would not count on Napue intra Europe....

TTL

If it is in Y, I would upgrade anyway. Lately the planes sit on tarmac at LHR for various reasons such as missed slot, late fueling+boarding, etc. (or also in HEL due to London air traffic control restrictions), so that the 2h 20min airtime factually becomes 3 to 4 hours. In my experience, the HEL-LHR-HEL flights are fully booked with no restriction on carry-ons in practice. So having the middle seat free (with the space under the middle seat also available) helps a lot. And there still is some food service and ample drinks service available in C along with the less congested front loo.

tsastor

Good points. I guess I'll upgrade the A350 portion and if my BH behaves, I'll upgrade the return later as well.

Hope I'm not being too blunt ...