Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Why you should turn down the new British Airways ‘at the airport’ Avios flight upgrades

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During June, British Airways is trialling something new at Heathrow.  During midweek office hours, passengers on cash tickets may be offered the chance to upgrade their seat using Avios.  The offer will come via the BA app once the customer is identified as being in the airport.

Don’t do it.

This is how it seems to be working.  For a long time, BA has let you upgrade at the airport for cash if a flight was quiet and there are no catering issues.  You just need to ask at check-in.

The only thing that appears to be different now is that BA is converting the cash cost into Avios, using a poor exchange rate close to 0.5p per Avios, and quoting you that instead.

British Airways upgrade at the airport

Even if you wanted to upgrade, you should pay cash instead of using Avios.  You are basically getting around 0.5p per Avios, which is very poor.  This is the same rate that you get if you choose to use Avios instead of cash to pay for seat selection.

Here is an example from a HfP reader who was travelling to Abu Dhabi in Club World yesterday and asked about upgrading to First:

The standard difference in Avios pricing, one way, from Club World to First is 18,000 – 20,000 Avios depending on whether it is a peak or off-peak date

Our reader was on a 2-4-1 British Airways American Express voucher, however, so if he had upgraded in advance – if Avios seats had opened up – he and his partner would only have paid 9,000 – 10,000 Avios each

Instead, he was quoted 65,000 Avios for the one-way upgrade, per person

The only caveat I would add is that, had the reader called Executive Club to upgrade into Avios seats, he would have had to pay a £35 change fee and any difference in taxes on top.  This still doesn’t cover the value gap between 65,000 Avios and 18,000 Avios.

Allegedly, the BA employee at the upgrade desk told him that only two people had accepted the upgrade offer over the past two days.

I am guessing that 65,000 Avios is based on a one-way cash upgrade cost of between £325-£400 per person, each way, translated into Avios at a poor rate.

There is one other data point from Flyertalk at a similar level.  The poster, flying to Chicago, was quoted 60,000 Avios for a one-way World Traveller to World Traveller Plus upgrade, or 120,000 Avios for a one-way World Traveller to Club World upgrade.  What is amusing here is that the standard cost of a one-way First Class Avios seat to Chicago is only 68,000 Avios off peak.

Just say no, kids.

This HfP article tells you all you need to know about upgrading British Airways flights with Avios BEFORE arriving at the airport.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (May 2025)

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Comments (191)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Michael says:

    Whats everyone take on Heathrow rewards? I have 2600 points but a £25 voucher useable. Do people generally redeem as a voucher or convert to airline miles? I know they run good airline miles bonuses sometimes.

    • Rob says:

      Best is when a transfer bonus is on, either for miles or vouchers.

      However, Graeme (who you may have met if you’ve been to any of our parties) left HR at Christmas. His replacement seems less bothered about running bonuses and we’ve not seen anything yet in 2019. Who knows if they reappear?

      • Michael says:

        I haven’t, but thank you.

        • David says:

          I use Heathrow Rewards for Miles & More conversions – it’s basically the only currency that converts into M&M, except Bonvoys, which are better spent on hotels.

  • PaulC says:

    O/T Airport Lounge Access. Family holiday coming up 17th June. 6 adults and one 2 year old travelling. My wife and I between us have 1 Lounge Club Card with two free entries (In wife’s name) and 2 Priority Pass Cards (one in each of our names) Will they allow us to use all 3 cards including 2 in my wife’s name to get all 6 adults in free? Whats the charge for a 2 year old? Flying T2 Manchester to Palma and back.

  • David says:

    OT: Any advice/thoughts on this welcome.

    Flying from Heathrow to SFO on 18June in F by Avios redemption and Amex BAPP 2for1. If Heathrow affected/shutdown by planned Extinction Rebellion action, what is likely outcome for next day/alternate flights – appreciate unlikely to get F seats again. Will they refund some avios? Will there be any difficulties due to no longer having the BAPP card that the 2for1 was issued from?

    Any advice welcome.

    • LB says:

      +1. We’re travelling from Heathrow on the same day, in First, to Boston. I’ve never been in the Concorde lounge before and this news is starting to worry me a little.

      • Anna says:

        On the bright side, there are worse places to be stuck in than the CCR! You could always book into the Sofitel the night before if you’re really worried but I suspect the authorities will be under strict orders to deal firmly with any disruption.

        • LB says:

          Thanks for your replies. I guess it’s a case of “wait and see”. I’m a bit annoyed as it’s the start of my 50th Birthday holiday…

      • marcw says:

        Shhhh! Don’t give them ideas!

  • Craig says:

    completely OT – I’m looking for a redemption option to fly JNB-MRU. I know South African Airlines used to fly the route, but i can’t work out any way of booking it with them via avios anymore. It’s on a Tuesday in May next year (I know Comair or someone flies on a Saturday but that is no good for us).

    Any ideas? Cash flights are looking very expensive already so ideally we want to fly direct by if we have to do a stop (and therefore we can get them both on avios) that might be an option

    • Michael says:

      QR via Doha but that’s a bit ridiculous. Oneworld Partners are limited in Africa apart from Royal Air Moroc and Comair. Not sure if it’s ever been possible to book South African Airlines with Avios as they are in star alliance.

      • Craig says:

        thanks for the response. I thought i saw something online but may have been wrong re using Avios on SA Airlines!

    • marcw says:

      You can redeem any Star Alliance miles for this sector. Maybe transferring Amex MR points to KrisFlyer helps (I think it’s 15k one way in economy). Or you could also transfer MR points to Flying Blue and book on Air Mauritius, but they charge you fuel on top (i’ve checked and it’s 17.500 miles + 99 EUR fees+taxes – in economy). Remember that with Flying Blue you can reduce by a 25% the required miles, paying roughly 1 eurocent per mile.
      But unless you are MR rich, Air Austral is offering JNB-MRU with a connection in Reunion for 165 GBP pp (economy), which is an ok fare (for 213 GBP you can fly non-strop with South African/Air Mauritius).

    • Neil says:

      It can be booked with Virgin Atlantic who is a redemption partner with South African airlines! I’ve done it before without any issues on the phone. Of course this won’t solve your issue trying to use Avios

      • Craig says:

        interesting. Not considered Virgin Atlantic but I do have a smaller pile of around 70k flying club points. Will investigate that option. Thanks!!

  • Dominic Barrington says:

    I’m beyond disappointed at the loss of the Sofitel check-in. I found it a huge blessing, but perhaps I’m just lazy!

  • BlueHorizonuk says:

    Seems like BA have cancelled the domestic 747 flights on 25 August and offering refunds.

  • Howard says:

    I received the voucher withing 30 mins and then applied..Must be about 2 1/2 weeks.

    Thanks
    Howard

  • pauldb says:

    Curve FX fees. I was under the impression you get £500 fee-free per calendar month. T&Cs say “per month” whereas other spend caps are stated “30 days rolling”.
    But after spending >£500 last week of May, I was charged 2% + 0.5% for transactions on June 1&2 (1.10 net). I’ve asked Curve and they say the limit is 30-days rolling.
    So have others suffered the same fees? Am I alone in having read the rules this way?

    • BlueHorizonuk says:

      They charge this at weekends to protect themselves from currency fluctuations while the office is closed.

      • pauldb says:

        The 0.5% yes, that’s fine, but the 2%/£500 I thought would reset 1st of the month.
        Annoyingly the app still says “You saved £3.72 in fees” on a £128 transaction – which is a lie.

    • Roy says:

      I’m sure I saw a post from someone who tested this a while back by doing exactly what you did – and they *didn’t* get charged, and concluded it was, indeed, per calendar month.

      The lack of clarity is annoying, as is the fact that there’s no way of viewing how much of your £500 limit you have left.

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