Upgrade using Avios

[Orlando Soon]

Looking to book flight and car for next July with BA so that we only have to pay deposit. Would like to try and upgrade two out of the five of us to premium using avios point. Anyone know how I do this and how to check how many points I will need?

[Shooby doo]

Unless they have changed their T&C's then you can't do deposit only & use Avios. If you link your Avios account to your BA one it will advise you how many points everything costs- only 2 of us so never tried to upgrade just one of us IYKWIM
To give you an idea though I think 13000 got us a £100 discount
SD

[Orlando Soon]

Thanks for the information.

[Softy]

Originally Posted by Orlando Soon

Thanks for the information.

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It’s the wrong information for what you’re after though. That’s just where you can use so many Avios for a cash discount when you book.
You’re talking about upgrading 2 flights at a later date with Avios. You have to get the flights into an upgradeable ticket, which normally costs money, then use Avios to upgrade (there has to be reward availability in that class to be able to upgrade).

The relevant text on BA’s website:
“An upgrade with Avios consists of:
a cash amount for the flights
an Avios amount for the upgrade
taxes, fees and carrier charges
The Avios amount required for the upgrade is based on the Avios costs for reward flights in the cabins you are upgrading from and to and will depend on whether your flight is scheduled on a peak or off-peak date.
The formula is:
Avios for the cabin you wish to upgrade to - Avios for the cabin you make your booking in = Avios required to upgrade one way“

July 4th onwards is peak with BA. 50k premium, 25k economy each way. So 25k needed each way to upgrade to premium. Plus the extra taxes.
(Off peak is 16,250/32,500).

IMO upgrading to premium with miles is rarely worth it, as you can normally book it for an extra £100-150 each way (especially the inbound flight) at the time of booking.

[Peko]

The economy fares used by BA Holidays for packages (flight with hotel and/or car) very often book into G class inventory, which is not upgradeable with Avios (neither are O and Q class, which are usually the lowest priced flight-only booking classes).

[THE WIZARD]

As others have said, it's never as easy as you think when you start saving Avios there are options to consider. When we did our West Coast road trip we found it was better to use Avios for our car rental than anything to do with the flights (used our VS points for those instead)

[Softy]

Originally Posted by THE WIZARD

As others have said, it's never as easy as you think when you start saving Avios there are options to consider. When we did our West Coast road trip we found it was better to use Avios for our car rental than anything to do with the flights (used our VS points for those instead)

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Generally the best use by far is on business/first class flights. It’s rarely worthwhile using them on economy/premium because of the taxes/fee charged by BA. Better to save up and make use of the Amex’s to build up quickly.

[THE WIZARD]

Originally Posted by Softy

Generally the best use by far is on business/first class flights. It’s rarely worthwhile using them on economy/premium because of the taxes/fee charged by BA. Better to save up and make use of the Amex’s to build up quickly.

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I had enough VS miles for 2 first class returns to San Francisco so didn't need to use the Avios for that hence using Avios for our car rental for the 2 weeks there. As you say best use for any airmiles is for upgrades or full payment on Business or above.