Upgrading: does electing for Y+ reduce your chances of getting upgraded to J?

[justinbrett]

Does anyone know if, when flying Y, electing for Y+ reduces your chances of getting upgraded to J? I guess that would never be made public.

I think I'd rather throw my hat in the ring for J if electing Y+ even remotely reduced my chances.

 

[TeaKozy]

My experience has been that Qantas processes upgrades in order of status, but executes them per-class, i.e. Y+ P1, Y+ WP, Y+ SG, then Y P1, Y P (P1's may be the exception here). If you don't elect for Y+ then you're more likely to stay in Y.

Qantas like to maximise their points redemption yield, and upgrading Y+ to J and then Y to Y+ lets them double-dip on the same seat.

 

[justinbrett]

My experience has been that Qantas processes upgrades in order of status, but executes them per-class, i.e. Y+ P1, Y+ WP, Y+ SG, then Y P1, Y P (P1's may be the exception here). If you don't elect for Y+ then you're more likely to stay in Y.

Qantas like to maximise the points redemption yield, and upgrading Y+ to J and then Y to Y+ lets them double-dip on the same seat.

Yes, I have a 100% success rate as WP upgrading from Y+ to J, and this was my thinking behind not electing for Y+. But I guess you are right in that they'd just give it to another WP or even SG who asked for Y+.

I think officially it's supposed to be by class of requested upgrade - ie all the upgrades to J, then all the upgrades to Y+, but my experience suggests booked Y+ gets priority.

It's terrible value though. I'm only not ruling it out because I haven't used any points during the last two years and getting pretty close to the million mark.

 

[TeaKozy]

I think officially it's supposed to be by class of requested upgrade - ie all the upgrades to J, then all the upgrades to Y+, but my experience suggests booked Y+ gets priority.

My colleague and I (same flight, LAX-MEL, him in Y+ as SG and me in Y as WP) both requested an upgrade. Guess whose seat I got.

 

[TheInsider]

Does anyone know if, when flying Y, electing for Y+ reduces your chances of getting upgraded to J?

No it doesn't. It will give the higher cabin first if available always.

OR are you talking about free upgrades?!

 

[justinbrett]

No it doesn't. It will give the higher cabin first if available always.

OR are you talking about free upgrades?!

No points upgrades.

I was right for the wrong reason - or perhaps wrong for the right reason.

I knew there was something about Y+ getting priority over Y, but I guess that's if you have booked Y+, elected to upgrade to Y+ apparently doesn't change anything. So even if SG Y+ gets priority over WP Y, electing for Y+ won't change your chances of getting to J. That's how I'm understanding it anyway. It doesn't really fit in with what Qantas publishes (ie, WP being processed 3 days before, SG 24 hours before), but seems to be how it works in practice.