Can I upgrade outbound to 1st Class if original booking used a 2-4-1 in business
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Booked a 2 for 1 to Cape Town in business, can I upgrade the outbound to 1st class if the seats become available?
I assume a slight increase in taxes and avios required, do BA charge any additional fees?
Wanted to check before I paid for a Seatspy subscription.
SeatSpy’s not hugely reliable atm, but you can certainly upgrade. Reports vary in what BA charges, but the standard procedure would be to refund you some avios and charge quite a hefty increase in taxes (plus £35 pp fee) – you can calculate this by doing a dummy booking in F on your route (or one within the same zone).
E.g. F to NYC, off-peak, is 68k avios, plus £550 ish in surcharges, IIRC. RFS pricing on CW means that you have the option to pay more avios and less cash.
Booked a 2 for 1 to Cape Town in business, can I upgrade the outbound to 1st class if the seats become available?
I assume a slight increase in taxes and avios required, do BA charge any additional fees?
Wanted to check before I paid for a Seatspy subscription.
Yes, you can do this but as there is no RFS for First, there will be an overall recalculation, the outcome of which varies from day to day because surcharges fluctuate. I have just booked out to Beijing in J and F back when that cabin is reintroduced in the winter timetable. The cost of the F return was identical to J in Avios (bearing in mind that now has some of the taxes/fees built in before the fixed RFS cash element) and about £210pp over the J RFS which feels like very good value.
I wouldn’t rely entirely on SeatSpy to find you the seats – I looked at the general availability to PKX and PVG in J/F and it bore no relation to what was actually available. No F was shown on any day when two days had three seats and other days showed Club availability when there was none.
I hope you find the seats you want. Many people here are rather dismissive of BA F but it’s just a whole lot better than Club, whatever one thinks of that!
We were charged nothing to swap from J from SIN to F from PVG — the total joy! We get to see another country, we get new 787 F instead of old A380 J, and we can enjoy a day flight instead of a sleepless red eye. IMO it’s one of the sweet spots of the system and offers truly unbeatable value.
It must have been you I was thinking of, you did very well there 😂
We were charged nothing to swap from J from SIN to F from PVG — the total joy! We get to see another country, we get new 787 F instead of old A380 J, and we can enjoy a day flight instead of a sleepless red eye. IMO it’s one of the sweet spots of the system and offers truly unbeatable value.
It’s remarkably random, but it’s a big plus on the PVG route as that’s now a 14h35 flight which used to be under 12h. Even MU is now 12h45. You also now get to use the CX lounge at PVG which is quite reasonable, whereas they previously only gave access to an airport managed one which wasn’t great. If you are into that sort of thing and not encumbered with too much luggage, the Maglev to/from the airport is a fun experience even if not necessarily the most efficient route.
Didn’t know about the maglev, how fun! Will try it, thanks (assuming all goes well with WeChat pay). We’ve been travelling Asia and Australia since January with just hand baggage only (!).
And yes indeed, the newer design concept Cathay lounge and extra time in the sky is a real treat. Will be sipping Lanson and thinking of you both 😉
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