San Diego. Jan. Avios. Talk to me.

[carreauchompeur]

As above really. Himself and I are discussing winter jaunt in middle fortnight of Jan.

We can get direct returns with BA, Economy, for 60k Avios and £300 for both of us. Bags included. This is with a companion voucher, unfortunately economy only. Are there dodges for upgrades?

Decent weather, stuff to do? Considering a road trip. Budget not massive but we are flexible with dates and locations…

[The Leaper]

Surely, if you are paying by Avios and a CV and are therefore actually giving absolute minimum cash to BA, there's no way you'll get any sort of upgrade. I'm surprised you have even thought about it!

I suspect that you don't wish to prebook seats either, so another no spend on BA.

R.

[seyre1972]

Can't speak for BA - but Virgin do occasionally release additional reward seats nearer the dates and I have been able to upgrade (just paying difference in points/taxes etc)

Maybe use the Reward Seat Checker

[Suspicious_user]

60K plus £300 doesn’t seem like good value to me when the tickets are £474 - your 60K avios is worth more than £174.

If you are flying LHR - SAN in economy the only upgrade available would be to premium economy. On BA you can only upgrade by one class.

[djc206]

Suspicious_user said:

60K plus £300 doesn’t seem like good value to me when the tickets are £474 - your 60K avios is worth more than £174.

If you are flying LHR - SAN in economy the only upgrade available would be to premium economy. On BA you can only upgrade by one class.

I agree about bang for buck with avios. I’d be inclined to look at a pay with cash upgrade with avios booking. The new economy only companion vouchers offer quite a poor return on avios sadly.

Avios upgrade yes, cash upgrade you can go more than one class.

OP we were in San Diego end of January last year and I’m flying back in Jan ‘24 to start a road trip over to the east coast.

The weather was good. Jeans and a t shirt during the day, jumper in the evenings. It’s not a cheap city, accommodation can be fairly pricey. It was near the end of our road trip so from San Diego we only drove out to Scottsdale for the last few nights but you have Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, Vegas, Phoenix and Tuscon all within reasonable driving distance. It’s a really pleasant place to spend a few days, Coronado is a nice spot.

[theplayingmantis]

djc206 said:

I agree about bang for buck with avios. I’d be inclined to look at a pay with cash upgrade with avios booking. The new economy only companion vouchers offer quite a poor return on avios sadly.

Avios upgrade yes, cash upgrade you can go more than one class.

OP we were in San Diego end of January last year and I’m flying back in Jan ‘24 to start a road trip over to the east coast.

The weather was good. Jeans and a t shirt during the day, jumper in the evenings. It’s not a cheap city, accommodation can be fairly pricey. It was near the end of our road trip so from San Diego we only drove out to Scottsdale for the last few nights but you have Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, Vegas, Phoenix and Tuscon all within reasonable driving distance. It’s a really pleasant place to spend a few days, Coronado is a nice spot.

Fairly sure its only one class upgrade regardless of cash or avios on BA.

[djc206]

theplayingmantis said:

Fairly sure its only one class upgrade regardless of cash or avios on BA.

I’m 100% sure it’s not. They’re currently offering me an upgrade to first on my premium flight back from Atlanta in January. I just clicked on it through the app to see if it does actually work and it’s asked me for payment details.

[Tim330]

When you say economy only is that because that's only seats you can see to San Diego are economy or because you have the CV from the fee free BA amex?

[theplayingmantis]

djc206 said:

theplayingmantis said:

Fairly sure its only one class upgrade regardless of cash or avios on BA.

I’m 100% sure it’s not. They’re currently offering me an upgrade to first on my premium flight back from Atlanta in January. I just clicked on it through the app to see if it does actually work and it’s asked me for payment details.

ah what they offer you may be different to what you can offer them...if that makes sense.

so if no offer from BA to upgrade, op would only have the option to bumb to WTP from econ.

i think.

[djc206]

theplayingmantis said:

ah what they offer you may be different to what you can offer them...if that makes sense.

so if no offer from BA to upgrade, op would only have the option to bumb to WTP from econ.

i think.

I’m not sure I follow. If BA have a seat free they will sell it to you, there’s a specific tab for it under manage my booking. You have to go looking for it.

Mine is not an offer in the sense of a good price more just an offer of it’s there if you want it, no proactive upselling. Just as with every cash booking I’ve ever made the upgrade tab has prices for the classes above which fluctuate subject to availability and sales. The current outbound offer to San Diego to get from premium to club is a bargain £6871 for example.

[theplayingmantis]

ah my mistake then. point you cant thought i'm sure. cash perhaps you can bump up 2. never knew that if correct.

[carreauchompeur]

Thanks all. I have the fee free BA Amex card and therefore the companion voucher is fairly restrictive… it was £300 return for both of us including bags.

If i pay with cash can we upgrade with Avios? Think we have about 100k between us.

[djc206]

On the book with avios page you can either select the “book with avios” tab or “book and upgrade” tab. Have a look at the second one, be sure to select both outbound and inbound flights, select economy as that’s what you’d be paying for and press go.

[djc206]

100k avios is a decent number. You’re close to a long haul business return there so it may be worth upgrading to the premium BA card for a year to get a companion voucher that doesn’t restrict you. It’s probably too late for this trip though.

[The Leaper]

carreauchompeur said:

If i pay with cash can we upgrade with Avios? Think we have about 100k between us.

Yes you can, but not for all BA flights. Go to Manage My Booking, then click Upgrade this flight with Avios. See what you can do. And I suspect you'll need rather more that 100,000 Avios between you to get the upgrade for two people return.

R.

[carreauchompeur]

Thanks, might be worth sitting on the Avios for this one and saving for future. Didn’t realise it was now £12k for a companion voucher so the premium Amex might make more sense for future.

You can tell I don’t do this regularly!

[gtidriver]

I've fallen down the rabbit hole of chasing Avios and Companion Vouchers. It's worked out really well so far for us as a family, in the last year I've used Five CV's for three trips. We've just come back from NYC this morning, £350 each plus 90000 Avios each for business class return. Can't remember what I paid in Avios but last year we paid under £300 each to fly to Johannesburg return in scumclass.
I have the fee paying British Airways card, The Barclaycard Avios card £20 a month card, and the HSBC premier credit card. This is more for Lounge access and a slow build up of Avios points.
Capetown next year so I've ordered the Mariot Amex card to get a few hotel nights.

[carreauchompeur]

Thanks all. Decided to use the Avios another time.

Have gone left field and booked PE return with SAS to LA via Copenhagen for £600 a piece!