Upgrade for London – Bengaluru flight advice

[routeski]

Hello everyone

I have to travel to India soon for work and it’s quite a long flight. Our company policy is economy only, however we are allowed to then upgrade ourselves using cash or points.

I have a lot of points and vouchers and would like to look into an upgrade. However, it seems that BA Avios upgrades are only one class up, and I’m not sure that WTP is really that much of an upgrade.

Any way that people can think of to upgrade to CW or equivliant on different airlines?

TIA!

[BBbetter]

Your company obviously doesn’t care if you upgrade using your points, but the airlines restrict upgrading option to only the most expensive economy fares.
If your company is booking the cheapest economy fares, you wouldn’t be eligible for upgrading.

[NorthernLass]

Have you looked at Qatar? I don’t know if they fly to Bengaluru but they don’t have a PE cabin so any upgrade would be to J.

If all else fails though, WTP is quite an improvement on WT!

[travelmonkey]

I flew LHR-BLR with work back in 2018. One thing I learned over those 10 days is India culturally has a different approach to personal space than us in the UK and the economy cabin was one of the most chaotic I’ve seen on a plane. As such I would recommend at least Trav Plus if possible (my ex-crew wife would echo this too)

Before diving into points, check out the cash fares, as premium cabins are generally competitively priced to India. When I flew it was fractionally cheaper to book Trav Plus than book Trav and buy exit row seats, and the experience was certainly better. I forget if the cost delta was £50 per leg or total.

The arrival time is also brutally early in the morning. I actually had a hotel room booked for a couple extra hours rest before heading into the office, but if you’re going straight in then that’s more reason to travel in a better cabin.

I don’t know what your expense policy is, but I would suggest trying to book cash directly into your chosen cabin. Grab a screenshot of the company economy fare and then attach both the full receipt and the screenshot to the claim, nothing the difference as a personal expense for the upgrade. (If you’ve got a corporate card, don’t forget to clear off the difference directly with the card provider)