Questions and Answers

Looking for some help to this great mystery. I frequently hear people talk about buying a cheap business class fare on BA (perhaps using AARP and Chase discounts) and then using Avios to upgrade to F.

I have a flight 4 days from now on BA where I bought an affordable J ticket and would love to upgrade to F. It’s a 747 from IAD to LHR (connecting on to BUD) and there are 9 out of 14 seats still showing available in F on the seat map (Expert Flyer shows 9+ seats still for sale). Yet there are no award seats available, meaning I also can’t upgrade.

This is very similar to the situation I’ve been in several other times with BA. I have a paid J ticket, F is fairly open, but they never make award seats available. But, as the flight gets closer, suddenly F fills up — often in the 24 hours before the flight. I can’t imagine 9 or 10 people are buying paid F fares at the last minute, so I suspect these are mostly upgrades. But since BA is never making F award seats available, how are all these people upgrading?

Am I missing something?

Could be BAEC members using upgrade certificates, or op-ups?

This article from Tiffany is a few years old, but I imagine the logic still applies. At the end, she says that theoretically everything can be done online, but she always ends up having to call. I’d give BA a ring and see what they say. Good luck!

[URL]https://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/09/20/upgrade-british-airways-avios/[/URL]