[Anonymous]

[MrK1962]

A colleague of mine and I decided to switch to BA from UA after many years with the latter. Our company uses a travel agent to book our flights (economy) and we can then choose to upgrade with miles/points.

Imagine our surprise when we learned that it is not possible to upgrade with points/miles unless one books personally and pays with ones credit card. And of course, this we found out only after we had booked 5 LHR – LAX round trips for the first 6 months. Doh!!

We can still upgrade but only with cash.

Does anyone know WHY BA has this policy? I have been flying extensively with both UA and Delta over the past 10 years and never had a problem using my miles/points to upgrade (subject to eligible class and availability of course).

Curious….

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Hi MrK1962

This is a problem for many people and immensely frustrating as an agent (I regularly make bookings for a client who flies UA and then manage the Upgrade for him). They claim it is a technology issue, though I have my doubts over this as almost every other airlines does not have this problem. We are told every 6 months or so that they are looking to rectify but this was back in 2002 and nothing has changed yet.

The only way around this and what I do for clients (leisure or corporate) is book online for the client (as long as you tell the agent you intend to upgrade using miles) and charge your card and then they take the service fee seperately. It isn’t ideal but a good agent should be able to do this for you. As a travel professional we raise this issue every time we see them but I think it part of the drive to get people booking direct with BA.

You will earn all points that would earn by booking through an agent (BAOB and or Avios) as long as they enter info correctly for you.

Hope that helps

Tim

[MrK1962]

Thank you Tim!

Good to know this is a known problem. Fortunately for us, but not so great for our travel agent (a great agent BTW), the company has allowed us to book future BA flights with our company CC.

The method of splitting the fare and agent fee might be something to consider though. Sometimes an agent is worth the price!

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Good to hear. As an agent I hate to hear people do a bad job (no doubt other professionals feel the same about poor people in there industries). I’d suggest where you don’t plan to upgrade to use your agent – and where you do either book direct or see if the agent is happy to book via the internet for you.

Another thing is online check in – I online check in several clients and when they have the cheap cash upgrade options to Business/First we do this. Saved a small fortune on European flights compared to booking Business Class in advance. Obviously for long haul coming back from States it may not work so well and doesn’t always get offered.

[JamesMoloney5]

Interesting…..I have no problems with my company paying my travel agent in Bangkok and then I can use any of my upgrade options (Gold, mileage etc.) to upgrade without any hassle. In fact, in my opinion Thai makes it VERY easy to upgrade….

[Shearer]

Is this not a confidentiality issue?

[Binman62]

It is simply a technical issue which BA is fully aware of and currently not doing anything about. There is a cost to changing the systems and BA is at present immersed other IT issues connected to departure control. Consequently you will not see much movement on this for a while yet though I understand it is considered a priority due to the negative comments the issue generates.

[millionsofmiles]

Technical issue? Laughing my a** off. Since 2002?

Does the IT of BA still use telex and punch cards?
It is just a control issue and an instrument to control margins. Another bad thing with BA vs StarAlliance.

[VintageKrug]

This is now fixed, and should be available from Tuesday 17th July.

[millionsofmiles]

VK: Sounds like good news. Details like this can chase away especially regular customers and I hope BA will see the benefits of that specific change.

[Author]

Posts