Qantas Surprising Platinum Flyers with Free Upgrades

If you’ve received an unexpected free upgrade from Qantas lately, you’re not alone. Qantas has resumed systematically upgrading Platinum and Platinum One members for a limited time, to thank lucky frequent flyers for their loyalty!

It’s not the first time Qantas has done this. Last year, numerous AFF members holding Qantas Platinum or Platinum One status reported receiving unexpected free upgrades. They appear to be random, and Qantas isn’t necessarily upgrading people on every flight. But we’ve seen examples of upgrades on all routes, from short domestic flights to long-haul international services.

These upgrades are free and are even being given to frequent flyers who haven’t requested a Qantas Points upgrade.

Qantas is intentionally giving lots of free upgrades

These aren’t just one-off instances of operational upgrades. Of course, Qantas hasn’t stated this publicly… but we understand the airline has deliberately decided to upgrade top-tier frequent flyers into empty premium cabin seats for a period of time.

Qantas recently resumed the charm offensive after a long pause. It intends to keep upgrading its top-tier customers until the end of November 2025.

Whenever Qantas does this, it’s adding a service message to the boarding pass that says:

Thanks for your loyalty. Enjoy the upgrade!

Qantas isn’t just upgrading from Economy to Business. Some lucky Business Class passengers flying on the Airbus A380 have even received complimentary upgrades to First. However, Qantas is not upgrading passengers into or from Premium Economy as part of this initiative.

How it works

These upgrades are being processed automatically by the same system that allocates Classic Upgrade Rewards. Qantas is allocating the free upgrades on international flights around 22 hours before departure. On domestic flights, it’s happening around 22 hours before departure for Platinum One members, or six hours before take-off for Platinum and Chairman’s Lounge members.

As part of this initiative, the airline is only upgrading passengers who aren’t travelling on the same booking with other people.

Passengers who’ve requested Classic Upgrade Rewards using their Qantas points still get priority in the upgrade queue. After all other paid or points upgrade requests have been processed, Qantas will then give away any other remaining premium cabin seats – except one seat, which is reserved for sale – to frequent flyers.

Platinum frequent flyers don’t necessarily need an upgradeable ticket to be in the running for one of these “courtesy” upgrades. We’ve seen examples of Qantas upgrading customers on international flights who’ve bought Economy Sale tickets.

Qantas also did something similar during the middle of 2021. However, Qantas wasn’t running any long-haul international flights at that time.

Have you received a courtesy upgrade from Qantas recently? Let us know on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum!