A question for the Aviation ‘experten’

[cornishfrogboy]

This concerns Avios and Companion Vouchers with BA, so if it ‘ain’t your thing’, then it’s time to back page.

I want to book a Companion Flight and also with Avios on a long haul only return flight. Where to, does not greatly matter.

Currently there is availability on both legs, but only on Economy. We would like Prem Economy out and Economy home.

If I were to book the Economy Flights now, and (as BA assert), other cabins become available….

1. Can I simply phone BA and upgrade using points (and of course an uplift in cash as APD increases will be involved)?

2. Is this in the opinion of Stanleycamel and others, a likely scenario?

I am not talking about a standard DIBB, Florida routing.

[2020holibubbles]

Definitely not an expert but having used cv’s and reward flights here’s my take on it:

1. Yes I think so but you’d have to pay the £35 pp change fee, as long, as you say, that there is availability.
2. Unlikely if a popular route or if the flight loads are looking full is my understanding of it.

[abzorba]

The ability to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy will be governed by the type of Companion Voucher you have. If you have one issued with the free BA Amex then you will be limited to Economy only. If you have the paid-for BA Premium Plus card then your Companion Voucher can be used on any class.

1. Yes, you can phone and upgrade and pay the extra taxes and points. If you're moving to a different date/time/flight to get the upgrade then I think you'll need to cancel and rebook. In which case it might take 12 hours to get your Companion Voucher returned to your account.

2. Seats do sometimes become available. You likely need an account with someone like Reward Flight Finder to get an alert when/if the seats become available though.

EDIT: PM me the route you're looking at if you want me to have a search on my Reward Flight Finder account.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by abzorba

The ability to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy will be governed by the type of Companion Voucher you have. If you have one issued with the free BA Amex then you will be limited to Economy only. If you have the paid-for BA Premium Plus card then your Companion Voucher can be used on any class.

1. Yes, you can phone and upgrade and pay the extra taxes and points. If you're moving to a different date/time/flight to get the upgrade then I think you'll need to cancel and rebook. In which case it might take 12 hours to get your Companion Voucher returned to your account.

2. Seats do sometimes become available. You likely need an account with someone like Reward Flight Finder to get an alert when/if the seats become available though.

EDIT: PM me the route you're looking at if you want me to have a search on my Reward Flight Finder account.

See more...

PM sent to you. Yes, it is a Premium Amex Avios on which we got the voucher.
I have 105k Avios and thus seemingly for Economy out and Premium Back.

I continue to gain Avios at around 3k a month, but could easily raise it to 5k if I chose to do more surveys.

I also have £1k of Hotel bookings to make for a different vacation, so they will get me a further amount when used. Avios Hotels are currently at 10 Avios/£ but often go higher than that. Trouble is that these will be occupied in October!

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by abzorba

The ability to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy will be governed by the type of Companion Voucher you have. If you have one issued with the free BA Amex then you will be limited to Economy only. If you have the paid-for BA Premium Plus card then your Companion Voucher can be used on any class.

1. Yes, you can phone and upgrade and pay the extra taxes and points. If you're moving to a different date/time/flight to get the upgrade then I think you'll need to cancel and rebook. In which case it might take 12 hours to get your Companion Voucher returned to your account.

2. Seats do sometimes become available. You likely need an account with someone like Reward Flight Finder to get an alert when/if the seats become available though.

EDIT: PM me the route you're looking at if you want me to have a search on my Reward Flight Finder account.

See more...

Thankyou so much.

As a result of your assistance, I have booked LGW - Bangkok for Mandie and I.
26 February outbound Economy
13 March inbound World Traveller Plus.

£605, 85k Avios and a companion Voucher.

I truly could never have done this without you, Abzorba and my gratitude is (almost) without bounds!

[abzorba]

Excellent. Always a pleasure to help out a fellow Cornishman!

[Softy]

If availability opens up then you can upgrade for the extra Avios and taxes/fees when using the premium companion voucher.
There are some restrictions you may see about only being able to upgrade by 1 class but that doesn’t affect the Avios bookings.

[sully301]

Cornishfrogboy.. what are these surveys please?

[stanleycamel]

Sorry I'm late to answer here but glad you have got sorted out with abzorba's help. Blame the time difference as I'm 4 hours behind the UK. Looking forward to another of your TR's about the Bangkok trip.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by sully301

Cornishfrogboy.. what are these surveys please?

See more...

You go on ‘Avios for thoughts’ and register for surveys.

As you complete a survey, they credit you with Avios points. You can register everyone attached to your Avios account and thus, build the points even quicker.

I do the surveys when I have slack time and have done really well out of them!

Other good ways of upping your Avios are Nectar Points and collecting through the boosted companies on the Avios app.