Searchig for Premium Plus voucher extra availability without voucher

[jalternation]

I have a flight booked to DXB in club out and economy back as these were the only flights available at time of booking and used the solo BAPP voucher i had (poor use of the voucher but the only way i could get the club flight out was through the voucher’s added availability). I know more seats in club become available at some point and want to upgrade the return flight if possible, but the BA site doesn’t let me see that availability as I have already used the voucher. Is there any way of seeing it that I’m missing, or do i just need to phone BA daily to find out?

[NorthernLass]

I’m not 100% sure on this but the usual rule is that you can only upgrade by one class which would mean from economy to premium. I think to change your return to CW you might need to cancel and rebook (and risk the seats not going back into the inventory).
For the extra availability you need to call or ask someone with a new-style voucher to search for you. There’s also a way to search for I class inventory but I can’t remember how this works – maybe on ITA matrix?

[Biki]

NorthernLass wrote:

I’m not 100% sure on this but the usual rule is that you can only upgrade by one class which would mean from economy to premium. I think to change your return to CW you might need to cancel and rebook (and risk the seats not going back into the inventory).
For the extra availability you need to call or ask someone with a new-style voucher to search for you. There’s also a way to search for I class inventory but I can’t remember how this works – maybe on ITA matrix?

That’s only for upgrades to cash bookings I think? On a points booking you can just pay the admin fee and change to whatever is available as far as I know.

If the OP says what dates they are after then maybe someone on here with a new style voucher can take a look

[Reney]

If you post the dates and route you are after someone who has a voucher might be nice and look it up for you 😊

[polly]

Anna,
Jumping in on this one.. with the new voucher we can see extra availability, but want to use the old voucher before expiry. Is it possible to phone BA to ask to be put on one of those available flts, even tho we can’t see it with the old voucher? First time experiencing this, save me holding on to BA for hours, that is… TIA

[jalternation]

Thanks everyone. The flight I’m looking at is 1st March Ba108 DXB to LHR at 13.35.if anyone was able to check that would be amazing.
As an aside on this, when booking the outbound I found that all club world seats were in I class but the additional club world availability only came up 29 days before my outbound flight.

[jalternation]

NorthernLass wrote:

I’m not 100% sure on this but the usual rule is that you can only upgrade by one class which would mean from economy to premium. I think to change your return to CW you might need to cancel and rebook (and risk the seats not going back into the inventory).

Sorry, I was being clumsy with language. I’m looking to change my booking, which will have a £35 fee but well worth that and the taxes/avios for club back too!

[NorthernLass]

Hi @Polly – no the old vouchers don’t give you access to the extra availability CW seats, just the standard avios inventory. The extra perks of the new vouchers are to justify the increase in the card fee, I think!

@jalternation – your March date won’t be released for about another 6 weeks so you might want to post a reminder then! I’ve got a new-style voucher I won’t be using for some time so I’ll happily do a search for you if you post at that point.

[polly]

@Anna
Thanks for that… really helpful. Have a great day.

[jalternation]

NorthernLass wrote:

Hi

@jalternation – your March date won’t be released for about another 6 weeks so you might want to post a reminder then! I’ve got a new-style voucher I won’t be using for some time so I’ll happily do a search for you if you post at that point.

Thanks for looking at this, I should have said it’s March 1st 2023 so about 4 weeks from now that I’m looking at 🙂

[ATP]

jalternation wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

Hi




@jalternation – your March date won’t be released for about another 6 weeks so you might want to post a reminder then! I’ve got a new-style voucher I won’t be using for some time so I’ll happily do a search for you if you post at that point.

Thanks for looking at this, I should have said it’s March 1st 2023 so about 4 weeks from now that I’m looking at 🙂

As of now, I cannot see any club/PE seats on your date. I only see J available for 13 March and 15 March atm.

[ATP]

As of now, I cannot see any club/PE seats on your date. I only see J available for 13 March and 15 March atm.

[NorthernLass]

@jalternation, I see! @ATP has just checked, I’ll have a look next time I log into my BA account. Sometimes seats open up a couple of days before travel as well if BA thinks it won’t sell them for cash. There’s a way of checking how busy a flight is, but I’m not sure how you do it!

[jalternation]

Thanks both, that’s really very kind of you to help. Most appreciated.

[Rob]

Someone (I can’t as we don’t have an unused voucher) should check Dubai – Manchester, Dubai – Dublin, Dubai – Amsterdam (all via Heathrow) – one of those may unlock the seats.

[FatherOfFour]

NorthernLass wrote:

@jalternation, I see! There’s a way of checking how busy a flight is, but I’m not sure how you do it!

Expert Flyer will tell you number of seats being sold in each booking class which will give an indication. Similarly, but less reliably, if you try cash bookings via BA app / .com, with differing number of pax, you can deduce number of seats left in each business booking class. Of course none of this gives a definitive answer as to whether extra availability will be released.

[NorthernLass]

@Rob, the issue so close to the travel date might be that there will be no MAN award seats, but I’ll have a look. Does it still work one-way TO regional airports, as this is what OP wants to look for?

[NorthernLass]

Nothing at all coming up DXB-MAN March 1st to 5th.

[Hbommie]

DXB to MAN via LHR on the 28th Feb, nothing on the 1st.

More interesting – DXB to NCL via LHR on the 1st, 3 CW seats on the flight you asked about.

[louie]

Rob Burgess wrote:

Someone (I can’t as we don’t have an unused voucher) should check Dubai – Manchester, Dubai – Dublin, Dubai – Amsterdam (all via Heathrow) – one of those may unlock the seats.

Is there extra availability for Dublin or Amsterdam then? When I’ve looked I’ve only seen it from non-London but UK airports (hence a couple of days in Belfast, a city I’ve not previously visited, before I fly). Also not seen any at all to anywhere (from my destination) on the return, so I had thought it was outbound only. Interesting to see Hbommie found some to NCL.

[Hbommie]

louie wrote:

Rob Burgess wrote:

Someone (I can’t as we don’t have an unused voucher) should check Dubai – Manchester, Dubai – Dublin, Dubai – Amsterdam (all via Heathrow) – one of those may unlock the seats.

Is there extra availability for Dublin or Amsterdam then? When I’ve looked I’ve only seen it from non-London but UK airports (hence a couple of days in Belfast, a city I’ve not previously visited, before I fly). Also not seen any at all to anywhere (from my destination) on the return, so I had thought it was outbound only. Interesting to see Hbommie found some to NCL.

Not sure how it works but I have noticed this before when checking in the other direction i.e. NCL to the US.

[jalternation]

Wow, a lot of people being very generous with your help here… Thanks for so much.
Could I theoretically request to return to Newcastle and just skip out at LHR then? Presumably would need to book it as a stopover on way back to ensure my checked bag doesn’t go to NCL! Or is it realistic to expect that the Heathrow seats will open up assuming the NCL ones don’t get taken?

[NorthernLass]

If you can get NCL, book it as there’s no guarantee LHR will open up. You shouldn’t be charged any extra avios or cash for the domestic leg, and missing the last sector shouldn’t be a problem, especially if you build in a stopover of over 48 (I think) hours. There are any number of reasons you might miss such a connection.

[jalternation]

Had a few issues trying to get BA to convert the return to open jaw to newcastle with layover to open up the seat (2 agents have told me i can’t do that), so have taken the free expertflyer trial for 5 days.
Weird thing is that if i look at my flight BA 108 on 1st March I see no seats at all being available (as below), but the website is still selling them – anyone know why that would be? This was from flight availability search not award flights

BA 1080DXB 03/01/23 1:35 PM
96% / 125mF0 A0 J0 C0 D0 R0 I0 W0 E0 T0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

[JDB]

jalternation wrote:

Had a few issues trying to get BA to convert the return to open jaw to newcastle with layover to open up the seat (2 agents have told me i can’t do that), so have taken the free expertflyer trial for 5 days.
Weird thing is that if i look at my flight BA 108 on 1st March I see no seats at all being available (as below), but the website is still selling them – anyone know why that would be? This was from flight availability search not award flights

BA 1080DXB 03/01/23 1:35 PM
96% / 125mF0 A0 J0 C0 D0 R0 I0 W0 E0 T0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

You need to reset the Point of Sale to UK.