[Ah,Mr.Bond]

This is the 2nd time now that this has happened so assume this now to be the norm for this so called benefit.
Last month I was in Mexico and was offered, via Manage My booking, an upgrade from WT+ to Club for GBP500 odd. I clicked on the tab only to be told “Error, We’re sorry but this flight cannot be upgraded online. Please contact your local reservations office”….. I am in La Paz in Mexico guys, I ain’t calling anyone when you are offering this on line! I didn’t bother, and was offered upgrade upgrade at the check-in desk at Mexico City for MXN21,000 which is over 800 quid!.. Forget it!
Yesterday, I went into my next London-Glasgow flight, and once again….. SPECIAL OFFER!!! Upgrade to Club Europe for GBP69! I clicked on it… and got the same message.
What is the reason this simple task can not be done on BA.COM? I assume call centre will be swamped with people trying to book the upgrades they have been offered. It’s pretty poor to be honest

[capetonianm]

I had the same, offered an upgrade on a LIS LHR for about €150, normally I wouldn’t have bothered but a friend was travelling on the same flight in C so I tried to accept the upgrade and got a daft error message. I asked again at checkin and was told it was about €350. Another set of reasons to avoid BA.

[Swissdiver]

I did it numerous times effortless… For European flights, it is usually GBP 69 or 119… May-be the security of your laptop or browser was the issue?

[norbert2008]

Oh had the same with Nice in June when I called to complain I couldn’t do it price went from £150 to £930 ‘sorry you missed the offer’?????? Did get it 2 days before down to £120.00.

[DiamondDad68]

I’ve recently upgraded a LHR-FRA return in January for £49 each way without any issues.

[Inthesandpit]

I’m travelling on the BA bus tomorrow morning DXB – LHR, 2 weeks ago I was offered an upgrade for 3500AED (700 GBP) from CW to F. Did not partake. 3 days ago I checked online as my booking said upgrade this booking, so I checked and this time it had gone up to 6900AED (1300 GBP ish) that was a total no no even though my CW was really cheap. Checked in online today and was offered upgrade again but this time for 2200AED (400GBP ish) so I took it as this will take me into Gold again for next year, which should be my swansong on this route. The upgrade worked very smoothly.

[GBAIR72]

I have had this issue and error before and called up BA Tech Helpdesk and was told that this issue occurs when the upgrade is no longer available as it has been taken up.

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

That’s rubbish GBAIR72 as I called BA up re my next Glasgow flight and explained that this error message is all that ever came up for this, and my flight last month… he did it for me then and there, if it was no longer available he would not have been able to do it. It is an IT thing and not an availability issue as I tried as soon as I received the message and continually, even days later when I was still being offered the upgrade price.
Re the security issue Swissdiver mentions, again, I don’t buy that either. I tried on my laptop, on my work PC, and also on my phone via the app. Everything came back with the same messgae. Grrrrrrrrrr!
Lodged a complaint about it and will see what they make of it.

[capetonianm]

It is an IT fault (I hate the word ‘issue’, sorry!) as stated above.

I know what subclass the upgrades go into and can check to see if there is availability, in my case (Lisbon) there was. However, it’s not quite as simple as that, since most airlines identify the point of enquiry when an availability request is made, and they use a revenue management tool called dynamic availability, which actually means discriminatory, but we mustn’t use that word or people take offence, to decide whether to show, and sell, a seat or seats, or not. There is a whole set of parameters which determine whether or not the sale can take place or not.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=842474]I have had this issue and error before and called up BA Tech Helpdesk and was told that this issue occurs when the upgrade is no longer available as it has been taken up.
[/quote]

BA told me this a few years ago in answer to my complaint that they were persistently advertising an upgrade for ‘x’, when the click through price was ‘x + a substantial sum’, so I reported them to the Advertising Standards Authority, who investigated and spoke with BA, who then grudgingly sold me an upgrade at the advertised price – they were informed that they should not advertise something that is not available for sale.

Given it is still happening, it is surely time for the ASA to consider getting Trading Standards on the case?

[Joseph]

Another issue that no one has mentioned yet, is that any offer of upgrade won’t work if you have have any ancillary product with your booking. So if you added an hotel, car or transfer the system doesn’t seem to know how to price it.

[capetonianm]

The more I hear about BA’s IT the more I think they need to scrap it and start from scratch with a complete redesign or fall back to basics. It’s been cobbled together over the years and is now like a tatty old patchwork quilt with the stuffing coming out and about to fall apart.

When they changed over to the Altea (Amadeus) suite of products, that could have been the beginning of better times, but they had so many customised modules and bits and pieces that they wanted done ‘their way’ which were never properly integrated, hence the problems we are all aware of. The fact that they keep tinkering with it to make it ‘better’ is part of the problem.

What’s that saying ……. ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it ……….. ‘? Doesn’t really apply here though because it is broken and every time they fix one thing, they seem to break two. I’ll refrain from being unkind and saying three!

[ParselTongue]

It seems to give the same error as the OP whenever I am using Chrome. If I revert back to Explorer the error goes away. BA’s systems seem to have problems in general with Chrome, with for example, missing check boxes to confirm acceptance of their Ts & Cs.

[SwissExPat]

As an aside, I was booked in Y+ on Iberia (JFK to MAD) conneting on to ZRH.

At at check in online, I was offered an upgrade to business BUT only on the MAD to ZRH leg for Euro 49 per person. [so not on the longer transatlantic sector]

I tried to click through to book this but the system crashed and I could only check in at the airport (bummer)

At checkin the agent asked if I still wanted the upgrade (it was held in the system) and I said ok and paid the Euro 100 for 2.

for a 2 hour connection travelling with Mrs ExPat it proved to be decent value.

So it seems the whole upgrade experience online leaves alot to be desired on Iberia also

[Author]

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