What’s the point of Upgrade voucher – Expensive redemption.

[bbs01]

Hi
I’m looking to travel to Auz next year and I have a BC upgrade voucher . Ideally looking to fly to Mel and out of Sydney from London but BA doesn’t fly to Sydney.

I did a comparison between flying via Qatar with Avios multicity and on BA return to sydney using my upgrade voucher and while dates are slightly different bc of availability ( Qatar has more), both are March dates.

Qatar – Multi-city will cost 180K avios + £600 for Biz
BA using BC upgrade will cost 195k avios + upgrade voucher + 950 for Biz/Club

Am i missing something here ? ie Am i using my voucher incorrectly.

I would choose Qatar Airways over BA any day but I thought it would be cheaper to use my upgrade voucher.
Im thinking the upgrade voucher and hence payng for the plus BC version has been a complete waste money. Thankfully i downgraded once i got my voucher but still paid for BC plus a few months.

thanks

W

[NorthernLass]

LHR-SYD should cost 160k avios off peak with the upgrade voucher (i.e. the PE price) but as highlighted n another thread today, the system seems to be pricing it oddly so you may need to call to get the proper avios rate.

I’d hurry up though, if this is what you want to do as SYD award flights in CW disappear very quickly.

[supergraeme]

Depends on how you use it. I flew to Seattle last year for 95k Avios and £450 in Business, which I thought was great. I was with a friend rather than my partner so it worked well. You are looking at the PE Avios cost, aren’t you? I’m not familiar with Australia costs.

[NorthernLass]

Agreed, we used the voucher one way to DXB in December when cash prices were through the roof, 85k avios plus £350 I think.

As always, flexibility is the key to getting the best out of this.

[Reney]

@bbs01

Addressing a number of points in your original post

1. you stated BA doesn’t fly to SYD, it does as I and many others have booked it and it seem you have managed to price it? I think you meant MEL
2.NorthernLass is often right so maybe SYD flights are pricing wrong at the moment but you need to remember that you pay max Avios option with the BC voucher. Did you try pricing the flights with and without the voucher to check?
3. Pretty sure Rhy has written an article that Qater avios pricing for NZ is better value than BA before any vouchers so it doesn’t surprise me the Qatar value is better. Back to point 2, if the pre voucher price is better then the post voucher difference might be smaller
4. Paying for Premium card gave you access to 1.5 avios per £ spent, and if you qualified for a sign up bonus it was probably bigger and you got the voucher quicker as only needed £10k spend vs £20k. Not completely fair to say a complete waste of money.

[Reney]

https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/10/14/how-to-get-to-australia-new-zealand-with-avios-points/

This is the one I was thinking off… The article basically concludes that there is no point in going via BA even with a 2for1 voucher if you can find Qatar availability, due to the pre voucher difference.

[bbs01]

Thanks all.

Yes, I meant to say BA does not fly to MEL.

I was just trying to see options because I don’t have enough Avios for Qatar Or BA. I thought of going via qr one way and BA return but not worth it. I will try qr once I have enough points. I need to do some serious Avios boosting over the next few months.
Would be great if the offer to boost Avios for the previous 12 months comes up again :).

[Reney]

Not sure when you are flying, I am impressed you found the availabilities to even do a comparison.

[bbs01]

Next year. Ideally March .

[NorthernLass]

BA CW availability for March is nearly all gone now so you may have to discount that option anyway. For most redemption opportunities (except if you have a BAPP 241 voucher), you ideally need to book 12 months out to be sure of getting seats to Australia.