Travel agent and corporate BA tickets now upgradable – full details confirmed

Well, via this link we now have full details of what has been rumoured for a few days – that British Airways tickets issued by travel agents, most importantly corporate travel agents, will be upgradable with Avios points.

There is quite a bit of confusion about this topic, in particular what the effect will be on ‘standard’ Miles for Upgrade transactions.  I will try to separate out the facts and the considered speculation from the hype.

For the first time, tickets booked via a corporate or standard travel agent can be upgraded with Avios to the next class of travel. 

BA has allowed tickets booked on ba.com to be upgraded with Avios for some years, via a process known as MFU (‘miles for upgrade’).  The key MFU rules will also apply to upgraded corporate tickets:

• You can only upgrade by one class (World Traveller to WT Plus, WT Plus to Club World, Club World to First, Euro Traveller to Club Europe)
• The ticket must have been issued by BA (ie have a ticket number starting 125-) and, if multi-segment, must only contain BA flights
• The cost of the upgrade is the difference between a one-way redemption between the two classes (ie First Class one-way to New York is 60,000 Avios, Club World is 40,000, therefore the upgrade from Club World to First costs 20,000 Avios)
• You can do the upgrade online or by phone, although for the rest of this week you may have to ring if you do not see the option to upgrade showing in Manage My Booking
• You CANNOT upgrade from the cheapest Euro Traveller or World Traveller tickets.  You CAN upgrade from the cheapest World Traveller Plus and Club World tickets.
• You can only upgrade if Avios redemption availability is showing for the upgraded cabin on your flight, as the MFU ticket comes from the same ‘bucket’ as a standard reward ticket.
• You will need to pay extra taxes if the upgrade causes you to pay additional fuel surcharges or Air Passenger Duty based on your new class of travel
• You receive Avios and tier points for the class you originally booked, not the class you ended up flying in

Here are some special rules related to the upgrading of travel agent and corporate tickets:

• You will still be able to upgrade if your company has a special fare deal with BA
• You will be able to upgrade tickets booked prior to today
• You will NOT be able to upgrade if your flight was sold as part of a package holiday, including via BA Holidays.  (For those who understand the jargon, ‘IT fares’ are exempt.)
• Your company CANNOT do the upgrade for you.  You, the passenger, must go into ba.com and personally upgrade your ticket using your own Avios.
• Once you have processed the upgrade, your corporate travel agent loses all control of your ticket and can no longer make any changes to it.  If you need to change your plane home, you can no longer ring your corporate travel agent – you will need to ring BA.

So, what is the net result of all this?  Will it mean, as some online commentators have suggested, the end of upgrade availability for the general public?  My personal view is ‘no’, and I think I will personally benefit from this change.  Let’s look at some facts.

Most personal reward flights are booked months in advance.  Most corporate flights are booked a few days in advance.  You are not therefore competing for the same reward availability.  Corporate upgraders are taking availability from flights that BA opens up for Avios redemptions at the last minute – when did you last book a family holiday at 3 days notice?

Flyers will need to use their personal Avios to do this.  Some may prefer to keep back their Avios to travel with their family, rather than use them on a work trip.  And if they are using them for short notice upgrades, then there will be fewer people with enough Avios to be fighting you for those Summer tickets to Florida.

Some corporates and travellers may not be happy with their corporate travel agent losing control over the booking, which will make them less keen to upgrade.

More importantly, a lot of business travellers will not be willing to pay the extra taxes, which will be coming out of their own pocket.  On Heathrow to New York, for example, the tax on a World Traveller Plus return is £414.  The tax on a Club World return is £520.

All in all, I am not too worried.  I don’t think there will be fewer Avios seats when I book my family holidays six months in advance.  I will also, given our huge Avios points haul between me and my wife, be able to upgrade her on business trips without it making any real dent in our balance.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.