British Airways is offering free upgrades on flights – but there’s a catch
BRITISH Airways is offering free upgrades on flights for some passengers - but it's not as cheap as it seems.
The airline will dish out a free upgrade to passengers who spend at least £10,000 in a year on their credit card, which requires a monthly fee.
However, for anyone who doesn't want to pay the monthly fee, they will need to spend at least £20,000 a year to get the same offer - which works out at roughly £1,600 per month.
The new credit card, Barclaycard Avios Plus, costs £20 per month for card holders and gives 1.5 Avios points for every £1 spent on it.
Alternatively, the free card, called Barclaycard Avios, offers just one point for each £1 spent.
If you spend £10,000 in a year with the Barclaycard Avios Plus - or £20,000 with the free card - you'll receive a free BA cabin upgrade to use on certain flights.
The offer allows passengers to upgrade their booking by one cabin class, so, depending on availability, economy passengers can be upgraded to either premium economy or business class.
Bookings can't be upgraded to a first class cabin using the voucher.
Most read in News Travel
Additionally, credit card holders can get up to five months of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade for free.
BA has come under fire in recent days after a disastrous IT meltdown led to hundreds of cancellations and long delays for passengers.
More than 500 flight were disrupted over the weekend as the airline suffered its biggest IT failure for years.
Customers were left facing travel chaos at Heathrow on Friday night after the airline suffered a major system outage.
Passengers slammed the airline after many were stuck on planes which couldn't take off and some were unable to get their bags and leave the airport.
Meanwhile, a frequent flyer has revealed the best way to bag a free upgrade to business class.
And flight attendants have revealed how some passengers make it into first class on a plane without paying for it.
Here's the one way you're guaranteed to get a plane ticket upgrade, according to travel experts.