Upgrade Question

[Stevo.1702]

Hi all.

Quick question that I know you experts can help me out with.

I booked my father a business reward Townsville to Brisbane and I booked myself a Red-E Deal seat with the intention to upgrade with points. Manage my booking says that an upgrade is unavailable. Did a little recheck of details and realised the flight is on a QLink 717 which I assume is the reason why I cannot upgrade.

I can see that there is availability for another business award to be purchased so I assume an upgrade request, if possible, would be successful.

Are there any options for me to upgrade in this case? A phone call or an on-departure upgrade in the lounge? My Dad rarely flies and never before up the front so I would like to sit with him.

Thanks legends.

 

[kermatu]

Hi all.

Quick question that I know you experts can help me out with.

I booked my father a business reward Townsville to Brisbane and I booked myself a Red-E Deal seat with the intention to upgrade with points. Manage my booking says that an upgrade is unavailable. Did a little recheck of details and realised the flight is on a QLink 717 which I assume is the reason why I cannot upgrade.

I can see that there is availability for another business award to be purchased so I assume an upgrade request, if possible, would be successful.

Are there any options for me to upgrade in this case? A phone call or an on-departure upgrade in the lounge? My Dad rarely flies and never before up the front so I would like to sit with him.

Thanks legends.

My guess is it's not the aircraft but the fact you booked a red E-deal. These are often not upgradeable. I'm not an expert on all this, but it is a 'price' of paying the lowest fare available.

My advice would be to call to see if there's a way around it (likely at some cost to you).

 

[njba]

According to the upgrade calculator, you should be able to request an upgrade for a depressing 15K points from a discount ecnomy ticket: https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/do/dyns/upgradeCalculator

There may be different capacities for upgrades versus award tickets?

 

[travelislife]

My guess is it's not the aircraft but the fact you booked a red E-deal. These are often not upgradeable. I'm not an expert on all this, but it is a 'price' of paying the lowest fare available.

My advice would be to call to see if there's a way around it (likely at some cost to you).

Pretty sure that is the case only for international fares. Domestic all tickets are upgradeable.

 

[Mattg]

If you can see that a Business reward seat is available, my advice is to cancel and then re-submit the upgrade request online. It should come through immediately. If that doesn't work, it's probably just a glitch in the system so calling would be my next port of call.

Domestic Red-e-deal fares can be upgraded, so that's not the issue.

 

[kermatu]

Apologies for giving the wrong info! I was sure I had some domestic flights I couldn't upgrade but they may have been flights before or after a Trans-Tasman economy flight so that might have been the issue.

 

[RooFlyer]

If you can see that a Business reward seat is available, my advice is to cancel and then re-submit the upgrade request online. It should come through immediately. If that doesn't work, it's probably just a glitch in the system so calling would be my next port of call.

Domestic Red-e-deal fares can be upgraded, so that's not the issue.

Stevo.1702 should definitely call. Getting a message that upgrade is unavailable is a known glitch in QF's system. Not to say that an upgrade will be available, but there is an occasional problem in this regard.

 

[Mattg]

Stevo.1702 should definitely call. Getting a message that upgrade is unavailable is a known glitch in QF's system. Not to say that an upgrade will be available, but there is an occasional problem in this regard.

The reason I suggested to cancel and re-submit is due to another known glitch. If there are no business reward seats available at the time of placing a request, the system will waitlist the upgrade. But if a reward seat then becomes available, it doesn't automatically allocate this to the next passenger on the list. Instead, it's there for the taking. If this is the case, then re-submitting the request should resolve it.

If the reward seat was showing as available at the time of placing the upgrade request, however, then yes the OP should definitely call.

Edit: Just re-read the first post and you're right, RooFlyer. This is a different issue.

 

[Stevo.1702]

Hey.

Thought I'd let you know how it went. I called and requested the upgrade. Hoping for confirmation 24hrs out which never came. At check-in the agent was unsure if I was business or economy and asked what I booked... I said I had booked economy and requested an upgrade. I was given a boarding pass with business and thought 'goodie - this was harder than it normally was'.

3 days on now I have my originally booked points and status credits however I was never deducted points for the upgrade.

Interesting trip that one but I'm going to tick it up as a win.

Thanks for the advise.

 

[kermatu]

Big win! Hope it sticks.