How many Avios points do I need to upgrade to Premium Economy?

Today I want to give you an overview of how many Avios you need to upgrade your British Airways Economy flight to Premium Economy / World Traveller Plus.

For other classes, this Head for Points article tells you all you need to know about upgrading British Airways flights with Avios.

The first thing I want to say is that this only applies to British Airways flights.  With only a few exceptions, which are very unlikely to apply to you, you cannot use Avios to upgrade flights with any other airline.

Before we look at how many Avios are needed, you need to check if your ticket can be upgraded or not.  Don’t assume that it is possible.

What are the rules for upgrading Economy tickets on British Airways?

There is one key rule to bear in mind when looking to upgrade from British Airways economy class to Premium Economy / World Traveller Plus:

If you are travelling in economy, you must be on a flexible or “low” fare ticket to upgrade – “lowest” economy fares are barred from upgrading.  You can read more about the British Airways fare classes here to check your status.  However, if you bought a non-refundable British Airways economy ticket you should assume that it CANNOT be upgraded.

This means that, for 90% of British Airways economy passengers, it is NOT possible to upgrade with Avios because they are on a non-refundable ticket.

There MUST be Avios reward seats in World Traveller Plus / Premium Economy to upgrade

OK, let’s assume that you DO have a semi-flexible or flexible economy ticket.  If you do, it is probably because you are travelling with your job and your company has paid the substantial premium for flexibility.

To be eligible for an Avios upgrade to World Traveller Plus there must be reward availability.

This means that there must be a seat in World Traveller Plus which you can book directly with Avios.  If there is, you can use the same reward seat for your upgrade.

If there are no seats in World Traveller Plus showing for Avios redemptions, you cannot upgrade from economy.  Keep checking back, however, as seats often up closer to departure.

Search on ba.com for a ‘full’ Avios redemption in the higher cabin to ensure it can be done before you start wasting time trying to upgrade.

What does it cost to upgrade my flight with Avios points?

The cost of the upgrade is the difference between a standard Avios redemption in the two classes.

A one-way peak Economy / World Traveller ticket to Dubai is 20,000 Avios for example, whilst Premium Economy / World Traveller Plus is 40,000 Avios.  It would therefore cost 20,000 Avios each-way to upgrade the ticket.

This article shows the Avios needed for EVERY British Airways route – click here.

The table in that article is based on one-way flights.  Look at how many Avios are needed for a full redemption in the cabin you are booked, look at how many are needed for a redemption in the next higher cabin, and work out the difference.  That is the one-way cost of your upgrade.

Note that additional taxes and charges may be due when you upgrade.  There is also additional UK Government Air Passenger Duty if you upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy, or from Economy to Business on short haul.  There is no additional Air Passenger Duty if upgrading from Premium to Business or from Business to First.

You can choose to just upgrade a return flight in one direction if the upgrade is not available both ways or if you don’t have enough Avios.

How do I upgrade my British Airways flight?

You can process the upgrade online, via ‘Manage My Booking’, or by calling British Airways Executive Club.

Do I earn Avios and tier points based on the class I booked or the class I flew?

You will not earn Avios and tier points for the upgraded class. As this is an Avios upgrade, you will only earn Avios and tier points in line with the cash portion of the booking.

If you buy a World Traveller / economy ticket and upgrade it to World Traveller Plus / Premium Economy, you only earn economy Avios and tier points back.  You can read more about earning Avios and tier points on upgrades here.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.4 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.