Another upgrade question - whose points do they use?

[poppet]

Sorry if this is a repeat question, but I have done a search of the forum and can't find an answer.

My DH and I are travelling together to the US in December/January. I am Gold Status and he is with Qantas Club so I presume that makes him the same as Silver Status. We can apply for the upgrade in late Sept, and the return in October so I have diarised these dates to try an get in as early as possible - even though that time of year is going to be tough to get an upgrade due to higher loadings.

Viewing our booking, it is telling me that I can use 144,000 points to upgrade to business, or 90,000 points to upgrade to premium economy each way. After almost dropping dead at the realisation of how many points it cost I then realised it was for 2 PAX, rather than 1, which isn't so bad and we might put in for it both ways!

Now as I am SG, I know (based on research on this site) it is better for me to put in for the upgrade for both of us. However, I am confused as to whether they will take all the upgrade points just from my FF account or will they take 1/2 from mine and 1/2 from him?

This is important as most of the points are currently on Amex MR so we need to know whose FF account to transfer the points from.

TIA

 

[opusman]

They will take them from the account of the person who requests the upgrade (assuming you are both on the same booking.) If you are the higher status member it would make sense for you to put the upgrade request in - you can transfer points from the other account to yours using the Family transfer feature.

 

[htchapman]

And remember you are only allowed one points transfer every 12 months, so if you think his points will come in handy sometime in the next year...you might want to transfer the whole lot!

 

[straitman]

And remember you are only allowed one points transfer every 12 months, so if you think his points will come in handy sometime in the next year...you might want to transfer the whole lot!

Up to 100,000 only is possible.

 

[simongr]

The technical ruling is that the priority is based on the traveller rather than the points upgrade. However some anecdotal evidence contradicts that.

 

[poppet]

Thanks! I knew you lot would know. Cheers for that.

 

[oz_mark]

Nevertheless,I was under the impression that should you try to upgrade 2 pax on one booking they would both be upgraded (or not)

 

[Mal]

Nevertheless,I was under the impression that should you try to upgrade 2 pax on one booking they would both be upgraded (or not)

Yeah, that seems to be the case (and is the usual types of stories I've heard). The T&C's do have the following:

16.3.6 When passengers are travelling together but have separate bookings, the awarding of the Flight Upgrade is processed for each booking separately. Qantas cannot guarantee that both requests will be Awarded.

Which makes sense - seperate bookings may not be taken into account fully by the system (even if linked etc).

 

[poppet]

Yes, we're on the same booking which is why I think the upgrade points quote was for 144,000 points rather than 72,000 points? Either way, I will have the points there in case.

 

[equus]

The technical ruling is that the priority is based on the traveller rather than the points upgrade. However some anecdotal evidence contradicts that.

Indeed - but when one request covers two passengers (on the one booking), the upgrade is processed all-or-nothing, based on the status priority of the requesting traveller. So, both get processed according to the higher status (assuming you have requested from the higher status). The trap of course is that there must be 2 seats available.

To put a hypothetical scenarion, in the context of this thread, with a SG (and presumably NB), and let us assume the SG requests the upgrade.

Lets assume (for arguments sake), there are no WPs pre-empting things , and there is one other PS passenger who has also requested an upgrade. By my understanding of how things work (and limited observation), if 3 upgrade seats are available, everyone gets upgraded, if only 2 are available, the SG & NB (same booking, requested by SG) get upgraded with the PS missing out, and if only 1 upgrade seat is made avaialble, then the SG & NB miss out (all or nothing, and only 1 seat), and the PS gets the seat.

 

[serfty]

... To put a hypothetical scenario ...

That's would indeed be the case ...

... and I do believe if PAX of varying status are on the one booking; the highest status is employed in determining allocation.

 

[oz_mark]

Indeed - but when one request covers two passengers (on the one booking), the upgrade is processed all-or-nothing, based on the status priority of the requesting traveller. So, both get processed according to the higher status (assuming you have requested from the higher status). The trap of course is that there must be 2 seats available.

So the answer is that the person with the higher status is the one that should be making the request

Either way they would both be at the same level of priority and the discussion about whether it is of the traveller or the person requesting the upgrade is probably moot in this case.

 

[equus]

That's would indeed be the case ...

... and I do believe if PAX of varying status are on the one booking; the highest status is employed in determining allocation.

It probably gets even more complicated, if another variable is brought in. If the requestor is one of the travellers, the rules state that the status of that traveller is used (hence why the higher status should always request), but what happens if the requestor is not either of the travellers?:shock:. I wonder which status gets used if the 2 (or more travellers) are different status - higher or lower? I don't know I would be chancing that one.

 

[serfty]

It probably gets even more complicated ...

My take is that the rules would imply it's still the highest status held by any of the travelling PAX on the one booking.

Then again, refer to post #5.

 

[mick]

I am Gold Status and he is with Qantas Club so I presume that makes him the same as Silver Status.

I tried searching the QF website and this forum for an answer, but wasn't successful... Can anyone confirm whether, for the purposes of determining the order of allocating Flight Upgrades, being QC is ranked the same as PS? Is being QC even considered for this purpose?

The reason I ask is because next month, I'll be travelling LAX/SYD with a family member and was wondering whether it'd be better for me being PS to request the upgrade from Y>J as he is only QC. We're on separate itineraries, but I have had them linked. Obviously, if PS and QC is ranked the same, I won't need to bother requesting the upgrade on his behalf. Thanks.

 

[Mal]

I tried searching the QF website and this forum for an answer, but wasn't successful... Can anyone confirm whether, for the purposes of determining the order of allocating Flight Upgrades, being QC is ranked the same as PS? Is being QC even considered for this purpose?

I don't think there is an official answer. Historically QP has been thought of as ranking equal to or higher than PS in the scheme of things based on anecdotal evidence (and also that QP life > QP) - but I can't recall anything that proves this officially. The Qantas upgrade system really is not opaque. It uses lots of variables and I don't think anyone knows the true upgrade rankings (eg how granular the "time of requesting is", how a single seat available and a Plat wanting 2 seats and a Bronze wanting 1 seat is handled, How Qantas deals with 'ties' on upgrades etc etc)

 

[mick]

I don't think there is an official answer.

Thanks Mal, I'm starting to think you're right. I've just spoken with a QFF consultant and they claimed that upgrade priority is given in the order: CL, WP, SG, PS+QP, PS, QP and then NB. He also stated that it's the status of the member whose flight is being upgraded that is taken into consideration, which is consistent with their T&Cs but not consistent with some people's experience (including mine).

It seems to me that we'll just have to go into this upgrade lottery with fingers crossed. Wish us luck!

 

[MelUser]

Good luck and please let us know how you go!

 

[JohnK]

The reason I ask is because next month, I'll be travelling LAX/SYD with a family member and was wondering whether it'd be better for me being PS to request the upgrade from Y>J as he is only QC. We're on separate itineraries, but I have had them linked. Obviously, if PS and QC is ranked the same, I won't need to bother requesting the upgrade on his behalf. Thanks.

I think that QF has made a change to how upgrade requests are processed. It is the status of the passenger that is travelling that determines the place in the points upgrade lottery and not the status of the person making the request. So if a Platinum requests a points upgrade for a Bronze the upgrade request would slot in after any Bronze points upgrade requests for the flight.

 

[simongr]

The problem is that some people's experiences do not reflect this new approach hence the confusion...