I'm traveling on an LONE4; JFK-LAX-MEL-SYD-LHR-TLV-LHR-JFK .

On the SYD-LHR portion I want to get the .5 EQP that L fare gets on QF as opposed to the .125 that BA gives.

If I do it on BA metal with a QF flight number will I still be able to pay the $450 for a WT+ upgrade (and still get the EQP that QF gets?)?

bad news: SYD-LHR is a slightly more than standard charge for the upgrade on BA to WT+ (I keep remembering the numbers in AU$ - so your $450 is correct I think) - but less than the cost of two segments. AFAIK only BA codes can ticket into WT+

good news: BA WT+ is OK on AA (except transAtlantic to USA) and is worth 1.5 QP per mile and gives you a 10% bonus on earned miles. (I seem to remember something about a plat challenge on a WT+ ticket last year )

potential news: op-ups in WT+ are not unheard of.....

Happy wandering

Fred

Thanks for the info - question: re: op-ups is OW elite status the same as BA elite status?

Yes, but BA elites get priority. The BA board likes to pretend that any BA elite takes priority over any OW elite, but that is not true, the actual priority followed most of the time by BA (and their official policy) is the following sequence: BA Premier, BA Gold, OW Emerald, BA Silver, OW Sapphire. But most BA elites never travel in WT+ so you won't be competing with many of them for upgrades. BA elites that do travel in WT+ aren't elite the following year (BA status earning is quite different than on AA).

Thanks! A related question - and I guess this not just BA but OW in general - does ordering a special meal work against scoring an op-up? I recall having read that somwhere.

Yes, in 2 ways: they may not have a special meal in the higher class, and skip you for another candidate to op-up. And, more importantly, they may not have an extra regular meal in the lower class -- for the person who will be taking your freed seat -- and not op-up you even if you insist that you are happy to have no food for yourself. In general, special meal = no automatic opup. Of course human intervention can still get you an opup, but special meal cuts your chances by an order of magnitude.

It would depend on the relationship between the two classes, though, I would think.

As I understand it, WT+ has the same service (and thus the same meals) as WT (it's just a somewhat nicer seat, basically -- I think of it roughly as a cabin full of exit row equivalent seats), so an upgrade to WT+ from WT (or a downgrade the other way) would mean zilch to a special meal except for the keeping track of which seat it needs to be delivered to, no?

Sure, but that is the only upgrade that works like that, out of the thousands of upgrades that various airlines offer. I think even VS has different food in their premium economy, as does NZ. In any case an opup to WT+ is hardly cause for celebration, you might not even realize that you were upgraded if they didn't tell you. I've witnessed several scenes in the BA lounge when someone discovered they didn't get an opup to CW due to having a special meal -- and their subsequent trauma and renunciation of the value of a special meal. Quite amusing at times, and part of the BA experience. That's when I discovered that BA caters Y to precisely the number of pax expected, with zero spare meals (but the caterer is able to deliver extra meals on about 30 minutes notice). Amazing the things you learn in airline lounges (now talk about totally worthless information).

Firstly, you are correct that US$450 is the upgrade price. Any route other than SYD/MEL-LHR it's US$300 per segment. As an aside, current exchange rates make the upgrade significantly more expensive for Australians. Our rates of A$600 per segment and A$900 for the SYD/MEL-LHR work out at approx. US$450 and US$650 respectively. But I digress ...

The main concern of your note however is whether a WT+ upgrade is even possible if booked on the QF codeshare. My gut reaction is that it wouldn't be possible since there is no QF code for WT+, but I'll happily be corrected. If you are definitely wanting to travel WT+ (and for US$450 I think it's worth it) just make sure that when you book into the BA "L" class there is "T" available. Because of the lower EQPs booking on the BA flight number (as you pointed out) it would be best not to rely on a waitlist.

Regarding upgrades from WT+ to CW, my limited experience seems to indicate that in addition to the colour of your FF card, your WT+ seat may make a difference. 28B/H and 29A/K in the appropriately configured 747-400s seem to be the upgrade seats. Of course that may be because they are more likely to be occupied by elites in the first place!