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The Key is FinnAir
I recently got an alert from Expertflyer that an upcoming British Airways flight of mine was available to upgrade. BYAH! Here’s the thing…I was crediting that flight to Alaska so when I called into to upgrade, the rep changed my loyalty number and added my Alaska number. Bummer, right? What it did was provide me with an opportunity to explore what I thought to be possible, but hadn’t actually tried out.
The Facts:
- I’d booked a discount ticket in British Airways Club World
- I was originally crediting the flight to Alaska
- I had set an alert with Expertflyer to notify me when a First Class upgrade was available
- I wanted to Upgrade to First with Avios
- I wanted to secure 1A or 1K which are reserved seats for BA Gold or One World Emerald
- I wanted to credit the flight to Alaska after all was said and done.
While all of this can be done over the phone – it never works out quite how I’d like it, and I’ve found doing it myself creates the results I want.
The First step was receiving an email alert from Expertflyer notifying me that the seat I wanted was available.
You don’t need to do this, but it makes the process easier. If you don’t have ExpertFlyer you can check the AA website as upgrades are coded as award seats, so if you find an award seat, then you’ve found an upgrade as well ( assuming you’re ticketed into an upgradeable fare bucket).
I then called to upgrade the ticket from Business to First.
While you are technically capable of upgrading online, this feature has never worked for me. Going through the phone process resulted in my upgrade being secured, BUT my Alaska number was stripped from the reservation and replaced with my Executive Club. Not a big deal, but kind of annoying.
This created an opportunity to test a theory I’d wanted to try out: Could I switch in my AA number to get access to 1A and 1K, switch it back to Alaska, and still keep the seats?
The BA website doesn’t accommodate loyalty changes online after one has been selected. So I went to FinnAir.
The Finnair website streamlines changes and allows you to use your BA or AA record locator. In fact, I’m fairly certain that you can change any partners Record Locator ( help me out if you’ve one that doesn’t work ) —–>
Here’s the 1,2,3 Steps.
Since I’m AA Executive Platinum I should be able to access other seats in BA’s cabin. BA’s website showed the change instantaneously.
Sure enough…I could.
I then repeated the steps with FinnAir —-> changing it to Alaska.
Sure Enough…It worked and my loyalty is credited to Alaska and I still have seat 1A
Why did I want to be sure I credited this flight to Alaska?
- I’m going to Top Tier Status with Alaska
- Look at how many points you earn
Interested in seeing what it’s like to fly on BA First Class? Check out my last experience with Miles aboard the A380
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.