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Are you a British Airways Gold or Gold Guest List elite member? If you are, you may have been targeted by British Airways for a reasonably easy opportunity to earn a Gold upgrade for up to two passengers.
The Targeted Promotion
British Airways has been sending emails to a number of its Gold and Gold Guest List elite flyers offering them the opportunity to earn an upgrade for one or two people by making a new booking and then flying on that booking by 31 March 2021.
Specifically, these are the offers the airline has published:
- Earn 250 Tier Points between 9 December 2020 and 31 March 2021 to earn a Gold Upgrade for One Voucher.
- Earn 500 Tier Points between 9 December 2020 and 31 March 2021 to earn a Gold Upgrade for Two Voucher.
All targeted participants who meet the qualification criteria can expect to hear from British Airways in April 2021.
Key Terms
- This promotion is only open to Eligible Participants. An Eligible Participant is a British Airways Executive Club Gold or Gold Guest List Member preselected by British Airways and in receipt of the email invitation.
- All Eligible Participants must preregister in order to receive the offer, and subsequently fulfill the requirements of the offer in order to receive either a Gold Upgrade for One Voucher or a Gold Upgrade for Two Voucher.
- Eligible Participants must register between 9 December 2020 and 31 March 2021 at ba.com/golden-opportunity before booking and follow the “Register now” link provided. A “thank you” message will be displayed to confirm that your registration has been successful.
- Preregistered Eligible Participants must fulfill the requirements of the offer by 23:59 GMT 31 March 2021 to receive either a Gold Upgrade for One Voucher or a Gold Upgrade for Two Voucher.
- Preregistered Eligible Participants must book and fly between a minimum of 250 – 500 Tier Points between 9 December 2020 and 31 March 2021 in order to receive a Gold Upgrade for One Voucher.
- Preregistered Eligible Participants must earn at least 500 Tier Points on flights booked after registration to the offer, flown by 31 March 2021, in order to receive a Gold Upgrade for Two Voucher.
- Only one voucher can be claimed by each Preregistered Eligible Participant. Once 500 Tier Points are acquired the Preregistered Eligible Participant will receive a Gold Upgrade for Two Voucher only.
Full terms and conditions can be found on the promotion page.
Gold Upgrade Vouchers
A Gold Upgrade Voucher for One is usually awarded when an Executive Club member earns 2,500 Tier Points and a Gold Upgrade Voucher for Two is usually awarded at 3,500 Tier Points so if you have been targeted for this promotion you’re on to a pretty good deal.
Gold Upgrade vouchers are a single cabin class upgrade available on a single or return booking on British Airways operated flights (i.e not on flights operated by partners like Cathay Pacific, JAL, etc…) and are valid for 12 months from the date of issue. The vouchers can be used in conjunction with any published fare sold directly by British Airways, including Reward flight bookings and package holiday fares hut cannot be used in conjunction with any bookings that have already been subject to an upgrade (e.g. fares that have already been upgraded once using Avios).
If you’re upgrading a Reward Flight booking there has to be award availability in the higher cabin for the Gold Upgrade Voucher to be useable. If you’re upgrading a regular revenue fare there has to be a seat on sale in the lower selling class in the higher cabin for a Gold Upgrade for One voucher to be useable (two seats if you’re using a voucher for two).
If you’re upgrading to World Traveller Plus you’ll need T-class availability, if you’re upgrading to Club World you’ll need I-Class availability, and for First Class upgrades A-class fares need to be available.
One little quirk of how BA’s systems work is that if you’ve booked through a travel agent, the agent should be able to upgrade you into the next cabin regardless of what class the seats on sale are in (one of the few benefits of booking a flight through an agent rather then directly through BA).
A member with a Gold Upgrade Voucher must pay for the ticket alongside which the voucher is to be used, but the ticket does not have to be in that member’s name.
Full terms and conditions that accompany British Airways Gold Vouchers can be found here.
Bottom Line
if you hold British Airways Gold or Gold Guest List status check your emails – there may be a nice surprise in store for you. Don’t be too disappointed if you haven’t been targeted (I have Gold status and have not received an email) as I suspect that this offer may be targeted to higher-value customers (of which I’m definitely not one) as the airline looks to tempt them back into the skies.
Have you been targeted? If you have, are you a very frequent flyer with BA, and will you be taking up the challenge?
[HT: Loyalty Lobby]
