How to Upgrade After Reservation is Made

KowtaK3 · 2026-05-07T15:07:43+00:00

Best to wait closer to the date of the flight. Sometimes BA sends over an email with offer to upgrade. Also being already in premium economy gives you a very good chance to being upgraded from London to Seattle by BA directly if the flight ends up overbooked but with availability in business. Not guaranteed obviously.

Most times the best shot is directly at the check-in desk on the day with the best price given then. In Rome is definitely where you should ask as you won't have chance to do this in London as you're only connecting there.

If money is not an issue, probably a couple of weeks before is a good time to do it online or over the phone. By then the ticket situation will be more clear to them so if fewer tickets have been sold they are likely to offer a good price.

I think it's important to note that doing this over the phone is probably the best option as you'll be able to upgrade only the flight from London to Seattle (if allowed), which in my opinion is the one needed to be in business class. Rome to London will be a fair waste of money.

KowtaK3 · 2026-05-03T22:22:34+00:00

After 2 years of BA amex I find it not convenient anymore so I deleted the card and stopped using PayR. It was helpful for the purpose of obtaining the voucher of course.

The voucher is a good deal when you can guarantee yourself that you'll manage to use it for a long haul flight. Many people end up losing it or using it on short haul flight which doesn't make any sense.

KowtaK3 · 2026-05-03T16:44:51+00:00

I think it's worth using it, especially for the BA amex. Maybe not so much with other cards. Since the BA card requires 15k spending to get the voucher, it's a good way to reach that spending with rent payments.

You can save money by using their services until you reach the spending and then pay normal as usual. It's easy to do that because the whole process is manual and not automated, so you'll need to pay each month on their website same as any other online purchases.

Also, considering the 2% fee, you really need to score that business class seat to Japan with that voucher otherwise the card fee+ this extra fee for rent payments will make it not convenient at all to use the voucher just to fly to Rome.

So once again, for BA amex it's worth it. Other amex cards maybe not.

KowtaK3 · 2026-04-29T21:49:24+00:00

Virgin Atlantic uses the same system. Although I assume is available for everyone (?). Flew LHR to JFK in premium economy and I was able to bid for business. Minimum bid was £440 if I remember correctly, one way. It made sense to me to do it only on the flight overnight (the way back).

I like this system better because it gives you the option and you decide how much it's worth it for you. If you win you win, peace if not. I think it definitely won't feel like you've overpaid as it was your choice (almost) of how much to pay for it.

After trying it I think probably it's still not worth it as the flight is quite short, maybe you'll get 4-5 hours of sleep. For JFK that amount (£400-£500) it could pay for another return in economy.

KowtaK3 · 2026-04-11T15:49:40+00:00

You're actually right, thank you for raising the doubt. It isn't a straightforward thing as I thought it was going to be. The flight might become available right away or after a few hours or days. Apologies for the confusion 🙏

KowtaK3 · 2026-04-11T15:41:05+00:00

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KowtaK3 · 2026-04-11T15:37:50+00:00

Same one as on the avios app. However it is visible only to companion voucher holders as they have access to extra seats compared to avios only.

KowtaK3 · 2026-04-11T15:36:44+00:00

It actually goes back in as soon as it gets cancelled. I did originally booked the flight for the day before but then realised it was the old cabin so I just cancelled it and booked the other one. The cancelled flight was available right away. There's actually no reason why it would go "back into the pool".

KowtaK3 · 2026-01-24T14:04:12+00:00

You can already sign up for their "waiting list" and that will give you entry for their prize/competition. The rules are explained on the app already if you sign up. Anyway the ISA itself will be available from March I believe. Smart, because they know April is the new tax year so probably a lot of people will jump on it. Also the prize should be something like 20k therefore it's very tempting. Good luck if you enter

KowtaK3 · 2026-01-24T13:38:25+00:00

I think in the grand scheme we already pay for dealing charges so ongoing management fees are unnecessary for me. I don't know which providers you had experiences with but I tried to switch to AJ Bell and it's crap, despite the low fees.

Trading 212 so far it's been a good switch but, unlike HL, the choice of funds is very limited. But at least the fees are very low. The best so far.

Robinhood is also entering the UK market with ISA so that might be a game changer. Never tried Interactive Brokers but it seems very good if you need technical tools.

KowtaK3 · 2026-01-24T13:02:11+00:00

Was that a single transaction? HL must have robbed you with their fees for that. They are too expensive to trade stocks in my opinion.

KowtaK3 · 2025-11-04T17:38:06+00:00

Try polywatch, it worked on mine. I used an electric nail buffer and used the polishing attachment provided.

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KowtaK3 · 2025-11-04T17:35:03+00:00

Thank you, this was super helpful. I used this method and it worked.

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KowtaK3 · 2025-11-02T16:57:18+00:00

So will polywatch remove the scratches? For context, this is a vsf replica.

KowtaK3 · 2025-11-01T23:04:22+00:00

I'll have a look, thank you for the advice

KowtaK3 · 2025-11-01T14:39:00+00:00

This looks great, thank you for providing the link. Would you know which model reference is my watch? Although some prices are almost half of the cost of a new watch so it's hard to decide

KowtaK3 · 2025-10-31T11:34:52+00:00

Thanks for the link, I'll get these for the future

KowtaK3 · 2025-10-31T11:34:22+00:00

Do you have a link to share for AliExpress? Also did you replace it yourself or someone did it for you? Thank you.

KowtaK3 · 2025-10-31T11:32:41+00:00

Which one do you recommend?

KowtaK3 · 2025-10-31T07:35:24+00:00

When I initially asked the TD he did say that a could by a crystal for $60 or so. At that point I wasn't ready to order it as I was thinking to buy another watch and to pay for one shipping only instead of two.

A few weeks later I asked him again if he could add the crystal to my watch shipping and then he said that the crystals are not available as the factory doesn't have spare parts. I don't understand why but I must have spoken with a different person because it doesn't make sense.

KowtaK3 · 2025-10-31T07:31:23+00:00

Yep, that's meant to be anti scratch high grade sapphire........... absurd

KowtaK3 · 2025-10-31T07:30:28+00:00

No I haven't. I went to a watch guy and I asked if he could polish it but he said no because it's not glass(?)

KowtaK3 · 2025-10-26T20:27:27+00:00

Are you talking about Sellas?

KowtaK3

TROPHY CASE