Using Proactive Upgrades on British Airways

One of the things with British Airways fares is that some offer a Proactive Online UpGrade (POUG) on certain routes, and subject to capacity.

POUG’s allow you to buy up to the next cabin on an available flight, so for example, World Traveller to World Traveller Plus (Y to Y+) or Euro Traveller to Club Europe.

A few things before we begin

• POUG’s are variably priced. Some are priced cheaply, some are priced more expensive depending on demand and route
• POUG’s need ticketing class U available to book into for Euro Traveller to Club Europe.
• POUG’s aren’t available on open jaw bookings
• Tickets must be issued on 125- stock (BA stock)
• They aren’t available on mixed carrier itineraries (eg BA/AA, BA/CX)
• Not available on award tickets
• Not available on tickets booked through a travel agent

You have multiple chances to take advantage of it when booking on BA. These include:

• At time of booking
• Through the Manage my booking too
• When you Online Check In
• At the airport check in

So, I’m going to upgrade a fare at the Manage My Booking stage. In my example, I’m taking a Hand Baggage Only Fare, and upgrading it to a Club Europe Fare.

Four days after I booked my ticket with BA, this offer came up in the Manage My Booking screen:

Ok, it’s London to Paris – a short flight. But there are some benefits as this will earn Club tier points and a few more Avios – and that’s never a bad thing.

So let’s click through:

As we can see, a POUG is offered both on the inbound and outbound segments of this flight. Which is nice. Clicking through and accepting the changes results in the new pricing kicking in:

So, the new cost to upgrade this flight is £112 for both flights. The extra cost breakdown includes the follow:

Yes, it’s £64.70 extra of fare, £47.30 of tax, making up the £112 extra (and substantially less than the £540ish Club Europe fare).

From here on in, it’s the normal BA booking procedure. Fill in the credit card details, and once confirmed, you’re all done. You can then select seats and such, as well as having a two bag luggage allowance if needed.

So, for a grand total of £215 or so, I now have a Club Europe return fare, with a £300 on the regular Club Europe fare. Not bad.

And for Tier Points and miles? You get the uplifted quantities

500 Avios + 10 Tier Points on Low Economy/Hand Baggage Only Fare per leg.

750 Avios and 40TP in Club Europe per leg.

How does this calculate out?

• The base fare works out at a £5.05 a Tier Point
• The upgraded fare This averages £2.66 or so a Tier Point

Whilst not mileage run territory in the least, it does allow the addition of Tier points a bit cheaply if the fare is low enough to go with them.

POUG’s are available in most classes and routes, and there’s a great Wiki on the British Airways FlyerTalk thread.

None the less, if you want to jump up a class on the cheap – this could be a good option.