Trying to get value from Avios

opinions4u

I'm trying to work out how to "book with cash and upgrade with Avios" from the BA Exec Club pages while at the same time extracting some decent value for the obscene number of points I've built up.

I've looked at the normal BA page and compared fares for LHR to NYC:

3rd Feb out BA0173.
10th Feb in BA0112.

The economy return fare is £455.75. (The World Traveller Plus fare is £980.75).

The upgrade fare to World Traveller Plus is 20,000 Avios plus £822.75.

So why the £822.75 fare for using the loyalty programme v £455.75?

Difference is £367. APT seems to be £67 of it. The other £300 seems to be a higher fare for using Avios. I don't feel rewarded.

blindman

Look at :-

Headfor points

or

Flyertalk for details.

BTW
Head for points has just done a report on Airberlin routes that are very cheap on taxes:cool:

jpsartre

opinions4u wrote: »

I'm trying to work out how to "book with cash and upgrade with Avios" from the BA Exec Club pages while at the same time extracting some decent value for the obscene number of points I've built up.

I've looked at the normal BA page and compared fares for LHR to NYC:

3rd Feb out BA0173.
10th Feb in BA0112.

The economy return fare is £455.75. (The World Traveller Plus fare is £980.75).

The upgrade fare to World Traveller Plus is 20,000 Avios plus £822.75.

So why the £822.75 fare for using the loyalty programme v £455.75?

Difference is £367. APT seems to be £67 of it. The other £300 seems to be a higher fare for using Avios. I don't feel rewarded.

Only economy seats booked in the highest fare buckets are upgradable, hence the high price. Effectively it means that unless very special circumstances apply to you, upgrading using Avios is only worth it when upgrading from World Traveller + to Club World, or from Club World to First (you can only use Avios to upgrade 1 cabin). The good news is that as good as all seats in those cabins are upgradable.

opinions4u

jpsartre wrote: »

Only economy seats booked in the highest fare buckets are upgradable, hence the high price. Effectively it means that unless very special circumstances apply to you, upgrading using Avios is only worth it when upgrading from World Traveller + to Club World, or from Club World to First (you can only use Avios to upgrade 1 cabin). The good news is that as good as all seats in those cabins are upgradable.

That would begin to explain the £300 price difference. Same crappy seat though!

There's no trip in plan. I'm just trying to establish ways to leverage the best value out of the points in future.

The WT+ to Club was always the preferred upgrade but the availability reduces dramatically. Overlay a regional airport via LHR to NYC and it becomes close to non-existent.

That said, the ability to pay more points to reduce the fare further seems to yield 1.5p per Avios which is a very efficient use of them and can force a return Club Class fare down to £550.

Head for points has just done a report on Airberlin routes that are very cheap on taxes

Trying to convince the wife to fly west via Germany will be a challenge, regardless of any financial logic.

Thanks for the responses. They both add value.

jpsartre

opinions4u wrote: »

The WT+ to Club was always the preferred upgrade but the availability reduces dramatically. Overlay a regional airport via LHR to NYC and it becomes close to non-existent.

You don't need reward availability on the domestic leg. If there is CW availability on the long-haul part just book your flight (with connection) in WT+, then call BA to upgrade that leg. As you probably know, it won't any difference on the domestic flight anyway since there's only one cabin-class.

jacques_chirac

jpsartre wrote: »

You don't need reward availability on the domestic leg. If there is CW availability on the long-haul part just book your flight (with connection) in WT+, then call BA to upgrade that leg. As you probably know, it won't any difference on the domestic flight anyway since there's only one cabin-class.

Strictly speaking, you do need availability. If you call up they can request that availability be released (or they may be able to see availability that is not showing online), but there is no guarantee this request will be granted. It usually is, but I have had it refused from Leeds.

opinions4u

jpsartre wrote: »

You don't need reward availability on the domestic leg. If there is CW availability on the long-haul part just book your flight (with connection) in WT+, then call BA to upgrade that leg. As you probably know, it won't any difference on the domestic flight anyway since there's only one cabin-class.

That's not been my experience with a cash purchase of WT+ seats.

Totally unable to upgrade with Avios, although an extreme amount of cash would have made the difference.

Are you suggesting that an Avios purchase at WT+ level would prove much easier to upgrade to Club using further points?

jpsartre

opinions4u wrote: »

That's not been my experience with a cash purchase of WT+ seats.

Totally unable to upgrade with Avios, although an extreme amount of cash would have made the difference.

Are you suggesting that an Avios purchase at WT+ level would prove much easier to upgrade to Club using further points?

No, I'm saying that you buy a WT+ ticket with cash, you will be able to upgrade the long-haul part using Avios, regardless of whether or not there is reward availability on your domestic connection. If you purchase the entire trip using Avios then of course, you will need availability on both legs but I thought you were asking about upgrade options with point, not outright reward bookings?

Edit: Just to be clear, obviously there will have to available reward seats in CW on your longhaul flight to do the upgrade.

jpsartre

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Strictly speaking, you do need availability. If you call up they can request that availability be released (or they may be able to see availability that is not showing online), but there is no guarantee this request will be granted. It usually is, but I have had it refused from Leeds.

That is true for reward bookings but not for upgrades using Avios. When you have bought a ticket in WT+ with a UK domestic connection the domestic part is already booked in business (so to speak as there is no business cabin on BA's domestic flights but they will be booked in J which is highest fare bucket). So there's no further upgrade possible.

budgetflyer

There is also Aer Lingus to NY. Much lower taxes and fees. Raffles explains all at. http://www.headforpoints.com/category/aer-lingus/

You can also clear US immigration at Dublin, saving hours at the other end.

Doshwaster

opinions4u wrote: »

That's not been my experience with a cash purchase of WT+ seats.

Totally unable to upgrade with Avios, although an extreme amount of cash would have made the difference.

Are you suggesting that an Avios purchase at WT+ level would prove much easier to upgrade to Club using further points?

All WTP tickets are upgradable but only if there is availability. Sometimes this is possible at the time of booking but often upgrade seats don't open up until a few days before departure. You just need to keep checking your booking on the BA website.

I recently had a return to Bangkok in WTP. On the outbound there was no availability at all since the flight was fully booked but on the way back I got an upgrade to CW for 15,000 miles + £40. For a 13 hour flight on a flat bed seat, that was an excellent deal, especially as a Silver card holder I get around 13,000 miles for the flight so the upgrade effectively cost 2,000 miles + £40.