Another Upgrade Question (GLOBALISER)?

[chefchick]

Hoping someone can help me out....Globaliser, I know you have a lot of information, and I may be asking for something you cant possibly answer, but here goes:

 

So, I have booked SEA - FCO and NCE - SEA on BA for may 8, returning May 21, 2012. (WT+ seats). I have joined BA Executive club and am thinking about getting a Chase Preferred Sapphire Card which will give me 50K miles if I spend $3000 (which I will do when I pay the balance of my cruise in Jan) Also, the card has no foreign transaction fees which would help out on the trip. I tried looking up in Manage My Booking how many miles and cash out of pocket an upgrade to Club WOrld would be but I must doing something wrong because it gave me an error message. From what I have gathered on the internet it would take 12,500 each way to upgrade plus taxes, fees, etc. Is that SEA - FCO for example or just the long haul portion (SEA to Heathrow)? DO you know what it would be London to ROme? Nice to London? And do you have even a guestimate of the additional out of pocket cash price?

 

Also, I know that there are not an unlimited number of upgrades with points available but I read somewhere that "more" become available 42 days out or something like that? MAybe it was 24 hrs ahead?

 

I know you are not a computer and I might just have to call BA myself to find this out but I thought I would take a chance.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Globaliser]

From what I have gathered on the internet it would take 12,500 each way to upgrade plus taxes, fees, etc. Is that SEA - FCO for example or just the long haul portion (SEA to Heathrow)? DO you know what it would be London to ROme? Nice to London? And do you have even a guestimate of the additional out of pocket cash price?

It's 12,500 miles each way to upgrade SEA-LHR and LHR-SEA. I think that the additional cash charge should be something like $133.00 each way.

 

I think that upgrading LHR-FCO and NCE-LHR are both 4,500 miles each way, and the additional cash charge should only be something like £3.00 = ~$4.50.

Also, I know that there are not an unlimited number of upgrades with points available but I read somewhere that "more" become available 42 days out or something like that? MAybe it was 24 hrs ahead?

It's a lottery. Award space can be released at any time, and it can come and go. Recent reports suggest that quite a lot gets released in the last week or so before the flight, but you can never know whether your flight will be one of the lucky ones.

[Gardyloo]

It's 12,500 miles each way to upgrade SEA-LHR and LHR-SEA. I think that the additional cash charge should be something like $133.00 each way.

 

I think that upgrading LHR-FCO and NCE-LHR are both 4,500 miles each way, and the additional cash charge should only be something like £3.00 = ~$4.50.It's a lottery. Award space can be released at any time, and it can come and go. Recent reports suggest that quite a lot gets released in the last week or so before the flight, but you can never know whether your flight will be one of the lucky ones.

I will only add that getting upgrade (or straight award) seats in Club on SEA-LHR-SEA is very difficult owing to the large number of cash-paying business class customers (many associated with a few prominent local firms) who use that flight.

 

I know it's a pain, but you might think about traveling from Vancouver instead - in my experience YVR is more a leisure market than SEA, leading to more upgrade opportunities.

 

Of course you might get lucky and have it work from SEA; as Globaliser says redemption/upgrade inventory is NOT released all at once, and in fact often the later the better. But there are absolutely NO guarantees, and SEA-LHR can be a tough upgrade.

[chefchick]

Thanks for the info.

 

I guess I will keep checking the MMB online and see what might pop up. If I get lucky with the upgrade SEA - LHR that would use up all my points (once I get the card of course). Is it possible that I'm not able to access info on the website because I don't actual have the points yet in my account?

 

Also if I happen to upgrade that portion with points can I pay for the short haul upgrade portions? Do you think it might be "cheaper" to pay for avios to have access to the additional points we would need to upgrade? I know business class on those short haul flights is really nothing special but this is our 20th anniversary trip and I'm trying to make everything as special as possible.

[Globaliser]

Is it possible that I'm not able to access info on the website because I don't actual have the points yet in my account?

I think that as soon as you have an Executive Club membership, you should be able to log in to that side of the BA website and then check for availability.

 

The way to do it is to look for a business class award seat, as if you were going to redeem for a pure redemption (ie not using miles for upgrade). Both pure redemptions and miles for upgrade book into the same booking class, so if there's availability for one, there'll be availability for the other. If you can't see any for SEA-LHR or LHR-SEA, then also try some searches for other routes just to make sure that you are doing the right thing and can see business class award availability when it exists.

Also if I happen to upgrade that portion with points can I pay for the short haul upgrade portions?

In theory, you should be able to do so. However, it may well affect the price that you have to pay. If you've upgraded the long-haul sectors to business then it seems to me that a conventional upgrade for cash of the short-haul sectors to business class may result in a re-fare whose result you really don't want to see.

 

But if you can upgrade the long-haul sectors, I wouldn't stress about the short-haul sectors. In whichever direction you have a long-haul upgrade, you should be able to use the business class lounge at Heathrow. That is actually one of the biggest benefits of short-haul business class, especially on the short sectors that you're doing. Showers, food, drinks (including champagne on request) - when you've been refreshed there, you might barely notice the fact that you're in economy on the short leg.