European Status Run

[winkers]

Hi all,

I'm off to Europe for a little while in a few weeks and looking to incorporate a handful of holiday trips with some (hopefully) hefty SC returns.

Can anybody offer up some advice on affordable runs that could earn some healthy SC?

Cheers

 

[TSVflyer]

Hi, I find that booking a y ticket with BA and then using the offer to upgrade to BA Club Europe is a great way to get j status credits. However the cost of the upgrade to Club Europe varies on the sector you fly. I fly LGW to JER once or twice a year and never use the upgrade offer as it is quite expensive. This is obviously because JER is a "bankers" run as is Switzerland. I also go LHR to ARN which is very cheap for upgrades, normally adds about £50 each way and gets me 60 SC each way, we'll worth it. The trouble is you won't know the cost until you've booked the ticket!

 

[winkers]

Hi, I find that booking a y ticket with BA and then using the offer to upgrade to BA Club Europe is a great way to get j status credits. However the cost of the upgrade to Club Europe varies on the sector you fly. I fly LGW to JER once or twice a year and never use the upgrade offer as it is quite expensive. This is obviously because JER is a "bankers" run as is Switzerland. I also go LHR to ARN which is very cheap for upgrades, normally adds about £50 each way and gets me 60 SC each way, we'll worth it. The trouble is you won't know the cost until you've booked the ticket!

That's brilliant, thanks! I'll have a look at these and see if I can fluke a cheap one.

 

[bobe]

Flew from NICE - LHR last year on BA Y then upgraded to J for $100 then got 80 SCs me over to gold.

 

[TSVflyer]

Hi again, a good way to get an idea how much the upgrade cost might be is to do some ghost bookings in Club Europe and compare the cost in Euro Traveller. It's not fool proof but but will give you an idea of the cost level to various destinations.

 

[winkers]

Flew from NICE - LHR last year on BA Y then upgraded to J for $100 then got 80 SCs me over to gold.

Cheers. I'm after a couple like that, but seems as though the upgrades are all 400-500 Euro more which makes them some damn expensive SCs

 

[winkers]

Hi again, a good way to get an idea how much the upgrade cost might be is to do some ghost bookings in Club Europe and compare the cost in Euro Traveller. It's not fool proof but but will give you an idea of the cost level to various destinations.

Thanks, just been having a play with that now. Minimum 400 Euro more expensive for the upgrade it seems... Quite high if you ask me!

 

[bobe]

When I was doing online checkin a pop up appeared and said"for a hundred $ you can upgrade to club world and get the visit the lounge and more points book now only 6seats left" on take off there were aprox15 seats available less then half full but WELL worth it.

 

[Isochronous]

Could we do a list of the BA routes where this is affordable?

Similarly, what about AY/IB/AB?

 

[Falcs]

Could we do a list of the BA routes where this is affordable?

Similarly, what about AY/IB/AB?

Short answer, book a Y ticket and hope for a £69-£99 offer (each way) to upgrade to J. Lots of info here

Clinic Thread - How Proactive Upgrades work - FlyerTalk Forums

and here:

Pro-active Upgrade cost tracking thread - FlyerTalk Forums

(Sorry, won't let me hyperlink)

 

[tyrolean]

OK, based in Europe Flying on BA is my main source of SCs!

Just a few hints: Get Flights on BA that are over 600 Miles! So NOT LHR to MUC/BER/HAM!

Things that work are: MAD, BCN, NCE, VIE, CPH or OSL, LIS, ATH

Start your MR not from the UK to avoid the luxury tax!

Cheap Business-Class Fares need a saturday night. So you may do some nice weekend Trips with that.
There are quite interesting through fares in Business Class. So MUC-LHR-MAD yields 200 SCs in Business Class and can be booked for around 700 Euros.

Be careful:
Only oneways or simple returns can be upgraded. So no Open Jaw tickets!

Just book the cheapes Eco Ticket. An Upgrade should be around 70-90 Euro! With that, you can build same day returns, but there is the risk that you cannot upgrade the ticket.

There were some nice fares on MAD-FRA with LA in Business Class. You may have a look if they are still around (Yield 60SC per Segment).

Other Airlines:
Nope, no such deals! Sadly MALEV went under.

AB has no Business Class.
Others have very high prices.

Be aware that only tickets in Y yield for full Economy SCs - which is usually very very expensive. So trips with AB can be very cheap (100 Euro per return) but they only yield 10 SCs per return).

 

[Aus ATC]

Thanks, just been having a play with that now. Minimum 400 Euro more expensive for the upgrade it seems... Quite high if you ask me!

BA.com will try to upsell you when initially booking. Don't do it, but once your booking in Y is confirmed, the cheaper upgrade offers come into play. I have done 2 late last year and both booked into "I" class, so perhaps that class availability on flightstats or expertflyer would be an indication of the likelihood (I can't say for certain as I didn't check that myself).

I'm not sure how bobe got 80SCs on a NCE-LHR flight.... I only got 60 (it's just over 600 miles).

A couple of extra points:
Only flights booked via ba.com are eligible for cheap upgrades (POUGs) before (on-line) check-in. Travel agent bookings etc are not eligible (as the airline does not have "control" of the ticket until OLCI).

Hand luggage only fares booked via ba.com are eligible for POUGs and gain you the normal J baggage allowance. If you are feeling brave, this can save an extra 10-15GBP.

 

[daturtle]

The POUG! Best advice! Coincidentally I am flying OSL-LHR in August, was going to fly BA anyway as they are the cheapest which works out fine by me. Thought I'd book my flight now and just see what came up in terms of upgrade - not terribly fussed either way. Cheapest fare is 519 NOK (~AU$99) in Europe Traveller, with Club Europe at 5071 NOK (~AU$921). Booked it all, enter my details and go to have a look at the upgrade tab. Special offer, upgrade to Club Europe for 640 NOK (~AU$116)! So for $215 I'm flying business class with full SCs (booked into I class for those playing at home).

Love this site.

 

[winkers]

Amazing advice! Thanks everybody for contributing... One flight I needed to book was a short one from MUN to LHR. Just got a Euro traveller fare for 65 euro and had the upgrade priced at 75 euro once i'd booked.

You are all awesome, thanks!

 

[alieninperth]

The BA tier points thread on FT is pretty good as well BA Tier Point runs | 2014 master thread - FlyerTalk Forums. There also seems to be some mileage in LHR-HEL and then POUGing but it sits just under 1200miles so not great for us. I think I also read something about a domestic connection being able to be booked for the same price as EU-LHR, or not much more. I could be totally wrong about that though.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Check expert flyer for BA flights with R or I class availability, then book a cheap Y fare.

I get 59GBP upgrade offers on LHR-CDG, LHR-FCO, LHR-AMS, etc. fairly often. I take them up not for the woeful Club Europe product but for the SCs.
Always after booking though.

Medium haul flights are usually much more expensive to upgrade as others have posted.

 

[Kefci2000]

You can get LGW to Rome in Y for GBP41 each way or GBP157 for CLub

i would have thought you might get a cheap upgrade option