British Airways - Unexpected bonus

Suffolk dad · 27 Feb 18, 01:43 PM

I called BA on the off-chance today to enquire into an upgrade cost for our LGW-TPA outbound in August, ( already booked CW for return)

Was expecting a figure too high to contemplate, so was also looking to discuss and pre-book our seats to ensure (as far as possible) that we are seated together in WT+ outbound and CW return.

Cost for seat booking was coming out at around Ł370 both ways. Pretty high but worth it to save DW 6 months of worry (DD will be 12 so no more pre-allocation at 4-5 days as before), and as we didn’t go away last year my BA Bronze status is about to lapse so no 7 day seat booking eligibility.

Upgrade cost was calculated in 2 ways, based on today’s CW price, but also based on the CW price at the time we booked ( during the December sale), and was surprisingly low. I also didn’t know that this was an option, thought it would be based purely on today’s CW price. Factor in the Ł370 I was going to pay to book seats (would be more like Ł450 for CW both ways) and it was an even more attractive number, however would potentially leave us open to being seated separately, albeit in a smaller, more comfortable cabin.

Then the magic happened. When the upgrade cost came back as Ł1167 (for the 3 of us), I told Laura from BA that it was a bit higher than I was prepared to pay, (it wasn’t, it was cheaper than I was prepared to pay) despite the fact that I would need to pay for seat booking regardless. Then she went away for a couple of minutes, came back and offered me a Ł200 discount on the upgrade cost plus free seat booking for both ways.

So upgraded from WT+ to CW outbound, and reserved seats for Ł300 odd quid each, Ł110 ish of which I would have forks out to reserve seats anyway)

Apologies for the long post, but BA get a lot of bad press (as do other airlines admittedly), and I think it’s nice to recognise good stuff when it happens.

Jake71 · 27 Feb 18, 02:33 PM

Well done you for getting an upgrade price you were happy with and it is always nice to hear the positive stories coming from the airlines, especially BA as that's who we are flying with again.

alisonjones · 27 Feb 18, 03:13 PM

Well done - bet your over the moon

welshwiz · 27 Feb 18, 07:32 PM

Congratulations on your great deal and thanks for sharing the information as it gives a good benchmark of what is achievable as an upgrade price with added piece of mind of pre-booked seats too. You could also factor in the value of the extra avios and the amazing new lounge at LGW and you're on even more of a winner!

Now instead of 6 months of worry your DW has 6 months of excitement

Suffolk dad · 27 Feb 18, 09:15 PM

Originally Posted by Jake71

Well done you for getting an upgrade price you were happy with and it is always nice to hear the positive stories coming from the airlines, especially BA as that's who we are flying with again.

Yep, BA is our carrier of choice, we’ve always had good or great service from them, and their flydrive sales always seem to fit our bill cost-wise.

Originally Posted by alisonjones

Well done - bet your over the moon

The more I think about it, the more I am!

Originally Posted by welshwiz

Congratulations on your great deal and thanks for sharing the information as it gives a good benchmark of what is achievable as an upgrade price with added piece of mind of pre-booked seats too. You could also factor in the value of the extra avios and the amazing new lounge at LGW and you're on even more of a winner!

Now instead of 6 months of worry your DW has 6 months of excitement

It’s no problem, I think it’s good to share these things, I’ve certainly got of plenty of good info from the Dibb over the years. I don’t know why we were given the discount and the free seat booking to be honest, and I would have upgraded without it. In the past, the upgrade price whenever I’ve needed to request one, has always been one price, take it or leave it, so it was a very nice surprise.

ERICSMUM · 27 Feb 18, 11:16 PM

I like BA CW, well worth the ŁŁ few hundred extra imo.

You can get excited now !

Disney_time · 28 Feb 18, 12:47 PM

Well done OP! Is this a BA "holiday" that you have booked (the kind you don't need to pay till 5 weeks before)? The reason I am asking is that I think you speak to a different group of call centre staff when it's a holiday and I find they always seem to be more willing to help & look for deals than the regular flight sales staff.

It's a great deal you have got anyway and definitely something to look forward to.

I have had an unexpected bonus from BA too, and you may also get this when you get home from your trip. We go on ski holidays with friends and rather than have two separate bookings, this year we booked it all in our names. We both have BA Silver status (due to lots of travel last year!) This meant we all had two suitcases and seat selection at booking. So far so good. What I did not realise was that we must have booked during a special offer and I found 15000 bonus Avios in my account after we got home.

Suffolk dad · 28 Feb 18, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by Disney_time

Well done OP! Is this a BA "holiday" that you have booked (the kind you don't need to pay till 5 weeks before)? The reason I am asking is that I think you speak to a different group of call centre staff when it's a holiday and I find they always seem to be more willing to help & look for deals than the regular flight sales staff.

It's a great deal you have got anyway and definitely something to look forward to.

I have had an unexpected bonus from BA too, and you may also get this when you get home from your trip. We go on ski holidays with friends and rather than have two separate bookings, this year we booked it all in our names. We both have BA Silver status (due to lots of travel last year!) This meant we all had two suitcases and seat selection at booking. So far so good. What I did not realise was that we must have booked during a special offer and I found 15000 bonus Avios in my account after we got home.

Yes, booked it as a flydrive during the December sale, and if I remember correctly we will receive double Avios for one of us, which would equate to around 14000 Avios now I’ve done the upgrade

orlandochris · 1 Mar 18, 04:45 PM

Wait, you got through to Laura?! I, without exception, get through to the Indian call center every single time and have to explain myself 2 or 3 times!

Well done though, that's an awesome bonus!