Award Upgrade Pecking Order [Are Staff gettting manual Priority ex BKK?]

[MikeV8]

Hello All,

I'd like to share an experience that seems to indicate a shift in the pecking order to which Award Upgrade requests are granted...

Today I flew BKK to SYD, booked in 'S' class (upgradable).
I requested 'J' upgrade a month ago (with booking showing status would be updated 5 hours before boarding time ever since).

I kept an eye on the seat vacancy thru ExpertFlier regularly:-
- @T-8 hours showing J*3 available,
- @T-5 hours showing J*1 available, my status confirmed as economy 'S' (ie no upgrade)
- @T-2 hours showing J*1 available, my status confirmed as economy 'S' (ie no upgrade).
At the airport, I enquired at Qantas desk, they said 1* 'J' to be confirmed at checkin close.
Waited it out on 'first wait-list' till closure.
At last minute, they checked me in with the upgrade.

The two other 'J's taken before closure were occupied by Qantas staff.
The last one I managed solely (I think) because I stayed withing earshot/eyesight of the Qantas counter, and the last off-duty QTS personnel was denied the last seat (he then took the Jump Seat in the coughpit).

Pecking Order seems to be :-
1st, ON the flight day - QTS staff (ANY of them)
2nd, QFF Platinum
3rd, QFF Gold
4th, QFF Silver
5th, QFF Bronze
6th, QFF (any) who remain visible at Checkin Counter and are persistent
7th, QTS staff trying it on at T-1 hour

Anyone care to comment on my theory ?

 

[JohnK]

Staff on duty travel or staff on holidays?

If staff on holidays then that would be disappointing to find out Qantas are upgrading staff for free while there are customers with upgrade requests.

 

[ReLoad]

Hello All,

I'd like to share an experience that seems to indicate a shift in the pecking order to which Award Upgrade requests are granted...

Today I flew BKK to SYD, booked in 'S' class (upgradable).
I requested 'J' upgrade a month ago (with booking showing status would be updated 5 hours before boarding time ever since).

I kept an eye on the seat vacancy thru ExpertFlier regularly:-
- @T-8 hours showing J*3 available,
- @T-5 hours showing J*1 available, my status confirmed as economy 'S' (ie no upgrade)
- @T-2 hours showing J*1 available, my status confirmed as economy 'S' (ie no upgrade).
At the airport, I enquired at Qantas desk, they said 1* 'J' to be confirmed at checkin close.
Waited it out on 'first wait-list' till closure.
At last minute, they checked me in with the upgrade.

The two other 'J's taken before closure were occupied by Qantas staff.
The last one I managed solely (I think) because I stayed withing earshot/eyesight of the Qantas counter, and the last off-duty QTS personnel was denied the last seat (he then took the Jump Seat in the coughpit).

Pecking Order seems to be :-
1st, ON the flight day - QTS staff (ANY of them)
2nd, QFF Platinum
3rd, QFF Gold
4th, QFF Silver
5th, QFF Bronze
6th, QFF (any) who remain visible at Checkin Counter and are persistent
7th, QTS staff trying it on at T-1 hour

Anyone care to comment on my theory ?

CL and WP1 are in there too.

 

[Travelqueen]

Hello All,

I'd like to share an experience that seems to indicate a shift in the pecking order to which Award Upgrade requests are granted...

Today I flew BKK to SYD, booked in 'S' class (upgradable).
I requested 'J' upgrade a month ago (with booking showing status would be updated 5 hours before boarding time ever since).

I kept an eye on the seat vacancy thru ExpertFlier regularly:-
- @T-8 hours showing J*3 available,
- @T-5 hours showing J*1 available, my status confirmed as economy 'S' (ie no upgrade)
- @T-2 hours showing J*1 available, my status confirmed as economy 'S' (ie no upgrade).
At the airport, I enquired at Qantas desk, they said 1* 'J' to be confirmed at checkin close.
Waited it out on 'first wait-list' till closure.
At last minute, they checked me in with the upgrade.

The two other 'J's taken before closure were occupied by Qantas staff.
The last one I managed solely (I think) because I stayed withing earshot/eyesight of the Qantas counter, and the last off-duty QTS personnel was denied the last seat (he then took the Jump Seat in the coughpit).

Pecking Order seems to be :-
1st, ON the flight day - QTS staff (ANY of them)
2nd, QFF Platinum
3rd, QFF Gold
4th, QFF Silver
5th, QFF Bronze
6th, QFF (any) who remain visible at Checkin Counter and are persistent
7th, QTS staff trying it on at T-1 hour

Anyone care to comment on my theory ?

Hi,

how do you know that the other two J seats had gone to staff?

TQ

 

[markis10]

Hi,

how do you know that the other two J seats had gone to staff?

TQ

Or they were upgrades? Space available J travel at staff rates might well represent better return for QF than a points burn upgrade, keeps the shareholders happy and after all both options involve "customers"!

 

[MikeV8]

Hi,

how do you know that the other two J seats had gone to staff?

TQ

They were in uniform but off duty.

 

[day-heg]

They were in uniform but off duty.

I suspect the two are mutually exclusive. If they're off duty, they won't be in uniform. If they are in uniform, then they are likely either positioning to operate a sector or they were deadheading back to base after operating one, and thus are on duty.

You don't say whether they were cabin or flight crew? If the latter, they may well have clauses in their EBA or similar that entitles them to J class travel if travelling operationally.

I'm not saying definitively that this is the case, but do recall reading something around this subject in the Ask the Pilot thread (which is now over 500 pages long, so I'm not going searching for the relevant posts!)

Maybe jb747 or milehighclub could confirm or deny...

 

[MikeV8]

You don't say whether they were cabin or flight crew? If the latter, they may well have clauses in their EBA or similar that entitles them to J class travel if travelling operationally.

Maybe jb747 or milehighclub could confirm or deny...

Cabin crew uniform (the two who got the vacant 'J' seats at T-8 hours, well before QFF awards got considered).
The last one, who ended up in the Jump seat, was Flight crew uniform.

 

[N860CR]

Are we back on this again...

No leisure staff pax will be given a J seat that is otherwise available to commercial pax be them paying or requesting an upgrade with points provided the assigned points upgradable seats have availability.

No leisure staff traveller will pax in uniform on a sector like that (or I can't imagine why they would). That would be duty travel and some staff are required J for duty travel. That would have been prebooked.

 

[MikeV8]

Are we back on this again...

No leisure staff pax will be given a J seat that is otherwise available to commercial pax be them paying or requesting an upgrade with points provided the assigned points upgradable seats have availability.

No leisure staff traveller will pax in uniform on a sector like that (or I can't imagine why they would). That would be duty travel and some staff are required J for duty travel. That would have been prebooked.

So, by 'pre-booked', you mean approx 8 hours prior to flight ?
I was watching the 'J' availability and those two 'J' seats went to the two Q staff at T-8 hours.
I can confirm that by the actual seats showing as available or not-blocked on Expertflier, TO the actual seats they occupied.

 

[Travelqueen]

So, by 'pre-booked', you mean approx 8 hours prior to flight ?
I was watching the 'J' availability and those two 'J' seats went to the two Q staff at T-8 hours.
I can confirm that by the actual seats showing as available or not-blocked on Expertflier, TO the actual seats they occupied.

hi there,

IMO, if the staff were flying to then operate another aircraft.....I'd rather they be rested in a J seat. Remember...they could be your next crew......


TQ

 

[day-heg]

Am I missing the point?

Somewhere between T-8 and T-5, QF made an operational decision to position crew on this flight, prioritising this operational/contractual requirement before considering (non-guaranteed) QF awards upgrade requests. This was accurately reflected on Expertflyer through reduced availability showing in J, informing the OP that there was now less chance of upgrade.

However, the OP did get his points upgrade on his flight as requested, although he had to hang around at check-in to get it.

I'm not sure where the problem is?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hello All,

I'd like to share an experience that seems to indicate a shift in the pecking order to which Award Upgrade requests are granted...

Today I flew BKK to SYD, booked in 'S' class (upgradable).
I requested 'J' upgrade a month ago (with booking showing status would be updated 5 hours before boarding time ever since).

I kept an eye on the seat vacancy thru ExpertFlier regularly:-
- @T-8 hours showing J*3 available,
- @T-5 hours showing J*1 available, my status confirmed as economy 'S' (ie no upgrade)
- @T-2 hours showing J*1 available, my status confirmed as economy 'S' (ie no upgrade).
At the airport, I enquired at Qantas desk, they said 1* 'J' to be confirmed at checkin close.
Waited it out on 'first wait-list' till closure.
At last minute, they checked me in with the upgrade.

The two other 'J's taken before closure were occupied by Qantas staff.
The last one I managed solely (I think) because I stayed withing earshot/eyesight of the Qantas counter, and the last off-duty QTS personnel was denied the last seat (he then took the Jump Seat in the coughpit).

Pecking Order seems to be :-
1st, ON the flight day - QTS staff (ANY of them)
2nd, QFF Platinum
3rd, QFF Gold
4th, QFF Silver
5th, QFF Bronze
6th, QFF (any) who remain visible at Checkin Counter and are persistent
7th, QTS staff trying it on at T-1 hour

Anyone care to comment on my theory ?

The only conclusion one can draw by your above statement is that it would appear commercial pax even on discount economy fares with no elite status to speak of who have 'opted in' for an airport upgrade outrank upgradeable crew on duty travel otherwise the crew member who ended up in the jump seat would've been in 'your seat'.

They are not 'off duty' but travelling on duty (travel) but as deadheading crew as opposed to operating crew ie for work not play.

I don't know why the gist of your post suggests that you've been hardly done by because you got excatly what you wanted.