How valuable are American and BA miles for High Flyers these days?
For all the stories we hear of people jumping on “spite flights” (where folks expend all their locked-up lockdown frustration 40,000 feet in the sky), there are many choosing to stay more cautious and close to home.
For every watercooler yarn you hear about the Amalfi Coast, there’s one about that trip to Home Depot where “I can’t believe I ran into my podiatrist again.” Okay team, let’s bring it in close: Now’s a good time to break those shackles and gettheheckouttahere. You’re hearing it straight from me: Book while the bookings are still good. Deals are only going to be harder to find from now on, as travel restrictions are being lifted by the day, and demand is ever-increasing.
British Airways and Miles: Suddenly the Twain Shall Meet
We don’t talk much about using miles for British Airways flights. That’s because taxes on free award tickets can be ridiculously high — and BA’s First Class fares are often low.
But now that fares are climbing, and Business Class fares sales are frequent, mileage upgrades on BA are worth a second look. In other words, the bigger the gap between Business and First Class fares, the more valuable mileage upgrades are.
Before we dig into the few sweet spots of availability (scarce in some places, but richer in others), we first need to ask ourselves…
Why Mileage Upgrades?
Few talk about these techniques. But there are many reasons to think about British Airways for a mileage upgrade. Here are a few:
1 – If you’re a oneworld elite status member and want to keep climbing that ladder, then booking free tickets won’t do you any good. Go ahead and book those free tickets for your companions who don’t aspire to elite status, since you won’t earn elite credit on free tickets.
2 – Consider mileage upgrades on British Airways if you’re an American Airlines traveler because BA doesn’t have the $700 or $1,100 co-pay that American charges for its own flights and AA does NOT allow mileage upgrades on its partner’s lowest Business Class fares (aka the ones you want to buy).
A few times over the last few months there have been periods where Business Class flash fares have appeared from New York to London for $1,900 and $2,496 from the West Coast. This is a volatile fare market for a variety of reasons, but when First Class fares are high AND Business Class fares are on sale, and you’re looking to splurge a little, this is one way to do it.
Forget about American because it requires you to buy a “full Business Class fare” to upgrade (R/D/C/J) when you use American Miles to upgrade partner flights operated by British Airways.
That’s big. While American requires you to upgrade to First from a full Business Class fare, with British Airways you can do it from a discounted Business Class fare, which can be half as much. I’m calling that an AA gouge – inflated fares PLUS the AA co-pay. Pass the Band-aids, please.
Mileage availability is dynamic and always changing. British Airways upgrade availability shown below is as of the time of publication approximately...
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AARP and Chase Discounts
Oh, and another reason to consider using British Airways Avios for upgrading to First Class is that BA offers the AARP $200 discount off many Business Class fares. British Airways’ $200 AARP discount per flight can be yours for an AARP membership fee of only $16 a year—and it’s available to anyone of any age. Plus, you can save even more with British Airways Visa Card discount (current promo code is CHASEBA10).
If you don’t have any Avios here how to get them
- Transfer from Amex, Capital One, and Chase
- Buy up to 500,000 British Airways Avios annually via Amex @ 2.5 cents each, plus Amex and British Airways often have offers with up to a 40% transfer bonus.
If you don’t have an Amex card or need more than 500,000 annually, buy up to 200,000 miles annually from British Airways @ 2.8 cents each.