frogoutofwater

Have you considered upgrading your ticket to Premium Economy? That's probably about 1/3 more than your Economy class ticket. It will be a lot more comfortable and there's a chance (a slim one but not impossible) that you could get bumped from Premium Economy to Club (business class). That sometimes happens when the flight is oversold and Economy is full. They move some people up to Premium Economy, and then move some paying passengers from PE to Club. Don't count on it, but at least PE would be comfortable.

enzian

If you are going to India isn't that 2 long-haul flights each way? You could each use the BC seat on one of the flights.

For upgrades, since you joined the mileage plan, you could get the Executive Club credit card and get 25,000 miles immediately (and another 25,000 after you spend some money.) The 25,000 is enough to upgrade from economy to economy plus for the RT flight PHL to LHR. (Upgrading the leg to India would be more, I think.) But once you are in econ + you'll have a better chance of the upgrade to a seat with your husband in business.

One bonus of this credit card (Executive Club Chase VISA) is there are no foreign transaction fees.

shortcake05479

Hi all - just wanted to update on what happened. We ended up splitting the business class seat; I flew from PHL to LHR in business and my husband flew LHR to India in business. Coach was essentially empty on the way to LHR so they definitely werent going to be throwing out any free upgrades. We could have upgraded me to club world for $750 (for each leg) so it would have been quite expensive to do all four flights. We opted not to upgrade. Once we arrived in London we thought maybe we'd just upgrade me to premium economy for the flight to India. We found out this was not possible because of something to do with Indian tax laws (?? no idea - this is what the guy in the BA lounge told us) and to upgrade to club world we would've had to buy an entirely new ticket! They said you can't upgrade to business class once your journey has already started - so we would've had to do it in PHL. None of it made much sense to me because it seemed like everyone was telling us something different.

Business class had only four people in it on the way to India, and World Traveller was bursting at the seams, so my husband asked if it was possible for me to sit with him, considering there were about 30 empty seats in Club World. They said absolutely not....then when we had only 30 minutes left of the flight they told me I could come up. Um, thanks? I took what I could get after dealing with about 20 screaming children for 9 hours in World Traveller.

After having the worst flight of my life in World Traveller to India, DH and I decided we were going to pay to upgrade me to premium economy on the way home. It's definitely worth the money!

So yes, everyone was right - don't expect an upgrade without paying!

DonTopaz

re: <b>Um, thanks? I took what I could get...</b>

When someone does a favor for me, or when an airline/hotel offers me a benefit that I didn't pay for, I try to be grateful, and I surely don't ever wish to sound churlish, or somehow entitled. But that's just me (and, actually, most of the experienced travelers whom I know).

socaltraveler

Going to have to agree with this as well.

northie

it's a bonus not an entitlement!!!

shortcake05479

I didn't mean to sound rude or entitled when I wrote that, and it was very nice of them to allow me to come up in the end. I was grateful for the gesture, even if it was for a short time, but the first flight attendant's attitude is what left a bad taste - we expected they would say no about me coming up, even with paying (which we again offered to do since the people at PHL and LHR all had different answers about whether or not I could pay to upgrade), but a simple "I'm sorry, that's not possible" would have sufficed rather than shaking his head no vigorously and saying "no. that's not allowed" in a very curt tone. I could understand if my husband had been obnoxious or rude about the request, but he was very polite and stressed that he wasn't looking for something for free, he was willing to pay for the seat.

In any case, the second flight attendant was very kind and I appreciated her telling me to come up to club world since that obviously wasn't necessary for her to do. Now I know that I'll need to pay for the upgrade in advance to secure one, rather than waiting until I get to the airport.

dutyfree

As an international flight attendant,I just wanted to chime in on this. My airline does not allow one to swap classes during a flight-once you sit down in that cabin that is where you are going to stay for the flight.
On a second note-do you know how many times a flight we are asked about being moved up to business class? As soon as people are boarding and they see the flat beds in BE they want to be moved up.Please don't ask as it isn't possible.

Stephie29

I recently flew from London Heathrow to New York JFK with BA and I got upgraded to Business Class. I did, when checking in online, pay to upgrade myself to economy plus, and I also arrived at the airport more than 2 hours in advance. I didn't ask, neither did I particularly dress up. I guess it was just a combination of luck and maybe the fact I was prepared to pay to upgrade to economy plus. Either way the chances maybe small, but it does happen!