Classic Reward Upgrade

[Tom Cain]

Hi all,

My partner and I are traveling to Europe in late August on Qantas classic reward flights, flying Emirates via Dubai. We have in economy for the first leg and business for the second leg. I'm considering an attempt to upgrade the first leg to Business (its our honeymoon after all).

I called Qantas earlier and they said that the only path was to use points. They also mentioned that I cant do it online myself. The guidance was to check regularly online to see if any classic reward flights for the first leg become available, and then call back.

Has anyone had any luck with this approach? Not sure if its going to be a waste of effort or if Qantas may release more seats at the last minute.

Also, would any bid now or upgrade at the gate options be open as a last resort?

Thanks!

 

[eminere]

I called Qantas earlier and they said that the only path was to use points. They also mentioned that I cant do it online myself. The guidance was to check regularly online to see if any classic reward flights for the first leg become available, and then call back.

I'm not sure why the phone agent advised you this way but it is unfortunately not possible to use Qantas points to upgrade flights operated by Emirates. Bid Now Upgrades are also not available in your case as they are only offered at Qantas's discretion for Qantas-operated flights.

 

[Tom Cain]

Thanks for the quick response. Would a paid upgrade be possible?

 

[eminere]

Thanks for the quick response. Would a paid upgrade be possible?

I'm not sure how Emirates handles reward flights booked using Qantas points but if a paid upgrade were possible, I imagine you'd have to ask at the airport when checking in.

 

[michaele]

Hi Tom,

Usually you can change your booking to a J (business class) classic reward, if the inventory is there - the benefit being no upgrade required, its a confirmed seat! There must be 2x seats available, which is not very likely though. Most likely, you'll just cop a change fee of a few thousand points.

If you share the flight number I can have a look for you. Sometimes seats to come up close to departure.

 

[VPS]

If you keep an eye on it and are a bit flexible with days you can sometimes see rewards come up very late and it's only a 5000 point change fee each. Have you got enough points to do J if you find them (and maybe even one in F and one in J if it pops up) Don't discount going via another hub eg Qatar or Cathay. Good luck

 

[RichardMEL]

You won't be able to use QF points to upgrade an EK operated flight even if booked as a QF flight number (eg: QF8xx_).

It may be possible to ask at check in for a paid upgrade in class if inventory exist and they are willing to offer one - but again it may also depend on how they treat the Y award booking in terms of being able to upgrade with $$$

The QF upgrade awards on QF award bookings only apply to QF operated flights

 

[BD1959]

I've seen EK paid upgrades be requested - and granted - onboard before the doors are closed.

Just as a FA and they'll fetch an ipad which will quote a price (and accept a credit card) if available ... though I think I once read in another forum that EK request the fare difference (YMMV).

Regards,

BD