A Jay-Jay Okocha penalty and a second-half header from El-Hadji Diouf were sufficient to overcome Francis Jeffers' first-half effort for the home side, and few could argue that Bolton weren't worth their victory.
For Sam Allardyce it was a day to change his perspective on what might be achieved come the end of the season.
"Maybe it's time we started looking up and not down for a chance, worrying about who we've got to pass rather than who might pass us," said the Trotters boss.
"We've got Everton at the Reebok as our last home game of the season, and that could prove to have a huge amount riding on it. We've got a way to go yet, but of course a Champions League spot is still possible."
It was hard to deny Allardyce his viewpoint. Bolton had got off to the perfect start, as Hermann Hreidarsson handled Chris Perry's miscued defensive header deep in the Charlton area.
Okocha stepped up, false-started his run several times, and then sent Dean Kiely the wrong way, before slotting the ball inside the keeper's left hand post as he dived right.
Having weathered some extreme Bolton pressure, Charlton got back into the contest just before the half-hour mark - in controversial circumstances.
As Jussi Jaaskelainen jumped for the ball on the edge of his penalty area, Jeffers appeared to nudge the Bolton keeper in the back, sending him sprawling out of the box. Referee Alan Wiley failed to spot the push, and awarded Charlton a free-kick on the edge of the area.
Danny Murphy was alert enough to square the ball quickly to Jeffers, who fired home, via a series of deflections, into the back of the Bolton net.
It was an equaliser Charlton possibly didn't deserve, but with it, the path of the game appeared to have changed, as the home side, for the first time, enjoyed the better of the contest.
Just ten minutes of the second half had passed however, before Allardyce opted to introduce Diouf in a bid to fire his side into life. It was a gamble which paid off just three minutes later, as Gary Speed nodded back a deep cross and Diouf, charging in unmarked, somehow cushioned a header above Kiely and under the Charlton crossbar.
"It was a free header, and that's what upset me," said Alan Curbishley afterwards. "I just can't see us getting that sort of goal at the moment, because we're not creating those sort of chances at the moment.
"I feel we have to score twice to get anything out of the game, because we're defending so badly and letting in so many silly goals. Before the West Brom game, we'd let in nine goals in 14 matches, and now we've let in 12 in four. That's undoing us."
Man of the Match: Jay-Jay Okocha
Okocha scored the opener from the penalty spot and controlled play in midfield, with his passing and vision proving a class above anything else on view.