Chances of Business class upgrade PER to europe and return

[swilk]

Hi folks,

My wife and I are flying PER to Hong Kong on Cathay and then Finnair to Helsinki. Return flight is Prague to Heathrow to Singapore to Perth on BA and Qantas. We have the option of paying for a full economy fare so as to take a punt on an upgrade to business using FF points. I am QFF gold, she is bronze. is it worth us paying full economy or is there not much chance of an upgrade for both of us. Leaving early July 2009, returning Sep 2009.

 

[NM]

Are you certain the fare is really a "full economy" fare? Or is it just a "fully flexible" fare. A full economy fare has the booking code of Y. Y is the only fare type that is classified as full economy for the purpose of status credit earning and upgrade costs on international flights on the QF FF program. Other fare types may be fully flexible, such as B, H and maybe even K. However, these are still considered discount economy fares for the purpose of statis credit earning and upgrade cost calculations.

 

[swilk]

Are you certain the fare is really a "full economy" fare? Or is it just a "fully flexible" fare.

I am not sure of the exact class except that it is the minimum that allows us to register for a points upgrade to Business.

 

[Dave Noble]

If using QF points, you can of course, only upgrade the Qantas sector, so would sound like you would be paying extra to upgrade the SIN-PER leg only

Dave

 

[NM]

I am not sure of the exact class except that it is the minimum that allows us to register for a points upgrade to Business.

Then it is not a "full economy" fare. The non-upgradeable fares are E, O, N and Q. The cheapest upgradeable fare is generally V, which is considered "discount economy" for purposes of SC earning and upgrade costs.

You will note there are two points costs for upgrades from economy to business class, one for upgrades from "full economy" (Y fare only for international flights) and one for upgrades from "discount economy" (all other eligible economy fares, including G, L, M, S, V, K, H and B).

 

[simongr]

Hvae you explored other potential paid business class fares to Europe which may not be that much more expensive than your non-Cheap whY fare?

Personally I would expect to be flying in teh class you paid for - if you want business class you will have to pay for it.

One other option might be trying to use points for one J award and then paying for a J seat for one passenger...