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I’ve written in the past about utilizing attractive pricing out of Dublin, Stockholm, Inverness, etc to position yourself in and out of Europe in a premium cabin. Typically, I’ve written about the advantageous pricing in business class, but one of the best uses of British Airways Avios is upgrading from Premium Economy into Club World. This suite spot 😉 lead me to discovering a pretty darn good deal to travel roundtrip from Dublin to both Los Angeles and San Francisco toward the end of October all the way through next summer.
Here’s a quick look at the deals:
While I didn’t search all of the combinations, it appears you can start picking this deal up at roughly a 4 day turn all the way up into the months. I searched 60 and 90 days roundtrips and they were still pricing in the $800s
Here’s a preloaded Google Flights search from Dublin to Los Angeles in December. Play around with the dates
And then an option out of San Francisco
Upgrading with Avios into Club World.
My first step is looking at AA to find availability on the route you hope to upgrade. Then cross reference that with pricing via Google Flights. I found direct business class space which looks like this on AA.com
The above flight is on BA metal so when you search make sure you’re matching up the right flight option because there could be several on your selected date.
Make sure the flight numbers match up. BA 281 and BA281 – check.
For safety…purchase via BA.com
How many Avios to upgrade?
It will cost you the point difference between each cabin. Easiest way to know that? Look on BA.com. For this particular option it’s 30k. However…Amex currently has a 40% transfer bonus meaning just 22k Amex points could pop you flat on your back.
Need extra British Airways Avios? Check out the current offer on the British Airways credit card from Chase.
Happy Hunting!
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
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 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, 2024
- $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.
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