Domestic Upgrade Qn

[docjames]

Looking for a couple of upgrades BNE-MEL and SYD-BNE in late may / early June.

Have tried about a million times with request upgrade - repeatedly denied. Fare class is "B" if it makes any difference (so it is upgrade eligible). Two pax travelling so that probably wont help. Unfrotunately you cant log an UG request for Dom travel in the same way as you do for Intl which would stop me having to go in and out all the time!

Can others inform me:
- how common / hard is it to get an upgrade when requesting in advance?
- how far in advance should one normally look?

Obviously with mrsdoc being QP can always try an ODU but would prefer to lock in earlier obviously.

 

[ejb_nz]

Looking for a couple of upgrades BNE-MEL and SYD-BNE in late may / early June.

Have tried about a million times with request upgrade - repeatedly denied. Fare class is "B" if it makes any difference (so it is upgrade eligible). Two pax travelling so that probably wont help. Unfrotunately you cant log an UG request for Dom travel in the same way as you do for Intl which would stop me having to go in and out all the time!

Can others inform me:
- how common / hard is it to get an upgrade when requesting in advance?
- how far in advance should one normally look?

Obviously with mrsdoc being QP can always try an ODU but would prefer to lock in earlier obviously.

They are very hard to come by in advance. Your best bet is going to be in the QP 2 hours before flight.

Good luck.

ejb

 

[notzac]

What I've found helpful if I want an upgrade -- check to see if there are J classic award seats available on the flight before booking. So long as there's a classic award available, you can upgrade.

 

[Ewing]

Two pax travelling so that probably wont help.

Another thing you can do is split the bookings and try your luck upgrading both over time.

This has worked for me in the past - the best result I had was with 4 pax. I split it into 4 bookings and 1 upgrade seat was opening up each week.

It took 4 weeks to upgrade everyone, but I did it. As soon as we were all upgraded I called QF and associated the bookings so at least we were seated in 2 groups of 2.

This is where E/F comes in handy as well. You can put an alert in for a business award seat and snatch it as soon as there is availability.

As a lone traveller I've never had an unsuccessful upgrade either requesting it in advance or an ODU (unless of course the J cabin is full). Sometimes if it's done too close to boarding I'm told that they can't guarantee a business meal, but I've still always received it.

 

[docjames]

They are very hard to come by in advance. Your best bet is going to be in the QP 2 hours before flight.

That'll be difficult given on the first leg i'm coming in from DRW and the second from BKK.....

Thanks all for the advice - looks like constant checking is the way to go but unlikely to have much luck unless I can seperate the bookings.

Pity they cant operate Domestic Upgrades in the same way as international.

Supplementary question: any idea why they wouldnt use the same system for processing UGs Intl and Dom?

 

[ejb_nz]

...
Supplementary question: any idea why they wouldnt use the same system for processing UGs Intl and Dom?

My guess would be the nature of Dom travel is things can change quickly and people can change plans so locking in upgrades 5-6 hours before the flight could be hard.

ejb

 

[tuapekastar]

Pity they cant operate Domestic Upgrades in the same way as international.

Supplementary question: any idea why they wouldnt use the same system for processing UGs Intl and Dom?

I can see where you have an issue, having already booked the flight, and this advice is after the horse has bolted, but as per notzac's post, I would tend to do it 'in reverse' - check for business classic award availability, and you then know there is an upgrade available (they come from the same fare bucket), then book the appropriate domestic flight and immediately lodge the upgrade request, which should also 'come through' immediately (I've done this a couple of times MEL-PER-MEL).

How changeable are your domestic flights (as far as your timings and change fees go)? Given the frequency of flights on those legs, maybe you could check flights leaving soon after your current ones to see if there is business classic award availability (for 2 people), and if there is, change to those flights and immediately request the upgrade(s). A bit of work, and a bit of a longshot, but you never know unless you look. Good luck with it all anyway.

PS. I think I would actually prefer if International upgrades were done the same, or similar, as domestic ones currently are.