[MartynSinclair]

I currently have 2 Gold Upgrade vouchers on my BAEC account having earned the rewards due to my business travel loyalty to BA. However, these vouchers are virtually impossible to use for longhaul upgrade for a variety of reasons.

1. They are time sensitive for 1 year, BA will generally extend by 6 months, but then they expire. Avios themselves are not time sensitive

2. The GUV allocation (as told to me by BA) is the same as standard avios. So once the 2 avios seats have been allocated, that’s it, no more

3. I would imagine, most (not all) GUV’s are allocated due to business travel schedules. Yet the reality is they are not designed to be used for business travel purposes. Since when are avios seats available for the prime routes even 3 months before departure?

4. If your ticket includes any non BA sector, i.e. London – New York (BA) – Chicago (A N Other airline), the booking MUST be made with BA direct. If it is your firms travel policy to use a travel agent, the travel agent cannot redeem the voucher in these circumstances

5. Once your ticket is issued, a GUV cannot be used, even if a seat becomes available.

6. If an O/U is needed at the gate, no consideration will be given to someone trying to use a GUV

7. Yes you could use GUV for a European upgrade on avios, but the reality is , the benefit will amount to no more than a £50 max.

I am a loyal supporter of BA and BAEC. If BA is going to reward passengers, at least allow the passengers to have the ability to use the reward. If I have earnt the reward due to continuous use of a certain route, allow me use the reward on the same route. I fly longhaul approximately once every 4 – 6 weeks, booking generally anything between 6 – 12 weeks in advance. I have now made 6 attempts to use a GUV – I got close once, when I was told I could only use it one way but if I did so, I would lose the return portion.

Has anyone managed to use or do they lose their GUV(s)?

And also how far out was the booking?

[openfly]

Totally agree. I now trigger my Gold 1500 Tier Points and then go elsewhere.
This 2500 TP “bonus” is totally useless…an insult!
But, hey, that’s the lowco BA!

[seasonedtraveller]

I have ended the past 3 years in excess of 5,000 TP’s with BA & as a result, get a few up vouchers.

I too, have the same issue with using the upgrade vouchers – it’s extremely frustrating. I managed to use 2 last year but only got the outbound sector on both flight, not the inbound thus effectively halving the ‘value’ of said vouchers.

I also used one yesterday on a booking from LBA to BOM via LHR which I made 5 weeks ago and since then, I have seen zero upgrade availability so, I had to call in my Guest List redemption in order to use this voucher prior to it expiring.

So, having to use my GGL redemption just to use up an upgrade voucher before it expired.

I am very seriously considering changing airline next year when I reach the 3,000 TP’s required to re-qualify for GGL since the Concorde Room Key at 5,000 TP’s is next to useless unless you travel frequently between LHR & JFK which I will no longer do.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

BA don’t make it easy for sure.

If you make the booking with an agent – they don’t use Avios booking class (Z for First). They can use A Class so much better availability. Downside is the itinerary has to be a pure BA itinerary (like it does for Avios upgraded bookings) and you have to be on the PNR – you cannot give it to someone else.

The fact that you cannot be waitlisted or redeem at an airport on a space available basis for a PNR is also a pain. But with the IT issues BA are experiencing I doubt this will be close to the top of the fix list or even an “How can we make the customer experience better” list.

To me it does seem having a level of reward and recognition that is massively difficult to use undermines the whole point of a Recognition scheme. If you have one – do it properly. Otherwise don’t bother it just causes anger, frustration and ironically a chance a customer will not stay as loyal had you not bothered in the first place.

[AlanOrton1]

Got very close to hitting 2,500 TP’s in the year just ended. Looked a little into the Gold Upgrade Voucher that you receive on hitting 2,500 and felt it was not really worth making an extra trip to achieve. Redeeming long haul seats using Avios in premium cabins is hard enough. I felt it would be far from easy to use, so didn’t pursue further.

Having the ability to use it via waitlisting would make a lot more sense. When I was top tier with UA (called 1K back in the day, thought there was an invitation only level above this called Global Services) you received 6 system wide, one way upgrade vouchers that you could use to move from Y to J for example, subject to booking a mid level Y fare. Often when booking, J seats weren’t available to immediately confirm the upgrade, but you could waitlist, and then quite often the upgrade would clear anytime from 5 days to just prior to boarding.

Be good if BA adopted a scheme like this. However, back when I travelled UA there was always a lot of mileage upgrades in J and maybe BA doesn’t feel the need to run a waitlist scheme as they by and large sell out their J cabins?

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Hi AlanOrton

Yes UA still have the 6 upgrade vouchers for hitting 1K and you get another 2 for every additional 50,000 core miles earned in a calendar year. And yes just waitlist the upgrade and most often it would come through – as top status for a waitlist.

I think BA need to introduce the upgrade waitlist for flights (possibly only J to F) as at least a step in the right direction. Or if agents can make bookings and redeem in A Class – why can’t BA do it themselves and make everybody’s life a bit easier and customers happier!

[MartynSinclair]

If the GUV were open ended it may help. I believe 1 x 6 month extension and then that’s it.. it’s lost….

I know it would be impossible to obtain the stats, but I wonder what the % take up rate for the GUV is…?

[LuganoPirate]

Another reason to use Swiss/Lufthansa Miles and More.
Vouchers valid for 2 years and can be used after the ticket is issued, in fact right up to check-in subject to seat availability. I’ve never tried a gate upgrade so can’t comment on that.
You can also upgrade a friend or family member if you wish and if for some reason you have to cancel the trip they are refundable (subject to the 2 year limit).
I recently used them to u/g a ticket without problem and have never had any expire as I’ve always been able to use them.

[FDOS_UK]

Mr Sinclair, how dare you.

BA pays you to fly and then you complain about the freebies 😉

[esselle]

Not entirely on topic, but flying back from BOM last week the screens above the checkin desks,on BA, were advertising space available upgrades for purchase. Makes perfect sense, but not sure I have seen this from BA in the past.

[ConstantFlyer]

The availability of Avios seats seems to have improved of late, and I was told that there are at least 2 Club and 4 Economy seats on every flight when first released. Some flights have many more. Of course, the likelihood of getting any to Orlando in the Easter school holidays, or to Barbados over Christmas, is slim. But I have found good availability, even quite near the date of departure, for several routes. If going to the US West Coast, a good route in is via Seattle; to SE Asia, via Kuala Lumpur. Using the GUV for the long haul sector, and both travellers paying with points for the onward legs, if any, has worked well for me.

[Author]

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