BA Upgrade from Business to First Class at no extra cost

Posted on May 2nd, 2014. Written by bookingbusinesstravel.

British Airways offers this promotion to most long-haul destinations (except to the Caribbean).

I use London to Dubai as an example of how the upgrade works;

The lowest business class return fare to Dubai is £2,310 but that fare is non-refundable and non-changeable – even for a fee. A minimum stay of 3 nights is required and availability is limited.

So for business travel, it is likely that the more flexible fare of £2,773 is the only available price for the trip. This fare has better availability and allows changes and refunds for a fee of £200. This is the price on ba.com

If you book through a travel agency however, you could be upgraded to First Class in one direction – at no extra cost!

This upgrade offer applies to reservations made up to Friday 23^rd May and is for departures up to 31^st August

If you are On Business members, you are entitled to a discount of 5% off the actual air fare, reducing the total to £2,660

And you’ll benefit from free cancellation and no change fees

On any of these fares the individual traveller will still receive the usual Avios and Tier points.

However, if you take the On Business discount, your company will not receive any On Business Points. The booking will appear on your statement as “ineligible corporate deal”.

The points you would normally receive for a Business & First Class trip total 1,920 and I suggest a value of between 7p and 15p for each point in redemption terms so you’ll lose between £134 and £288 worth of points. Use a BA American Express corporate card and you’ll earn a 50% bonus.

So it may be better to pay the additional £113 for the higher fare – but that depends on what degree of flexibility – if any, is required!

Comments are closed.