qantas rewards codes

[laffer]

I am thinking about booking a flight from LHR to Syd in Feb. As the trip is likely to be only for a week the thought of doing it all in economy is not appealing. I have enough points (with a small donation from my partner) to be able to request an upgrade (making sure I book into upgradeable fare code). I use seatcounter.com to check flight availability. But what are the QF upgrade codes to see if an upgrade from regular economy to businss is free? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[serfty]

For international flights Qantas do not have specific published codes for "Upgrades". If you are booked on an eligible fare you can waitlist an upgrade request. These are assessed ~20 hours before the flight. Those requests of passengers with the higher QFF status get priority.

For domestic flights U class is employed for both Business class award bookings and upgrades to Business class from Economy.

Now for international flights, it may by that Qantas use the award categories for upgrades at < 24 hours. As upgrades can no longer be requested at that time, this is conceivable.

These award classes are:

• P - First Class
• U - Business
• Z - Premium Economy
• X - Economy.

[laffer]

Oh damn! Thanks Serfty. Hmm. Is £2000 worth it for premium economy? I really do baulk at paying that for what is still an economy seat (even though i lust after the leg room).

[serfty]

What you can do is try to book a flight where Business class is likely to be undersold.

Look for high D, I, C numbers or even award (U) availability (rare on that route).

[oz_mark]

Oh damn! Thanks Serfty. Hmm. Is £2000 worth it for premium economy? I really do baulk at paying that for what is still an economy seat (even though i lust after the leg room).

On QF it is not a normal economy seat. To some extent the QF version of PE could be viewed as a J- rather than Y+.

(BA is a different story)

[simongr]

Some other reference points for you:

- You can apply for both whyY->J and whY-> Y+ upgrades at the same time so that might be something to think about

- Upgrades are awarded in order of status with QF and then time of request within each status bracket. So even if you pick a light load and request 90 days out - if a higher status flier requests an upgrade even 36 hours out - they will be ahead of you in the queue. Not sure of your status but it is something to think about.

S

[serfty]

... Upgrades are awarded in order of status with QF and then time of request within each status bracket. ...

There have been some recent reports that while time of request may have some bearing, original booked fare class may have more influence.

In any case, a passenger's QFF status has a greater bearing than either of these in the pecking order.

[odoherty]

For international flights Qantas do not have specific published codes for "Upgrades". If you are booked on an eligible fare you can waitlist an upgrade request. These are assessed ~20 hours before the flight. Those requests of passengers with the higher QFF status get priority.

For domestic flights U class is employed for both Business class award bookings and upgrades to Business class from Economy.

Now for international flights, it may by that Qantas use the award categories for upgrades at < 24 hours. As upgrades can no longer be requested at that time, this is conceivable.


These award classes are:

• P - First Class
• U - Business
• Z - Premium Economy
• X - Economy.

Although QF don't use international "inventory" for upgrades, it is worth noting that your booking code will change to P, U or Z, if an upgrade is successful.

[garyjohn951]

Look for high D, I, C numbers or even award (U) availability (rare on that route).

With the downturn in the economy it has all changed. Looked over the weekend for FEB 2009 and on 12 days there were U seats avaiable for Mel-LHR and 7 on return.

[simongr]

Interesting that they have not yet released more J seats later in the year - maybe expecting some improvement...