BA gold upgrades

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  • stevescoots
    Participant

    BA vouchers.

    I recently got a BA gold upgrade voucher for 2. I don’t want to waste an eternity on the phone to them asking this question but has anyone been able to use these when only wanting to book one seat or must they be used for 2 seat bookings?

    I am assuming they have the same upgrade availability as avios bookings on LH….next to nothing?


    openfly
    Participant

    I’ve had several of these Gold upgrade vouchers over the years. I’ve never been able to use them on long haul flights, as the upgrade is only available if there are Avios seats available in the next class. Waste of time trying to get an upgrade on popular long hauls.
    There is much more chance of a short haul upgrade.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    One of the T & C’s of the Gold Upgrade Vouchers is the upgrade can only be issued on a pure BA ticket. If the ticket contains any other airline, an upgrade can not be requested, as the BA sector can not be isolated.

    My discussion with BA is the very flights I earn the GUV on, I am banned from using them as there is invariably a CX or an AA sector amongst my flight coupons.. Over the past 4 years I have managed to use the vouchers on only one long haul sector and that was due to a manager allowing me a service recovery space available upgrade, when I showed her the 2 vouchers sat unused in my BAEC.

    As openfly says, using on shorthaul is easy, but a bit of a waste…

    Basically, a benefit that is very difficult to use…


    stevescoots
    Participant

    Thanks, that was my suspicion as well. I was looking at HKG to LHR Rtn and nothing on availability in the timeframe I wanted on strait avios

    I guess its like the companion voucher you get with AmEx, first you need to be able to find a flight you can use the points on to get the second “free seat” short haul maybe not an issue but I don’t do short haul on BA metal, only in Asia where I burn through them on CX as fast as I earn them


    Sanran
    Participant

    I don’t have any experience with upgrade vouchers with BA, but I have to say that I was never denied upgrade from J to F with LH/LX.
    I always book my tickets through a travel agency and they always tell to LX: client will buy a ticket only if he can use his voucher to upgrade into F and it always worked (as far as one seat was still free).


    christopheL
    Participant

    To get back to OP question I am pretty sure (but not fully sure, so if someone else can either confirm or invalidate) you can use your GUF2 for a single upgrade but this means that you will lost the #2 upgrade. Both upgrades have to be used together.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    [quote quote=876550]I am pretty sure (but not fully sure, so if someone else can either confirm or invalidate) you can use your GUF2 for a single upgrade but this means that you will lost the #2 upgrade. Both upgrades have to be used together.[/quote]

    Whilst the GUF2 is for 2 people and for a return ticket, they can be used by a single traveller and if space is available only on one sector. BA have been known to extend the validity by 6 months if you are unable to use…


    Gold-2K
    Participant

    You get better seat availability if you book and upgrade using a travel agent.
    When you book direct with BA there has to be availability of Avios / Redemption seats in the cabin you want to move to.

    I have used mine in the past to buy J and upgrade to first. If there is availability of “A” class fare in first the agent can use the voucher. Booking direct with BA there has to be availability of a “Z” class (reception) fare which is far less likely.

    There is a complex process the agent has to use to use the voucher but most of them know how to work it!

    2 users thanked author for this post.

    Gold-2K
    Participant

    Raffles99
    Participant

    Very few travel agents know how to process GUF2 upgrades.

    There is a small agency called Propeller Travel who do the bulk of them – google them, they have a GUF2 page on their website. They can be a little unreliable times but generally solid. £30 booking fee I think but well worth it to get availability in First when ‘A’ is selling. Makes a night and day difference to how the useful the voucher is.

    Amex Travel can also book them although you need a good agent.

    Honestly never heard of any other UK travel agents who have a clue. The problem is that the ticket has to be queued overnight for India to process it.

    1 user thanked author for this post.
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