Cabin upgrade voucher

[timgilp]

I’m not far off getting a voucher but have a product offer to downgrade to the Avios card from Avios plus . I’m trying to work out if it’s worth waiting to get the voucher and then ( hopefully) take an option to downgrade to the non payment card once I have achieved this. Does the upgrade voucher work totally separately to Amex companion voucher ? I’m trying to work out when or if I will make use of the voucher or if I should just concentrate on using my Amex card to get the companion voucher and downgrade now to the Avios card . Hope that makes sense !

[SteveJ]

You need to decide if you’re going to use the vouchers.

If you are and the concern is whether you can realistically hit both spend targets, then you should consider bringing some spend forward to hit the spend targets on both cards (e.g. top up energy accounts, council tax, Supermarket vouchers, Amazon). That’s what I’d be doing if I were “not far off” the spend target.

Only you will know if the vouchers are of any value to you though.

[NorthernLass]

Yes they are completely separate vouchers, e.g. you can’t use them both on the same booking. This time of year is great for hitting target spends with Christmas on the horizon – I would trigger the BC voucher if you know you want it, as the spend required is only half of what you need on the free card, then downgrade later. You also have 2 years to use it so plenty of time to find something that works for you.

[robkeane]

Is there a definitive timeline for the appearance of the voucher on ba.com after the spend has been done ? Does it require the statement to be generated that has the spend that resulted in the threshold being passed, or does it only required the spend threshold to be passed.

[harley]

It seems to trigger the day after you have hit spend, i hit my spend yesterday and voucher was in my ba account today

[gordog01]

Can anyone confirm that you get a domestic connection with the voucher if going long haul? On today’s chat thread @Northernlass says that you don’t get a domestic connection which I hope is not correct!!

[NorthernLass]

I’ve explained on the chat thread what the problem is with this!

[alexb]

Looks like Barclaycard upgrade is not much use if you are flying from a regional airport.
Extra avios charges for domestic flight nulls the benefit back to ba Amex for me.

[TerryTierPoints]

I confirmed with BA that there is no free domestic connection.
Rubbish as I’m based in central Scotland.
Was the lack of domestic connection in the original HfP articles? I don’t recall seeing that.
Anyway probably dump the premier account now and downgrade to the free Barclaycard to earn a few Avios where AMEX is not accepted.

[TerryTierPoints]

TerryTierPoints wrote:

I confirmed with BA that there is no free domestic connection.
Rubbish as I’m based in central Scotland.
Was the lack of domestic connection in the original HfP articles? I don’t recall seeing that.
Anyway probably dump the premier account now and downgrade to the free Barclaycard to earn a few Avios where AMEX is not accepted.

Yup disappointing that there is no discussion on domestic connections in this article:

https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/03/29/barclaycard-avios-upgrade-voucher/

[NorthernLass]

I agree this is a big disappointment for regional folk, but if you use it to upgrade to CW on a flight to (e.g.) the Caribbean it’s effectively giving you, off-peak, 60k free avios (plus avios for whatever you’ve spent on the card). Even if you have to spend an extra 8k + £35 avios on a domestic connection in ET, this is still a good deal IMO. Of course I’d rather have the convenience of the whole journey on one PNR but 60k free avios is still not to be sniffed at.

I don’t see how Rob could have mentioned this in his article as at the time of writing no one on HFP had tried to use the voucher for a flight with a domestic connection so the issue was unknown.

[Tim_T]

I have booked a domestic with transatlantic flight using a Barclaycard upgrade voucher with Avios. I had to phone to do it as the search couldn’t cope with upgrading an economy ticket to club for the domestic leg at the same time as a premium economy to club for the international leg.

I then phoned to book the return when it was released.

I didn’t pay any extra Avios for the domestic leg, and I paid the same Avios & tax as a BA Amex 241 booked at the same time.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Tim_T wrote:

I have booked a domestic with transatlantic flight using a Barclaycard upgrade voucher with Avios. I had to phone to do it as the search couldn’t cope with upgrading an economy ticket to club for the domestic leg at the same time as a premium economy to club for the international leg.

I then phoned to book the return when it was released.

I didn’t pay any extra Avios for the domestic leg, and I paid the same Avios & tax as a BA Amex 241 booked at the same time.

Tell us more Tim. Dates and destination.

[NorthernLass]

Yes, this is interesting because it’s clearly not the same as @TunnocksTeacakes reported in May (had to pay 18k avios plus £1 for the domestic leg). Maybe they’ve fixed the glitch?

How many avios were you charged in total? Was it totally free? You normally have to pay the RFS fee on domestic legs when using the BAPP voucher, even though you don’t get charged the extra avios.

[Tim_T]

Really not much to tell.

In September I wanted to book three club seats from Glasgow to San Fran using both a Barclaycard upgrade voucher and BA Amex 241 in August 2023. I was expecting it all to work like a 241 booking where I book online the outbound and phone to add the return. I should have done a little more research as the website forces you to search for either premium economy flights or economy flights to then upgrade. Unfortunately if you include sectors with different cabin configurations ie one with PE the other without, then the system isn’t bright enough to show you one with upgrade from PE and the other from economy, even when the domestic leg is “free” with Avios anyway.

In the end I phoned BA and whilst on the call the phone agent asked me to book the London San Fran leg and then the phone agent added on the domestic leg to the Barclays booking. I then phoned again a couple of weeks later to add the return transatlantic leg (from LAX) once released and then again the next day to add the final domestic Glasgow leg.

I have the email receipt from the final addition of the Glasgow leg and it shows zero Avios and cash. The totals are also the same as those booked using the 241 voucher.

[NorthernLass]

So how many avios and taxes in total for the upgrade voucher booking, if you don’t mind checking? I’ve never known the RFS fee not be charged for a 2 for 1 booking as well, so it would be odd if you got it totally free on BOTH bookings.

Also, do you mean the same avios totals? This can’t be right as the BC and BA vouchers work slightly differently (2 4 1 v upgrade, different numbers of avios involved). Have you checked you baec account statement to see if it tallies with the email?

Finally, did the agent confirm there was zero extra charge for adding the domestic legs?

[Tim_T]

Ok, I wasn’t quite expecting the forensic analysis 😂

You are off course correct, the upgrade voucher took an Avios PE number of miles of 65,000 return, whilst the 241 took the club number of miles 125,000 for two tickets. These were off peak dates.

What I meant but didn’t word well was that this was the same category / zone and that there was nothing extra for the domestic leg.

There is no RFS fee charged for adding the domestic leg, and I have never been charged one when booking a TATL in all the years of booking Avios flights.

As I put, I have the receipt from adding the final Glasgow leg to the Barclaycard booking. It shows zero for both Avios and taxes, and I was not charged anything extra when I added this. I was also not charged anything extra when the outbound Glasgow leg was added.

[NorthernLass]

Thanks – it’s really helpful for other readers to have the full details in case they get a BA agent who won’t apply the same conditions as others.

However, the domestic legs on avios bookings are never “free”. The system doesn’t show a separate charge, but if you price up the flights with and without the domestic connection, you will see a smallish difference in the surcharges because the RFS in added for the connection. That’s why I’m a bit sceptical about BA not charging any extra!

Emails from BA also won’t necessarily show what was debited from you BA account either, as the process for showing avios transactions has become really complicated if you have a HHA.

[Tim_T]

RFS only applies to flights under 2000 miles and it was back in 2020 when BA changed the rules so that domestic legs were not free on RFS. However this did not change for flights over 2000 which are not RFS and still have free domestic legs

[NorthernLass]

I’m pretty sure I always get charged the RFS fee for domestic legs but I’ll go away and do a dummy booking! I’ve been paying this for long before 2020 as well though.

[Tim_T]

I think you are confusing things a bit. RFS was/is a scheme where BA charge a fixed fee for Avios flights. Over 2000miles you pay the standard taxes that you would pay for a revenue ticket. This is nothing to do with RFS.

Also, yes adding the domestic leg can vary the taxes a little especially when from Scotland. However for me this was the same as what I paid for the 241. As I’ve now written 3 times, the receipt shows zero and I was not charged even £1 for adding the final Glasgow leg

[Tim_T]

Done a search myself. Club off peak to San Fran

From London, 125k plus £868.86
From Glasgow, 125k plus £880.67
From Inverness, 125k plus £697.47

[Tim_T]

And from Manchester it was £890.65

[NorthernLass]

That was my mistake, historically it was reported on here that the RFS fee was applied to domestic connections and I assumed it was that as the extra amount from MAN was very similar. But it’s definitely not free, which is why I’m confused about how your 241 booking could cost the same pp in surcharges as your BC upgrade booking, if you weren’t charged extra for the latter!

Interested to see the extra gouging we get when departing from MAN! Presumably this is down to different regional governments setting tax rates?

[Tim_T]

The RFS is applied to domestic connections, it’s just Reward Flight Saver only applies to flights under 2000 miles and gives you a fixed fee rather than the variable tax/surcharge/airport ripoff costs. Over 2000 it’s not a RFS and you pay whatever the tax/surcharges/airport ripoff costs that apply, but do not pay anything extra in Avios for the flights.

On the 241 voucher I paid the taxes etc for the business class flights. On the BC you pay the taxes etc for the cabin you are upgrading to, ie the business class cabin. Therefore the taxes etc are identical pp.