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I just experienced a real-life free flight upgrade on my latest British Airways flight out of London Heathrow to Nice. The seat in question was in Club World row 1 and is pictured above. I share the story in detail below.
Why Is It Worth Flying In Club From Gatwick?
A major reason to fly on British Airways in Club is that the lounges are particularly good in Gatwick as the Terminal is so bad and tatty. Any alternative option is better than waiting in the rest of the terminal building. The British Airways lounges at Gatwick are the one redeeming feature of flying out of Gatwick’s South Terminal. They are both excellent and were only quite recently designed and put together. Both are reviewed in detail below. Of course, a free flight upgrade onboard will not get you into the pre-flight lounge.
Free Lounge Access At Gatwick
If you want to fly on British Airways for free as I do and get free lounge access (you need to book a Club Europe or Club World or First Class flight to access these lounges), your best bet is to use credit cards. I usually book my flights for free on air miles and American Express Rewards, which convert directly to Avios (along with other airline miles). The free Amex Gold Card is an incredible deal with a huge free bonus of Membership Rewards and even more if you apply through our referral link. You also get limited free airport lounge access with this free card. You can apply for the UK & US card right here.
How To Get Unlimited Airport Lounge Access
For unlimited airport lounge access, you will need to apply for the Platinum card. With my referral link, you will get more Membership Rewards points.
The Free Flight Upgrade On British Airways
I have detailed my review of this British Airways flight out of Gatwick separately so you can see what the rest of my flight was like. I now focus on the woman who got upgraded from Economy to Club Europe for free on this British Airways flight.
On this flight, a seat in Economy was indeed broken; it reclined, but it wouldn’t go back upright, which is required for takeoff. So sure enough, as expected, seeing as there was no spare seat available in Economy, the passenger was moved next to me, at the front of the plane in Club World.
But this passenger was not as lucky as it seemed. You see, it is not legal to take off and land on a seat that is reclined, but you can “enjoy” your flight on a seat that reclines and won’t go back up. Once we had taken off, the lady was moved back to her Economy Seat.
Was she happy? Goodness, no, she had a rather aggressive conversation with the Club Word air hostess on why it was not good enough that she had to return to her Euro Traveller seat. At one point, I thought she might start a fight, but the air hostess remained calm and firm, and the passenger was marched back to enjoy the seat she booked until landing.
So the moral of this particular event is never to intentionally break the recline on your seat because it won’t get you a permanent upgrade on your flight, just a temporary one (assuming there is no other seat available in Economy). At least not on British Airways!
Now, a broken seat belt would have been a different story.
You can read all of our European British Airways Flight Reviews to find out what the Heathrow route is like, but on this particular flight, flown from Gatwick.
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