Qantas Domestic Flight Upgrades

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be working for me. If it doesn't get upgraded mid next week I'll try cancelling and resubmitting. Do you recommend waiting a certain time before resubmitting after cancelling or just do it straight way?

You should be able to cancel and then re-submit a few minutes later.

The last time this happened to me (I requested a points upgrade on a domestic flight but it was put in a waitlist, even though there was U availability) it was because the booking hadn't been ticketed yet. Once I realised this, and the booking had been ticketed, I canceled and redid the request and it was confirmed straight away.
 
You should be able to cancel and then re-submit a few minutes later.

The last time this happened to me (I requested a points upgrade on a domestic flight but it was put in a waitlist, even though there was U availability) it was because the booking hadn't been ticketed yet. Once I realised this, and the booking had been ticketed, I canceled and redid the request and it was confirmed straight away.
Cancelled it and waited an hour to resubmit with no luck. Should it be instant or like 5-10 minute wait.
 
Just confirming that if you can get a business classic reward seat as shown below, you should be able to get an immediate upgrade?
 

Attachments

  • Prices.png
    Prices.png
    13.1 KB · Views: 19
Just confirming that if you can get a business classic reward seat as shown below, you should be able to get an immediate upgrade?

Should be able to, yes, if it's a domestic flight. Assuming the number of reward seats available is equal to or greater than the number of passengers on your booking.
 
Should be able to, yes, if it's a domestic flight. Assuming the number of reward seats available is equal to or greater than the number of passengers on your booking.
Yep fully domestic and it's only me.
 
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

Thanks everyone.

5 Agents later, I had been on the phone with the last agent for 4 hours. She started with the same story about 24 hours before confirmation and I stated repeatedly that the T&Cs state domestic flights should be immediate if availability is there. She then said she wasn't sure about domestic flights and after 1 hour and a half of multiple holds she upgraded all my flights instantly.

Quite lucky because two of my flights only had 1 business reward seat left before I was upgraded.

I really appreciate the help here, I doubt I would of gotten this far without it.
 
Thanks everyone.

5 Agents later, I had been on the phone with the last agent for 4 hours. She started with the same story about 24 hours before confirmation and I stated repeatedly that the T&Cs state domestic flights should be immediate if availability is there. She then said she wasn't sure about domestic flights and after 1 hour and a half of multiple holds she upgraded all my flights instantly.

Good outcome but it's actually so pathetic that you had to spend hours and hours on multiple calls to Qantas to get this resolved, and that it took the final agent an hour and a half to process a simple upgrade request. If anyone from Qantas management is reading this, it should be ringing serious alarm bells.

If this was Virgin, you likely wouldn't have had the original error anyway but if you did, you should have been able to get this sorted over the phone in under 5 minutes.
 
I'm really glad you got upgraded in the end (I was cringing a bit when you wrote about waiting till next week thinking the seats could well be gone by then!) but it is beyond unacceptable it has taken you multiple calls to multiple stupid agents and then a FOUR HOUR wait with dicking around with an agent to do something that a) should have been done instantly online (which, to be fair, is the usual state of affairs as we all have said) and b) simple for an agent to do in literal seconds let alone minutes or hours.

Frankly I admire your extreme patience and willingness to retry endlessly. Here's one for persistence (I reckon QF owes you at least one of the segments for free given the amount of effort you've put into this).

I can only imagine that there was something weird about your PNR (not in any way blaming you for this of course.. like I don't know.. something stupid like taxes pricing wrong or something changed, or something not filled in correctly or screwing up the backend somehow) because it just doesn't make sense.

but back to the agents and the mess... it speaks to training and the way QF agents are dealing with what should be simple things. I know the premium folks in HBA would not have any issue with this, but of course not everyone of course gets directed to HBA and it is a very very sad indictment that you've had to deal with this.

Something this simple should not have taken you such a ridiculous amount of time and effort to have sorted. I'm so sorry this happened.

It may be worth detailing your experiences to customer "care" - you probably won't get far and I am not suggesting you demand a free upgrade or anything (despite my statement above) but more QF needs to know how poor this has been for you over so many agents (I have lost count.. what 8? 9?). This was not a complex ticketing issue or unreasonable demand. this should have been a conversation of a few minutes max and sorted.
 
I'm really glad you got upgraded in the end (I was cringing a bit when you wrote about waiting till next week thinking the seats could well be gone by then!) but it is beyond unacceptable it has taken you multiple calls to multiple stupid agents and then a FOUR HOUR wait with dicking around with an agent to do something that a) should have been done instantly online (which, to be fair, is the usual state of affairs as we all have said) and b) simple for an agent to do in literal seconds let alone minutes or hours.

Frankly I admire your extreme patience and willingness to retry endlessly. Here's one for persistence (I reckon QF owes you at least one of the segments for free given the amount of effort you've put into this).

I can only imagine that there was something weird about your PNR (not in any way blaming you for this of course.. like I don't know.. something stupid like taxes pricing wrong or something changed, or something not filled in correctly or screwing up the backend somehow) because it just doesn't make sense.

but back to the agents and the mess... it speaks to training and the way QF agents are dealing with what should be simple things. I know the premium folks in HBA would not have any issue with this, but of course not everyone of course gets directed to HBA and it is a very very sad indictment that you've had to deal with this.

Something this simple should not have taken you such a ridiculous amount of time and effort to have sorted. I'm so sorry this happened.

It may be worth detailing your experiences to customer "care" - you probably won't get far and I am not suggesting you demand a free upgrade or anything (despite my statement above) but more QF needs to know how poor this has been for you over so many agents (I have lost count.. what 8? 9?). This was not a complex ticketing issue or unreasonable demand. this should have been a conversation of a few minutes max and sorted.
I have been seeing another side to this story. First, how long out is the flight from the date of booking? I don't always received instant upgrades if the flight is weeks or months away. QF want the chance to sell more seats first!

U seats being available for domestic reward bookings doesn't equate being available for upgrade, does it? Happy to be wrong on this one.

There really were genuine concerns regarding flights between PER and MEL. The number of flights were, indeed, reduced. QF was waiting to see how the border situation was going to impact flights. I had a MEL-PER flight cancelled outright due to the cut in number of flights going in that direction.

Just saying that the call centre agents might have been correct in their advice of waiting until 72 hours prior to the flight for any of these reasons.
 
Last edited:
I have been seeing another side to this story. First, how long out is the flight from the date of booking? I don't always received instant upgrades if the flight is weeks or months away. QF want the chance to sell more seats first!

U seats being available for reward bookings doesn't equate being available for upgrade, does it? Happy to be wrong on this one.

There really were genuine concerns regarding flights between PER and MEL. The number of flights were, indeed, reduced. QF was waiting to see how the border situation was going to impact flights. I had a MEL-PER flight cancelled outright due to the cut in number of flights going in that direction.

Just saying that the call centre agents might have been correct in their advice of waiting until 72 hours prior to the flight for any of these reasons.
I'm not too sure since I'm new to all this but I have had to change my flights 3 times since I tried to get my upgrade due to cancellations and all times they have happily transferred the upgrade to the different flight without waiting.
 
Sponsored Post

Struggling to use your Frequent Flyer Points?

Frequent Flyer Concierge takes the hard work out of finding award availability and redeeming your frequent flyer or credit card points for flights.

Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, the Frequent Flyer Concierge team at Frequent Flyer Concierge will help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

The U bucket is used for both reward and upgrade inventory. This has always been my understanding.
 
The U bucket is used for both reward and upgrade inventory. This has always been my understanding.
I just remember the time we flew DFW-SYD. There were 5 U seats empty, but I was refused an upgrade. Even while in the lounge prior to boarding. Those seats were not allocated for rewards. No budging!
 
I just remember the time we flew DFW-SYD. There were 5 U seats empty, but I was refused an upgrade. Even while in the lounge prior to boarding. Those seats were not allocated for rewards. No budging!
Can't request upgrades for international flights in the lounge, must be done online prior.
If you did choose online prior, then you should've chosen the option to wait for an upgrade until boarding time, that would've given you the upgrade.
With flights from DFW there was a lot of misconnects from other domestic AA flights, that's probably the reason for spare seats.
 
Can't request upgrades for international flights in the lounge, must be done online prior.
If you did choose online prior, then you should've chosen the option to wait for an upgrade until boarding time, that would've given you the upgrade.
With flights from DFW there was a lot of misconnects from other domestic AA flights, that's probably the reason for spare seats.
I did do the request on line some time prior to the flight. I kept asking along the way as the upgrade can be advised as late as when in the lounge. So I kept checking! I was just indicating the denial of an upgrade. There were 5 J seats empty, but QF were still not giving them over for upgrades. (Nor was I WP then, just QP.)
 
I did do the request on line some time prior to the flight. I kept asking along the way as the upgrade can be advised as late as when in the lounge. So I kept checking! I was just indicating the denial of an upgrade. There were 5 J seats empty, but QF were still not giving them over for upgrades. (Nor was I WP then, just QP.)
Not to defend anyone here but there could have been reasons. What if some of the J seats were inop so "empty" but not usable? what if there was not enough J catering loaded? What if misconnects and they closed flight but still waiting for those pax?

I mean on the surface it makes no sense to not allow the upgrade but there probably was a reasonable reason but it's just not transparent.

Certainly in my experience QF have been very good at doing even at gate upgrades on the international sectors.
 
Not to defend anyone here but there could have been reasons. What if some of the J seats were inop so "empty" but not usable? what if there was not enough J catering loaded? What if misconnects and they closed flight but still waiting for those pax?

I mean on the surface it makes no sense to not allow the upgrade but there probably was a reasonable reason but it's just not transparent.

Certainly in my experience QF have been very good at doing even at gate upgrades on the international sectors.
All your scenarios are correct and possible. I was told of the empty seats by the AA staff before our connecting flight. Not QF staff at check in or the lounge. So these seats weren’t any of the other reasons. QF agent specifically told me that the allocation for upgrades had been used.

In the same situation now as WP, I probably would have been upgraded just because they were empty. Not for plebs (as I was then) though.
 
Last edited:
Certainly in my experience QF have been very good at doing even at gate upgrades on the international sectors.

Yes, pre-Covid (as WP), I was upgraded at the lounge more than once, only a few minutes before boarding, once a misconnect was confirmed.
 
All your scenarios are correct and possible. I was told of the empty seats by the AA staff before our connecting flight. Not QF staff at check in or the lounge. So these seats weren’t any of the other reasons. QF agent specifically told me that the allocation for upgrades had been used.

In the same situation now as WP, I probably would have been upgraded just because they were empty. Not for plebs though.
this is getting OT and not to go on about this but..... I mean you've been given information some hours before the flight in question and from partner airline staff - I'm not entirely certain how helpful that is as much can change prior to departure.

As for what the agent told you (which I am assuming was at the gate?) did you actually know for sure those seats were still empty? For example, did you look at an EF seatmap? did you see them empty in flight? there may have been standby pax or anything.

I'm not doubting you or anything, it's just that so much can happen, specially in the last minutes before a flight as we all know and those seats could well have evaporated for various reasons.

or, it could just have been that sure, computer said no and again, if they were holding those seats for connections (very common ex-US) till the last minute then sure they wouldn't be offering upgrades in the hope those pax would show up.

I've been on many a flight - dom and international - actually sitting on board and watching the seat map change and fill - domestic it is usually deadheading crew, int it can be standbys, connections, late late upgrades, all kinds of things).

there can be many scenarios at play and competing priorities. As customers often we do not have the full picture (even with tools like EF) and may make conclusions based on information which may have been accurate at the time it was given, but may not reflect changes even minutes later.

imo
 
All your scenarios are correct and possible. I was told of the empty seats by the AA staff before our connecting flight. Not QF staff at check in or the lounge. So these seats weren’t any of the other reasons. QF agent specifically told me that the allocation for upgrades had been used.

In the same situation now as WP, I probably would have been upgraded just because they were empty. Not for plebs (as I was then) though.
AA nor any other airline have actual seat availability of QF. Maybe they were looking at a seatmap or just general selling availability.
 
Back
Top