[Anonymous]

[Senator]

Dear all,

BA is currently offering a free one-way upgrade from Club World to First when buying flexible CW tickets (C/J fare basis) ex.ARN, OSL, CPH, HEL to WW destinations. Sample fares include:

ARN – NYC: 25.000 SEK (£2200 with today’s SEK to GBP rate)
Note: LCY A318 route is priced the same as LHR from ARN

ARN-LAX: 29.500 SEK (£2600)

ARN-JNB 32.500 SEK (£2850)

Prices ex.OSL/CPH/HEL tends to be the same when calculated into € or £. With CPH as base, you save about 1 hour on the inbound and outbound.

PLEASE NOTE: Offer only valid when calling BA reservation in local market

https://www.britishairways.com/travel/upgrade-to-first/execclub/_gf/en_se

[David]

Thanks Senator – I have a couple of long-hauls coming up ex. ARN over the next month that I will try to arrange through this offer! Unfortunately I need to head out to the middle east next week but won’t be booking on BA as they have yet to post their strike period flight confirmations yet…

You correctly write (the fine print) that this upgrade is only valid on fares that are fully flexibile. Sometimes it does amount to a free upgrade (depending on when you search and what fares are remaining online in the system) and other times the fully flexible fare can be as much as 10,000 SEK (ca. 900 GBP) over what can be found on the net for the same flights but at a different Club World booking fare.

It’s a pity that I never see Lufthansa, SWISS, Air France or the like offer these types of incentives. If you do come across any – please let us know!

[Senator]

Home@FL350,

The fare differences for most of these destinations are around 6000 SEK for the flexible tickets. Whilst this is clearly a handful of cash, a one way upgrade to First is not bad considering the lowest First fare is 2.5x the flexible CW. I guess the only “downside” to the upgrade is that you get BAEC Tier Points for the CW fare and not class travelled. However, I guess that is what we should expect. I tend to use LX when I need flexible tickets as their “J-class” from ARN is always flexible (and cheapest).

I don’t know what AF is thinking; their First offering is always most expensive and the one time I travelled AF First it was a poor experience (in comparison to BA, LX, LH and TG). Both prices in cash and miles are dreadful in the AF cabin.

I do find that LH and LX tend to be the cheapest options in First from ARN, and both have excellent products.

I may take the BA option for a trip to the US over the summer.

[David]

Thanks again Senator for the useful information!

The “up to 10,000 SEK” is based on past promotions where I had done some further investigation.

Lastly, I wonder if the Terms and Conditions have changed regarding BAEC Tier Points for this promotion? I know in the past (4 or 5 “upgrade” trips, ex. ARN) I received both Tier Points and Miles as if I had purchased FIRST.

Best wishes.

[Author]

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