A ticket to Barcelona for high summer is running around $1,200 in economy. I just called the British Airways Executive Club and I was told I could book an Economy Plus ticket, use 30,000 miles and with the fees, the price comes to $1,962.60.

Furthermore, I would earn 12,500 miles on the flight (Economy Plus) and with the BA credit card, I would get double miles ($4,000), which means I would get back 16,500 miles. I would also add tier points.

Please add your upgrade stories to this link. This seems like a good deal and I would love to ride upstairs on the 747 again.

BTW, $1,962.60 plus 30,000 miles would give me a Business Class Ticket which is going for around $3,800.

Sounds like a buy-up into WT+, then MFU into CW. For comparison sake, if you value your miles at 2.5c each (less than that = money losing) then that makes the trip $2712.

Iberia business class (as nice or nicer as CW IMO) from MIA to BCN and back is $2658 in mid summer, plus you'd get the 25% cabin bonus miles for J vs. the 10% (if that) in BAEC in WT+. I'd also watch out for a BA fare that requires a LHR-LGW switch, which some do. Would the MFU get you Club all the way to BCN or just to LHR?

Outbound details
Flight 1: Miami to Barcelona
Flight number: BA206
Miami to London Cabin: Club
Departure: Wed 13 June 2007, 17:15
Arrival: Thu 14 June 2007, 06:35
Flight number: BA484
London to Barcelona Cabin: Club
Departure: Thu 14 June 2007, 09:25
Arrival: Thu 14 June 2007, 12:25


Inbound details
Flight 2: Barcelona to Miami
Flight number: BA477
Cabin: Club
Departure: Wed 11 July 2007, 07:25
Arrival: Wed 11 July 2007, 08:40
Flight number: BA209
Cabin: Club
Departure: Wed 11 July 2007, 13:45
Arrival: Wed 11 July 2007, 17:55

Can you help me with MFU and IMO?
No airport switches in London. I refuse!

I assume that when in London, I can go to the club and have a few more drinks?

IMO - in my opinion
MFU - Miles (and cash) for Upgrade - BAEC lingo.

You might have time for a quick schnapps in the Zone R Terraces at T1 outbound but if your incoming flight is delayed (normal) and you don't get fast-tracked at T3 inbound, you might find you only have time for gulp and go.

Coming back, go have breakfast at the BA T1 arrivals lounge before schlepping over to T3; you won't have lounge access at T3 as BA doesn't have a Terraces there.

Thanks for the info. I booked the ticket tonight. I did call American Airlines to see if I could get a flight on the Iberia Miami/Madrid/Barcelona, but no luck with 90,000 miles.

I'm in seat 61J (forward) going over to London and 61A (reverse window) coming back. The upper deck was almost booked--it was either row 60 or 61. I guess everyone likes the back of the upper deck? Maybe their all sky marshalls? Lower deck Business still has plenty of seats.

Should I ask for the standard meal? Can I get a shower in London when I arrive? I'm sure I will be toasted.

The hardest part about booking on the Internet was when they asked for the name of the authorized bank of the credit card. I typed in British Airways--didn't work. I write the check to Chase Card Services--it didn't fit or work, so I finally looked on the back of the card and typed First USA.

I'm flying to Sydney VIA London, Singapore for Christmas in coach. I'm sure I will be thinking about that upper deck during the 24+ hour flight.

If you get to the T1 lounge quickly enough the showers there are excellent. But early arrivals at T3 (MIA is one of the few BA flights that go there) are mobbed with all the VS, UA and AA flights arriving simultaneously, so I don't know how fast you'll be able to get to T1.

If your flight to Sydney at Christmas is on BA, why don't you investigate the cost of rebooking in World Traveller Plus instead? The London-Sydney route is very busy at Christmas, so I expect there's no chance whatsoever of an MFU from WT to WTP or from WTP to CW. However, you might be able to pay to upgrade to WTP on one or more of the segments. Also, in my experience (and I fly BA a lot), the odds of an operational (free) upgrade from WTP to CW are quite good - I've been upgraded on about 1/3 of the WTP segments I've flown in the past four years. (If the flight is booked full in WT, they op-up some WT passengers into WTP and then op-up some of the WTP passengers into CW. Because WTP is a small cabin, a BAEC member has a pretty good shot at an upgrade (obviously, a much better chance the higher your status).)

It very much depends on what's most important to you.

If a good night's sleep is at the top of your list, I would go with the BA CW ticket. The CW seat goes to horizontal and I find it terrific for sleeping, enormously better than the new IB seat. It took me a long time to find an acceptable position for sleeping on IB, and even then the footrest extension was cutting into my calf.

The difference between CW and WT+ is greater than the difference between WT+ and WT, though the latter is not to be sniffed at. (Not that WT+ is that great -- it's mostly because WT and virtually any other trans-Atlantic econ product is pretty awful.)

I'm not a great fan of IB. Haven't flown them in econ, but in business I found their in-flight service to be indifferent and their ground staff (in MAD, on multiple occasions) to be less than helpful.

Kate: I paid $2,100 for my ticket from Miami to Sydney VIA London back in January. I checked the price of tickets two weeks ago and it was going for $9,900. Coach seating to London and then First Class from London to Sydney was all that was left.

I'm catching Qantas in London which has no World Traveler Plus seating. When I checked the price of the seating from Miami to London in Economy PLus, the price went up to $3,800. I just hope I can enjoy a few movies and forget about the time. I did this flight last year and I never slept for two nights. I do have bulk-head seats which I hope doesn't equal babies.

Good luck with that looong-haul trip. The longest I've flown in Eco was Vancouver-Hong Kong. Thankfully, all of my trips to Australia and New Zealand have been in business class (so far). You might try something like melatonin to help you sleep and reset your body clock on the trip. It doesn't work for some people, but it works well for me - and it doesn't leave my groggy (useful if you need to wake up and change planes mid-journey).

Thanks. I did use meletonin last summer on a BA Miami to London flight. When I woke up, I said, their still playing the same movie. A few minutes later the house lights came on and they started serving breakfast. I had been sleeping for several hours. Hope it happens again.

Last year I had a small kid sitting next to me from London to Perth which helped. Coming back, two seats were empty next to me from Sydney to Bangkok and I actually lied down. When I reboarded the plane in Bangkok, they told me they had moved me to business class to London. Indeed I got lucky!

I could never sleep on planes until someone suggested Dramamine. It works great for me and I can sleep 5-6 hours when I take it with my evening meal. Probably like a lot of things, it might not work for everybody.

I fly primarily with BA these days, (premium economy when I'm paying and business when it's a work trip) and found that they tend to offer cheaper upgrades when you check in, based on how many seats in that category are left. For example, for an upcoming January flight between LGW and MCO, if I were to book an upgrade from PE to business online, it was cost me about £340 each way. However, from experience at check-in, I know they are likely to offer that same upgrade for £200 in the UK and $200 in Orlando. So I never upgrade when purchasing my ticket, I take a "wait and see" approach on check in.

However, you're flying in high season and it's likely that the PE and business class will be pretty full.

On my mother's trip to the UK last Christmas, she spent $600 for her economy ticket, used miles to upgrade to PE, and was given priority status for a free upgrade to biz on the London to Orlando leg if a seat became available, thanks to a sympathetic check-in agent. Unfortunately, as it turned out, business was full so she couldn't take advantage of the offer.

I noticed that the taxes and fees involved in using miles to upgrade from economy to economy plus was almost the same as just buying the economy plus ticket. While economy plus is nice, it is only seven more inches than economy. The wine in a glass is nice, tho.