The British Airways ‘Upgrade to First’ offer returns for business class ticket holders

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

Until 31st May, 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.

You need to take the outbound flight between now and 28 August 2019, except for Tel Aviv and Delhi where you must fly out between 1st June and 28th August. You need to complete your travel by 30th August for Heathrow routes and 14th September for Gatwick routes.

Participating destinations are:

All services to the United States, Mexico and Canada on flights operated by American Airlines or British Airways

British Airways services to Abu Dhabi, Abuja, Accra, Bahrain, Barbados, Beijing, Cape Town, Delhi, Dubai, Durban, Grenada, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Lagos, Moscow, Nairobi, Port of Spain, Riyadh, Seychelles, Shanghai, St Lucia, Tel Aviv and Tokyo

Full details are on ba.com here. Note that you can only book this over over the telephone – in the past, some corporate travel agents have also been able to book it.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book direct with BA. You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card.

Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

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.

r6mile says:

21 Apr21 April 06:19

Apparently priority pass also gets you through security fast lane at Bari Airport. I am flying from there tomorrow so will verify.
BJ says:

21 Apr21 April 06:50

Business Trafeller covered Priority Pass fast track security last month, details here:
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2019/03/12/priority-pass-to-trial-
- Susan says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 07:31
  
  Florence isn’t one of those listed in the BT article and there was no charge or pre-booking required.
  - BJ says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 07:42
    
    Yes, I know, I just posted the link for more on topic information.
- Rob says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 08:54
  
  The BT article is simply referring to the fact that the No 1 Lounges ‘benefit’ on paying £5 to guarantee entry – with fast track thrown in – can now be booked via the PP app.
  - xcalx says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 10:16
    
    Are you sure Rob there is no No1 lounge at LBA. The BT article lists fast track at LBA
    - Rob says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 10:57
      
      I am guessing, if the LBA lounge offers fast track for cash customers, PP has persuaded them to roll it out to card customers too.
C F Frost says:

21 Apr21 April 07:19

Perhaps someone can let Hackett know that if one is really striving for the socially aspirational BS of English polo club and red trousered culture then said lost souls would do well to remember that if you’re reading a newspaper to show off that you can also read then best not to read it upside-down. Click on the link and you’ll see what I mean. And no, it’s not folded that way. At 25 Avios per pound spent, my dignity leads me away from these yahoos.
- GeoffGeoff says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 07:41
  
  The paper looks folded to me.
- Spurs Debs says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 07:55
  
  There is no dignity in chasing points, I on other hand have 9k points and Sons birthday present sorted on top from this offer.
  - C F Frost says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 08:18
    
    Fair point, and I may well succumb too for 9k points. But that newspaper isn’t folded.
    - Evan says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 08:34
      
      I think the newspaper is folded but I also think that Hackett manages to be over-priced and not very “grown up” at the same time; so I can resist the 25 points per £. Now if I knew someone who wanted something from Hackett that would be a very different issue….
    - Matt says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 08:44
      
      Hackett offer is great when combined with 15% military discount and an additional 10 avios per £ for being a member to their new 65B club member club (free to to join). I earned 27k avios for a new suit and bag!
    - Peter K says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 08:47
      
      It looks like the newspaper is folded up at the bottom, below the lower edge of picture.
    - prune says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 11:42
      
      Matt im probably being a bit thick here but how do you get the additional 10 avios per £?
      I am a 65B member but can’t see any details.
    - pablo says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 12:00
      
      Definitely folded. Look at the top corners you will see the sheets of the folded part not going as high up as the front part.
    - Matt says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 12:19
      
      Hi prune you’re not being thick it’s a new offer and not even the customer service team seem very clued up on it. If you login online there’s a field to input your BAEC number. The reason I found out was because there was a poster in store advertising it.
Zoe says:

21 Apr21 April 08:24

OT we had an announcement after boarding our flight home from Alicante this week that there was no hot water working for drinks. They had found the issue on the flight before. I logged a complaint online, mainly as they could have told us as we checked in or in the lounge or before boarding. Got a cut and paste type response, ‘we can’t always load all choices etc’ and 5k Avios each.
I’m more than happy, we were in economy and would have had to pay for the hot drinks anyway.
- Anna says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 08:50
  
  I need to log a similar complaint- we flew LHR to MAN in CE last week and they ran out of food (but also didn’t have enough time to serve everyone). 5000 avios would be a decent return.
  - Zoe says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 11:52
    
    Hi Anna, logging the complaint was very simple took me about 5 mins. You get to log in then it asks if the issue was around your recent flight and offers the chance to include other on your booking. We are silver but I can’t see that it would particularly impact the number of Avios.
    - Anna says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 17:13
      
      Hi – yes they have made it surprisingly easy to log a complaint these days!
- Chris says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 10:34
  
  Not bad at all considering we got 3k avios for a non functioning IFE on a LHR-BKK
Zane says:

21 Apr21 April 08:25

1) who’s this Susan
2) where’s this newspaper
🧐
- Susan says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 10:16
  
  I’m me. Who are you 😉
  - Shoestring says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 18:39
    
    I’m a big fan of Susan.
    
    Super Suze.
Stuart Smith says:

21 Apr21 April 08:26

Note the comment about Charles Tyrwhitt in store purchases. Every time I shop, the points are never credited. However, if you email their customer services with a copy of the receipt they’ll credit your account.
Lumma says:

21 Apr21 April 09:23

Not a big fan of Charles Tyrwhitt shirts personally. They seem to be quite bulky and made from strange materials compared to say TM Lewin or similar
- Chas says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 18:30
  
  Agreed. And you can get 12 Avios per £ at Lewin’s by going through the BAEC portal first.
Dominic Montgomery says:

21 Apr21 April 10:12

There is a better Charles Tyrwhitt deal on at the moment. Most shirts £19.95 each and a free tie per order. Still asked for my BA number for avoid.
I’ve seen it on adverts for the deal on social media, looks like a targeted one. No promo code, but here is a link if it works for anyone:
https://www.ctshirts.com/uk/home?utm_term=Facebook_Mobile_Feed&marketing=true&utm_campaign=UK%20-%20SS19%20-%20Reacts&utm_medium=CPC&marketingCode=caesar&utm_source=fb&utm_content=UK%20-%20SS19%20-%20Reacts%20-%2019.95%20-%20static%20formal
- Dominic Montgomery says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 10:14
  
  *Avios not Avoid. Autocorrect error.
- John Caribbean says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 11:07
  
  Works, thanks.
  
  Also some people will have £10 off £60 on their amex card
  - Matt says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 18:56
    
    Thanks for posting Dominic that’s a shirt and tie bought for £25 (£5 delivery).
- Mike says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 21:32
  
  Thanks Dominic – really useful and a great bargain. I find Charles Tyrwhitt much better quality than TM Lewin and they do a great military discount too