How do you upgrade a British Airways cash flight with Avios?

The ability to upgrade a British Airways cash flight is very attractive for some people, including business travellers who want to beat their corporate travel policy and those who don’t collect enough Avios for a full price premium cabin redemption.

I thought it was worth running through the basics again today.

Before I begin, don’t forget the key rule which always catches some readers out. If you upgrade a non-refundable, non-changeable cash ticket, it remains non-refundable and non-changeable even after it becomes a reward seat.

On the upside, you will receive Avios and tier points back after your trip based on the cost of the underlying ticket.

How does ‘Upgrade Using Avios’ work?

Let’s run over how ‘Upgrade Using Avios’ works on long haul flights. The process for short haul is virtually the same.

• ‘Upgrade Using Avios’ let you use Avios to upgrade a CASH ticket on British Airways by ONE class

• You cannot upgrade from the cheapest Economy ticket types (O, G and Q). This means that, unless your employer is happy to pay for a semi flexible ticket, you are NOT likely to be upgrading from Economy to Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus). Very few leisure travellers buy a semi flexible ticket due to the cost.

• You can upgrade ANY Premium Economy ticket, non-refundable or full fare, to Business Class (Club World). This is the sweet spot in terms of ‘bang for your buck’, going from a slightly larger economy seat to a fully flat bed, often with a door.

• You can upgrade any Business Class seat, non-refundable or full fare, to First Class

• Tickets issued via BA Holidays or travel agents can be upgraded but this usually requires a call to the Executive Club. Tickets which are part of package holidays sold by anyone except BA Holidays cannot be upgraded.

• Upgrades use the same reward availability as Avios redemption tickets.  If you cannot book an Avios redemption in Premium Economy, Business Class or First Class, you won’t be able to upgrade your Economy, Premium Economy or Business Class ticket.

• Upgrades must be done in advance of travel.  You cannot upgrade with Avios on board or at check-in.

How do you book flights and upgrade with Avios?

ba.com, once you are logged in, has the ‘Book with money, upgrade with Avios’ booking option.

This allows the system to sell you the cheapest ticket in a suitable ticket bucket and immediately process the upgrade.

Note that you cannot do this from the booking screen on the ba.com home page.  You must click on ‘Book a flight with Avios’ which is under the ‘Book’ tab on the home screen of the new-look BA website.

You are looking for this:

You do not need to upgrade at the time of booking – indeed, it might not be possible if there are no Avios reward seats in the higher cabin to upgrade into. You can use ‘Manage My Booking’ online to upgrade later.

However, if you are planning to book an Economy ticket and upgrade it to Premium Economy then I would recommend doing it all at once. The method above ensures you are sold an upgradeable ticket in the first place and not a cheaper non-upgradeable one. It makes no difference in other cabins as all Premium Economy and Business Class seats can be upgraded, however cheap.

Note that, because British Airways has higher surcharges in First vs Business, Business vs Premium Economy and Premium Economy vs Economy, you will be asked for an additional cash payment on top of your Avios if you upgrade later.

What does it cost to upgrade a BA flight with Avios?

To quote from ba.com:

“The Avios amount required for the upgrade is based on the Avios costs for reward flights in the cabins you are upgrading from and to and will depend on whether your flight is scheduled on a peak or off-peak date.

“The formula is:

Avios for the cabin you wish to upgrade to – Avios for the cabin you make your booking in = Avios required to upgrade one way

“Here’s an example for a peak one-way upgrade from London to New York, upgrading from premium economy (World Traveller Plus) to business (Club World):

Club World: 90,000 Avios – World Traveller Plus: 60,000 Avios = 30,000 Avios to upgrade”

In simple terms …. the Avios cost is the difference between the cost of an Avios redemption ticket in the higher cabin and the cost of an Avios redemption ticket in the cabin you originally booked for cash.

In addition, you pay the taxes and charges based on the cabin you fly in.

How do I know how many Avios will be needed?

Here’s the funny bit. The example British Airways gave above is wrong.

ba.com assumes that, when upgrading, British Airways uses the ‘most Avios, least cash’ price point for your route.

This page of HfP (click) lists the ‘most Avios, least cash’ price for EVERY British Airways route, in EVERY cabin. As ba.com states, on a peak date it IS true that a Club World ticket is 90,000 Avios one way and a World Traveller Plus ticket is 60,000 Avios one way. However, the upgrade is NOT 30,000 Avios.

Upgrades are still priced off the old Avios reward chart which was discontinued in 2022:

The ba.com extract I quote above says that upgrading a one-way peak date World Traveller Plus premium economy seat to Club World business to New York is 30,000 Avios.

The chart above says that it should actually cost 20,000 Avios, not 30,000. (New York is just over 3,000 miles, peak date Premium Economy is 40,000 Avios and Business Class 60,000 Avios.)

When I do a dummy booking on ba.com, it does indeed cost 20,000 Avios to upgrade such a flight in one direction. The ba.com article I quoted is wrong.

(What’s odd is that the ba.com explanation page used to be correct. Someone saw the text on the website, decided it was wrong and changed it – but it wasn’t wrong!)

You are being charged extra surcharges but you don’t notice it

If you look at the screenshot above, you might think that the cash price of the underlying Premium Economy ticket is £1,596.

It isn’t. The underlying Premium Economy ticket actually costs £1,299. So where does the extra £297 (£1,596 – £1,299) come from?

As well as charging you 20,000 Avios, British Airways quietly adds an extra £297 surcharge when you upgrade. The ‘taxes, fees and charges’ figure when you upgrade the outbound flight is £966 as my screenshot shows, to reflect the fact that one leg is now in Business Class. If you book a cash ticket without upgrading, the surcharge is only £669.

Conclusion

‘Upgrade Using Avios’ on long haul British Airways flights is still priced off the pre-Reward Flight Saver levels of taxes and charges.

The reason, I think, is because it is the easiest way to get around the problem that taxes and charges are capped on Reward Flight Saver flights but are not capped on the underlying cash ticket from which you would be upgrading.

Rather than have to pay a partial cash refund to anyone who upgrades, it is easier for BA to pretend that Reward Flight Saver doesn’t exist and keep using the pre-December 2022 Avios pricing.

Before you book using ‘Upgrade Using Avios’, ensure that you’ve compared the cost of booking a standard redemption to see which is the best value. Don’t forget to factor in the value of a standard redemption being refundable or changeable whilst an upgrade is not – unless you bought a hugely expensive refundable cash ticket originally.

You can find our more about ‘Upgrade Using Avios’ on ba.com here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

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

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

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