Upgrading business to first class with Avios

[sturgeon]

I have an upcoming London to Doha flight on BA in club world and have seen availability come up for multiple first seats on the same flight.

I originally booked with a Barclays voucher so upgraded from premium economy. There’s a cash offer in my BA account to upgrade each seat (me plus p2) for £399.

I’ve called BA to ask how much it would cost if upgrading using Avios. Searching for the flight shows that it costs 10k less Avios per person but £247 more in taxes. So I was somewhat expecting to be quoted £247 extra and mildly hoped the 10k Avios would be reimbursed.

I got through to an international call centre and the person I spoke to initially said very quickly that it’s not possible to book first class seats with Avios so that wasn’t the most positive start to a call with such a clear error. Anyway they put me on hold on and off and initially quoted £132 plus change fees and then it went up to about £300 per person plus a £30 change fee plus £15 service fee. Plus 40k Avios.

I don’t trust this calculation and I wouldn’t pay that much anyway. I’d probably pay £247 per person more to try the first cabin though.

Is there a correct way to calculate this especially considering I originally paid the Avios for a PE seat but the taxes for a club world seat? Also, shouldn’t the service fee be waived as it’s not possible to make this change online?

[AJA]

I thought that you couldn’t use a Barclays upgrade voucher to upgrade to First Class? I think it’s in the T&Cs That is probably what the CS agent meant about not being able to use Avios to upgrade.

I would take the cash offer in MMB if you really want to uograde to First.

[sturgeon]

AJA wrote:

I thought that you couldn’t use a Barclays upgrade voucher to upgrade to First Class? I think it’s in the T&Cs That is probably what the CS agent meant about not being able to use Avios to upgrade.

I would take the cash offer in MMB if you really want to uograde to First.

That’s right but I’ve already used the voucher to book these flights months ago. The agent mentioned not even being able to book First flights with Avios before I even provided my booking reference. Now I’m enquiring with them about upgrading the flights to the next cabin so I think this is different.

I’ve looked into it further and think they were half correct, at least by asking for more Avios. I paid 2x 60k Avios (120k total) which was the premium economy cost. The voucher upgraded us to club world for no extra Avios. The taxes were £187.50 each (£375 total ).

Booking 2x First seats would cost 160k Avios so the quote for 40k more Avios would seem correct to make up the difference. The taxes for 2 x First seats are £424.03 each (£868.06 total). So I should be charged £493.06 more, £246.53 per seat. Plus the £35 change fee x2, so £281.53 per person total. I don’t think the 2x £15 service fee should be charged as I can’t make this booking myself online.

Does this seem correct? TBH I was half hoping they just mess up the calculation and charge me less.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Call You First not just the generic call centre number.