transatlantic flights - when to book and upgrade costs

jpsartre

notanewuser wrote: »

Okay. So looking at the cash upgrades, last week they were £250 each. Now £750. Are they likely to come back anywhere near £250 again or has that plane flown?

They might come down and they might go up. It's impossible for anyone to predict with certainty either way. BA just had a sale that finished earlier this week, that probably explains the sudden jump in price.

notanewuser wrote: »

And if I booked via omega flight centre there's about £100 off each ticket. Does that restrict potential upgrade options though?

No, the only thing (aside from reward seat availability of course) that restricts upgrade options when using Avios are fare classes and that's only for economy fares. Do your research though, lots of complaints about Omega Flightstore out there.

notanewuser

Can I use the BA price guarantee to get the lower base flight price?

Caz3121

notanewuser wrote: »

Can I use the BA price guarantee to get the lower base flight price?

If you are talking about the Omega lower price it is very likely that they are not showing a live price. (some may say that some third parties intentionally show non-existant cheaper fares to bait customers....the end price is likely to be the same, or more, than booking direct with the airline)
Plenty of posts about people having bookings cancelled/being asked for more money
worth a read https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k6949544-o590-Omega_flight_store_omega_travel-Air_Travel.html

malkie76

Worth noting that if you do buy tickets through a travel agent you may not be able to upgrade directly with BA until 24 hours before the flight. You'd have to upgrade via the agent which may come at a different cost.

My recommendation is alway to pay for the cabin you want at the outset.

richardw

Look at one stop flights, with an overnight stay, no need for premium economy.

notanewuser

Thanks. We don't really have time to do an overnight stop en route (plus travelling with a child and an OAP feels more complicated somehow). It's about £100 each more (return) to go premium economy with Virgin by that's only as far as New York and the second leg is with Delta who don't have PE. Going via Reykjavik (1.5hr layover) with Icelandair is cheaper but there's no PE and I think it's a fairly small plane.

I'll need to decide on something sharpish though as it's driving me crazy!

Are BA's sales quite easy to predict?

Doshwaster

jpsartre wrote: »

If that's the only flight you can use your Avios on then I wouldn't even bother collecting them. Chances of 4 upgrades on the same flight are slim to none.

I agree. Almost zero chance of upgrades being available for a party travelling together. Premium Economy is the smallest cabin so there are usually not that many spaces, especially during the school holidays.

If cash/Avios upgrades are on offer then they will be typically become available on the BA website 3-4 days before departure for directly booked flights.

richardw

Shortest flight to the US is to Boston, BA fly the A380 on some flights on the route, would you be Ok in economy or is PE a must?

notanewuser

Checked for our dates. No sign of A380 and coming in at £2600 for all of us in economy (the direct flight is £3500 in economy).

Not hell bent on PE but it might be a nice to have on the way back as it's an overnight flight.

shaun_from_Africa

Doshwaster wrote: »

If cash/Avios upgrades are on offer then they will be typically become available on the BA website 3-4 days before departure for directly booked flights.

With BA at least, there are generally two separate releases of seats for Avios upgares.
As soon as a flight become available for booking (normally 330 days in advance of the scheduled flight date), there are some Avios seat upgrades available. These are normally very limited in number.
Then a few days before the departure date, some more seats may be available if there are plenty of unsold seats in the relevant class.

Cash upgrades availability usually depends on the initial class of ticket purchased.
If you get anything above the lowest possible class then a cash upgrade may well be possible at any time prior to check in.

I fly long haul on BA about 15 times a year and my tickets are normally booked in WT a good 4 or 5 months in advance and I often manage to upgrade to WT+ using cash.
On the rare occasion that I'm booked in WT+, I do sometimes manage an upgrade to Club using Avios points provided that I try this as soon as the ticket has been confirmed.