Sure, thanks very much, I'd appreciate that. I'm off to Sunny Florida for 3 weeks on Thursday, so will read probably when I get back?Originally Posted by Katys Grandad
Sure, thanks very much, I'd appreciate that. I'm off to Sunny Florida for 3 weeks on Thursday, so will read probably when I get back?
Looking at using our avios points for an upgrade to club world.
Can you send me a dm too to remind me what to do KG. I did try a couple of years ago but failed to find any.
Rather than send DM's it might just be better all round if I just post this. There's nothing in this that can't be found on the BA website so I'll try to summarise as far as the specific question is concerned.
THE BASICS
You have to have a British Airways Executive Club account. If you don't, you can join on the BA website for free. As far as I know, you can't upgrade from the avios.com site but you can transfer those points to a BAEC account using 'Combine my Avios'
You can only upgrade 1 cabin, so from either World Traveller to World Traveller Plus, WT+ to Club or Club to First. (Only LHR-MIA has First)
An upgrade from WT+ to Club from the UK to Florida destinations requires 12,500 Avios in each direction plus taxes and charges. You can upgrade either outbound or inbound individually or both ways. You can only upgrade BA flights not code-shares.
ALL UPGRADES ARE SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY WHICH IS ALWAYS VERY POOR TO FLORIDA DESTINATIONS AND ALMOST NON-EXISTENT IN PEAK PERIODS. THE CHANCES OF GETTING MORE THAN 2 SEATS TO UPGRADE ARE REALISTICALLY NIL.
FINDING AVAILABILITY
Go to "My Executive Club' on the BA website after logging in to your BAEC account. Select the red 'Find reward flights' tab.
You will then be given the choice of 'Book with Avios' or 'Book and Upgrade'. Because upgrades and free award flights come form the same 'pot', it's actually easier to search for reward flights with 'Book with Avios' first because the BA calendar allows you to see a month at a time. If there's an award flight on a particular date then there will be the same number of upgrades. Similarly, no award flights means no upgrades.
Search from London airports rather than from regional departure points because if there's no availability on the regional flight it will show no availability on the transatlantic sector even if it is actually there.
If you're lucky enough to find reward availability, note that date, go back to select 'Book and Upgrade' and try again. You will then be given the fare and upgrade cost in Avios and charges. Don't delay making the booking if you're happy with the deal because it might not be there even minutes later!
Unlike World Traveller, all WT+ fares are upgradeable (subject to availability of course) so the most efficient and value upgrade is from WT+ to Club.
If you have previously booked your flight and now want to upgrade it there are very significant restrictions on doing that. With a few unusual exceptions, you need to have made the original booking direct with BA. If you've done that, you can upgrade from "Manage my Booking' on the website.
I'm sure I will have left some things out and others will have more to add but I think that will at least get people started. I can only repeat that having the necessary Avios and the money to pay the fare is the easy part. Availability finding is really very tough particularly if you aren't flexible on dates.
Just to underline the difficulty in finding upgrade to Club availability, I just checked Gatwick-MCO for 2 seats over the next 12 months.
Other than 1 date in November 2014 (25th) there is NO availability on any date from today until June 2015 when, surprisingly, there are quite a few dates to choose from. There is 1 date in July 2015 (21st) and that's it. The return situation is more or less the same except there are even fewer dates in June and none at all in 2014 or July 2015.
Don't bother looking for Tampa flights in either direction. There is literally no Club upgrade availability for 2 seats on any date in the next 12 months.
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