Questions and Answers

Hey Lucky,

I’m a big fan of your site, and read all you articles. I have a question or some advice to ask from you please, I am planning a last minute trip to Thailand at the end of March. Flying from NYC into Phuket on the 11th March and leaving Bangkok on the 27th March, these days are pretty damn flexible. I am a oneworld member, currently Silver with British Airways, I have 12,000 miles in my BA account and about 65,000 in my chase sapphire preferred credit card, I know this isnt much, but could you suggest a way to get there in style and back? Even if only one route is in business class, or I have to pay for Premium Economy. I would love to try out Cathay, Qatar or Emirates.

Many thanks for any time and help on this,

Your fan,

Ian

[USER=1575]@IanC[/USER] unfortunately you don’t have a lot of points but might be worth playing around with buying a cash ticket and seeing what BA is able to offer for upgrade options. They list a pretty clear overview of the upgrade process at [URL]http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/executive-club/spending-avios/upgrading-with-avios[/URL]. Keep in mind that upgrades are only for one class of service so if you book Y, you’ll only be able to upgrade to Prem Y, Prem Y to J, J to F etc. You’ll have to calculate each segment separately. Good luck!

Hi [USER=1575]@IanC[/USER], welcome!

You have enough Ultimate Rewards points for a one-way business class ticket using United miles or KrisFlyer miles, depending on availability, so I’d focus on that. Upgrades are dicey.

Instead, I’d look at buying the miles needed for the other direction. You’ll likely spend less all-in than buying an economy ticket and upgrading, particularly if you can take advantage of a sale.