Qantas FF "newbie" upgrade please help

Status
Not open for further replies.

macca1

Newbie
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Posts
1
Hi,

Sorry for the relatively simple questions. Looking to upgrade using approx 260K Qantas points for flight from Melb to London on 15 May and return 15 following month.

Appears upgrades are not confirmed until day before flight. Looking to upgrade to business.

Can I have an idea of chances or past experiences with upgrades. Upgrade is for partner and myself.

Appreciate any assistance. Also if there is any other way to guarantee an upgrade earlier.

Thanks
 
Hi macca1,

Welcome to AFF!

What status do you hold with QFF? This influences your place in the ranking of upgrade requests being processed. I believe it follows this order: Chairman's Lounge, then Platinum 1, then Platinum, then Gold, then Sikver, then Ruby. And premium economy to business is processed before economy to business, AFAIK.
I think serfty has posted the priority of upgrade request processing before, not sure which thread.

Qantas only starts processing upgrade requests usually 7 days prior to the flight, at the most, and then usually only for the CL and P1 status levels, unless the flight is looking really empty.
The only way to guarantee an upgrade earlier than the day before - or even the day of the flight - is to pay for a business class ticket. We are all subject to the lottery process with QF upgrades, and the mysteries of their prioritisation, processing, and yield control.

Good luck!
 
As Katie says, the higher your status the higher your chances in the upgrade lottery.

That said, your travel is in May which is still a long way away and seats that are available now may all be bought/booked by then.

For what its worth, the fare buckets right now for QF9 FOR 15MAY is F9 A7 - J9 C9 D9 I0 - W9 R9 T1 so it appears first class is nice and empty and there's still 9 or more seats for sale in business. Seat maps show 14 out of 64 seats currently being occupied.
 
Hi macca1,

Welcome to AFF!

What status do you hold with QFF? This influences your place in the ranking of upgrade requests being processed. I believe it follows this order: Chairman's Lounge, then Platinum 1, then Platinum, then Gold, then Sikver, then Ruby. And premium economy to business is processed before economy to business, AFAIK.
I think serfty has posted the priority of upgrade request processing before, not sure which thread.

Qantas only starts processing upgrade requests usually 7 days prior to the flight, at the most, and then usually only for the CL and P1 status levels, unless the flight is looking really empty.
The only way to guarantee an upgrade earlier than the day before - or even the day of the flight - is to pay for a business class ticket. We are all subject to the lottery process with QF upgrades, and the mysteries of their prioritisation, processing, and yield control.

Good luck!

Actually Katie, the list is not that simple. It actually goes more like this:

CLPO, CLWP, CLSG, CLPS, CLNB, QFPO, QFWP+, QFWP, LTSG, QFSG, QPPS, LTPS, QFPS, QPNB, QFNB and then NIL.
 
The chance of an upgrade for two pax is much smaller than for one, obviously.

Since you had to ask the Q, I'm assuming you have no / low FF status which again puts you & your partner lower on the totem pole.

No one has a guaranteed path to an upgrade, incl. those with relatively high status (P1, WP).

I'd suggest you start reading up on USDM, AAdvantage, Avianca Lifemiles on other threads.

Put in the efforts and you will be rewarded..... with those illusory J seats.

Cheers
 
A close friend of mine received an upgrade for both legs of his London-Dubai, Dubai-MEL last week.

He is a Qantas Club Bronse.
 
CLPO, CLWP, CLSG, CLPS, CLNB, QFPO, QFWP+, QFWP, LTSG, QFSG, QPPS, LTPS, QFPS, QPNB, QFNB and then NIL.

So do I read this correctly that LTG (lifetime gold) is ahead of QF Gold BUT QF Silver is ahead of Lifetime Silver? that seems like a funny little bit of inconsistency to me? Or perhaps just a (very small) extra benefit of LTG over LTS? interesting.

your list didn't include Oneworld emeralds/sapphires/rubies also who I suspect fall somewhere in there... :)
 
A close friend of mine received an upgrade for both legs of his London-Dubai, Dubai-MEL last week.

He is a Qantas Club Bronse.

But what type of fare he/she was upgrading from is the other important consideration that interacts with status. Eg. an NB on a full PE fare may well trump a WP on a Y fare. (Maybe someone can answer that?)
 
Status, fare type and luck all play a part in this lottery - may the upgrade gods smile upon you.

I thought I'd won the lottery when the four of us got the sms for J>F on QF11 last year :D
 
So do I read this correctly that LTG (lifetime gold) is ahead of QF Gold BUT QF Silver is ahead of Lifetime Silver? that seems like a funny little bit of inconsistency to me? Or perhaps just a (very small) extra benefit of LTG over LTS? interesting.

your list didn't include Oneworld emeralds/sapphires/rubies also who I suspect fall somewhere in there... :)
I think they are saying LTG is better than just gold (both come with Qantas club), but paid Qantas club + silver, is better than LTS, which is better than silver. Never seen a list as explicit as this before!
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

your list didn't include Oneworld emeralds/sapphires/rubies also who I suspect fall somewhere in there... :)

OW status pax can't upgrade with points on QF unless they are also QFF members (since you can only do it with QFF points), in which case it's their QFF status that would determine their "rank".
 
Actually, what I think is missing from Lowjhg's extensive list is Partner Gold. From my observations, PartnerJohnM as a PG (who would be NB in her own right) seemed to be treated far more royally for op-ups - DOM & INT - than I would have expected for a vanilla SG.
 
Actually, what I think is missing from Lowjhg's extensive list is Partner Gold. From my observations, PartnerJohnM as a PG (who would be NB in her own right) seemed to be treated far more royally for op-ups - DOM & INT - than I would have expected for a vanilla SG.

I believe PGs are the same in ranking as SG, but I may be wrong. So if PG is higher in ranking, this will be the updated list.

CLPO+, CLPO, CLPP, CLWP, CLLTSG, CLLTPSSG, CLPG, CLSG, CLLTPS, CLPS, CLNB, CLPM, QFPO+, QFPO, QFWP+, QFPP, QFWP, LTSG, LTPSSG, QFPG, QFSG, LTQPPS, QPPS, LTPS, QFPS, LTQP, QPNB, QFNB and then NIL.

So do I read this correctly that LTG (lifetime gold) is ahead of QF Gold BUT QF Silver is ahead of Lifetime Silver? that seems like a funny little bit of inconsistency to me? Or perhaps just a (very small) extra benefit of LTG over LTS? interesting.


your list didn't include Oneworld emeralds/sapphires/rubies also who I suspect fall somewhere in there...

If you are talking about the entire upgrade/waiting list, this would be the list instead.

CLPO+, CLPO, CLPP, CLWP, CLLTSG, CLLTPSSG, CLPG, CLSG, CLLTPS, CLPS, CLNB, CLPM, EKIO, QFPO+, QFPO, QFWP+, QFPP, QFWP, EKWP, *OWE, LTSG, LTPSSG, QFPG, QFSG, EKSG, *OWS, LTQPPS, QPPS, LTPS, QFPS, EKPS, *OWR, LTQP, QPNB, QFNB and then NIL.
 
Last edited:
Can you tell me what PO+ PO and PP stand for? (as in your CLPO+ and QFPO+) etc.

in fact don't understand a lot of your symbols what is the difference between QPPS and QFPS/ QPNB and QFNB...they don't appear in the WP section but QFPP does??????
 
Putting EK and OW in there is pointless. An EK member or a member of another OW airline can't upgrade on Qantas using their own points.
You may as well throw *A levels into the mix as it would be about as relevant.
 
Putting EK and OW in there is pointless. An EK member or a member of another OW airline can't upgrade on Qantas using their own points.
You may as well throw *A levels into the mix as it would be about as relevant.

For the upgrade tiers, please see my reply to JohnM. Note that I didn't include any EK nor OW tiers into it. The tiers that I had included EK and OW tiers is the reply to RichardMEL who asked for the waitlisting tiers not for points upgrades. Both are 2 different replies if you have had a closer and much more detailed look. ;)
 
For the upgrade tiers, please see my reply to JohnM. Note that I didn't include any EK nor OW tiers into it. The tiers that I had included EK and OW tiers is the reply to RichardMEL who asked for the waitlisting tiers not for points upgrades. Both are 2 different replies if you have had a closer and much more detailed look. ;)

I had a detailed look and from what I can see this thread is about upgrades using points except for when you suddenly mentioned waitlisting for no real reason. But hey, I'm used to being wrong. Carry on!
 
I had a detailed look and from what I can see this thread is about upgrades using points except for when you suddenly mentioned waitlisting for no real reason. But hey, I'm used to being wrong. Carry on!

I was going OT. Just provided extra details if anyone was interested. Didn't know that by giving extra details i would get lambasted for. :/ :S
 
  • in fact don't understand a lot of your symbols what is the difference between QPPS and QFPS/ QPNB and QFNB
    QPPS-Qantas Club member, Silver.
    QFPS-Qantas FF member, without being a member of the Qantas Club. Silver.
    QPNB-Qantas Club member, who is a lowest status member. Bronze.
    QFNB-Qantas FF member, without being a member of the Qantas Club, with lowest status member. Bronze.




 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top