The British Airways ‘upgrade to First’ offer is back

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British Airways has brought back its regular ‘upgrade to First’ offer.

Until 7th October, any Club World flight you purchase which is ticketed in semi-flexible R, D, or C class, or a fully flexible J class, will receive a free one-way upgrade to First.

This is subject to availability and requires A class cash tickets to still be available for sale in First.

The deal is also available on American Airlines services to the US, Canada and Mexico when you book under a British Airways codeshare.

You need to book by 7th October for outbound travel before 23rd October.

Participating destinations are:

United States, Mexico and Canada – Albuquerque (ABQ), Anchorage (ANC), Atlanta (ATL), Austin (AUS), Bradley International (BDL), Birmingham (BHM), Nashville (BNA), Boston (BOS), Baltimore (BWI), Chicago (CHI), Cleveland (CLE), Charlotte (CLT), Cincinnati (CVG), Denver (DEN), Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), Detroit (DTT), Fort Wayne (FWA), Honolulu (HNL), Houston (HOU), Indianapolis (IND), Memphis (MEM), Mexico City (MEX), Miami (MIA), Minneapolis St Pauls (MSP), New Orleans (MSY), New York (NYC), Omaha (OMA), Philadelphia (PHL)), Pittsburgh (PIT), Raleigh Durham (RDU), Richmond (RIC), San Diego (SAN), San Juan (SJU), Salt Lake City (SLC), St Louis (STL), Washington (WAS), Montreal (YMQ), Toronto (YTO), Vancouver (YVR), Calgary (YYC).

Rest of the World – Abu Dhabi (AUH), Abuja (ABV), Accra (ACC), Bahrain (BAH), Beijing (BJS), Cape Town (CPT), Dubai (DXB), Durban (DUR), Hong Kong (HKG), Jeddah (JED), Johannesburg (JNB), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Kuwait (KWI), Lagos (LOS), Moscow (MOW), Nairobi (NBO), Riyadh (RUH), Seychelles (SEZ), Shanghai (SHA), Singapore (SIN)

Full details are on ba.com here.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Tom1 says:

7 Jul7 July 07:57

O/t – can you book an open jaw redemption ticket on Iberia?
Or a multi city?
Thinking mad-jfk-ord-mad.
Thanks
- roberto says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:17
  
  Check the price for two one way fares MAD-JFK and ORD-MAD. You may find its the same as a return.
  
  Also price up MAD-JFK and ORD-UK ( if the UK is your final destination )
  - Tom1 says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 08:42
    
    Will do, thanks.
- Rob says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 11:25
  
  Should not be an issue although may require a call. Only restrictions I know of are ‘no one ways’ on partners and ‘no refunds’ on partners.
  - Paul says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 13:40
    
    What about open jaw returns with partners? Was thinking MAD->JFK on IB returning JFK-LHR on AA…
Alan says:

7 Jul7 July 08:28

Interesting table – explains why there are so many MEL-SYD flights – they were like buses in frequency, but when there’s so much cash on that route I can understand why Qantas so that!
- Michael Jennings says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 11:53
  
  They are the two biggest cities in Australia, and the quickest alternative way of getting from one to the other is a nine hour drive (without stopping, so in reality it will be longer). There isn’t really much competition in domestic air travel in Australia, so yes, it will be a very frequent and very lucrative air route.
  - John says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 18:48
    
    You can do it in 6 hours (depending on where exactly you are going) if you speed in NSW 🙂 You can’t speed in VIC as hidden cameras are everywhere.
    - Cat says:
      
      7 Jul7 July 19:07
      
      Speeding in kangaroo land is unwise.
gavlar says:

7 Jul7 July 08:49

I am one of those new account holders for IB who registered for the promotion with a view to transfering to BAEC to help with a 2 for 1 so will happily take a refund rather then spending the points ‘just because’

As yet all I have is radio silence from IB having sent in my booking receipts and passport to them.
- Yuff says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 09:28
  
  I would have thought/hope genuine new accounts will get the points.
  Having had iBeria accounts for several years I would not have tried to open fake accounts to participate in this promotion.
Roger says:

7 Jul7 July 09:07

Yes.
Roger says:

7 Jul7 July 09:25

OT-
Do you jave to register for priority pass online account for each new card (every time you churn Amex Platinum)?
Question really is do you need to activate any card, or once you get it in post it is good to go?
Ofcouse with the online account you can use digital pass, so more useful.
- Genghis says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 10:25
  
  No need to register
- Rob says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 11:21
  
  It seems to arrive alongside the card so does not require activation – BUT the PP will not work if it doesn’t have a valid credit card ‘behind’ it, and until your Amex is activated it would presumably be rejected.
JS says:

7 Jul7 July 09:38

Does JFK – LHR mean in that direction too? Or just all airfare between those two cities?

I assume there is roughly equal traffic going one way as the other, but I suppose that may not actually be correct…
- Rob says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 11:20
  
  Guessing they mean return. Wonder what adding in Newark and the Gatwick NYC flights would add?
John says:

7 Jul7 July 09:41

Anyone knows the best hotels in the UK for Marriott mattress run ? Sorry for off the topic.
- BJ says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 09:52
  
  Aberdeen, alternate Moxy, Marriott and Courtyard over a weekend Friday to Monday and make a weekend break out of it. Book the right weekend at the rightbtime and you could be looking at under £130 total.
- Rob says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 11:19
  
  Cheapest around London are MOXY Excel, which I did and easily accessible if in London, and MOXY Heathrow. As the run is STAY based and not night based, you need somewhere near your house or office though.
PhilW says:

7 Jul7 July 09:43

OT I have been trying to book Iberia car rentals for the past 3 days on various combinations of dates locations and browsers/computers with cookies cleared etc. Has not been working. Iberia agent I spoke to yesterday said their system is broken atm and they’re not taking car rental bookings via avios over the phone also. I ended up booking with cash for one booking yesterday instead of my 90k avios.
- The better Kevin says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 10:11
  
  Interesting. Got my Iberia car rental booked with Avios on Thursday evening without issue. Nice saving compared to the cash price. Glad I got in there when I did. Now looking for hotels.
- Lady London says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 20:02
  
  Is this the second dirty trick perhaps being played by Iberia? are they blocking use of the promotional avios for car rentals? after trying to change the conditions after the fact, which is illegal certainly in the UK as a buying country, is Iberia now sneakily disabling use of the avios earned on this promo for car hire?
  - PhilW says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 20:24
    
    I hope not and that it’s isolated to my account . Maybe someone else who’s looking for a car rental could confirm?