Comfort seat - economy not upgradeable

[mrsterryn]

Wanting a quick trip to LA and was considering economy over and having a comfort seat.
One thing I didn't realise (I do think in hindsight obvious) I cant be upgraded as a comfort seat needs to be on the same booking as the person so the upgrade would need to be for both seats.
Sooo didn't go as planned
Not a question just thought for others who might want to consider

 

[jpp42]

Wanting a quick trip to LA and was considering economy over and having a comfort seat.
One thing I didn't realise (I do think in hindsight obvious) I cant be upgraded as a comfort seat needs to be on the same booking as the person so the upgrade would need to be for both seats.
Sooo didn't go as planned

I'm guessing a comfort seat an economy seat that's guaranteed to be next to your primary seat, perhaps intended for the larger passengers among us who can't afford business class? Do you pay twice the economy fare? How does that work compared to a normal booking for two, where seat assignments are not guaranteed and you can be moved around on busy flights?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

You do pay double the economy fare (x by 2), but less the 2nd "persons" flight taxes.
Have done it ADL - MEL - WLG and back.
Has to be done on the phone though, as the QF website will not let you do it, ie, buy comfort seat requests online.

 

[mrsterryn]

I have only done it once before and it was a fiasco.
Just thought it might be handy for a quick trip.
For example the non upgradable sale fares at the moment to L.A. are really good. So not too bad for two .
Not sure how it goes with selecting of seats though.

 

[sinophile888]

A year or so ago, after recovering from a prolonged health issue, I wanted to travel to Hong Kong. overnighting in Singapore, on SQ. I asked my TA to book three seats for my husband and me in Y. The aircraft on all of the four legs were the 3-4-3 configuration.
I was disappointed that there were plenty of vacant seats on the first leg. But the next three legs were full with the only spare seat being between myself and my husband. It was well worth the extra charges which were the cost of third ticket but with two lots of taxes. One passenger commented about how lucky we were to have the only spare seat on the plane between us. I mentioned that it wasn't luck.

Since January 2016, I have now started buying fully flex QF fares for flights within Australia and have had a success rate of 13/15 for upgrades to J. It is an expensive exercise but the J paid fares within Australia are ridiculous. I also now pay for J for overseas flights.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Good to know that SQ also has comfort seat request system.
Didn't realise that!

 

[mannej]

Why pay for full-flex domestically? If you can see classic award availability at the time of purchase, you can upgrade from the lowest available fare bucket.

 

[sinophile888]

Why pay for full-flex domestically? If you can see classic award availability at the time of purchase, you can upgrade from the lowest available fare bucket.

I love this forum. I learn something from nearly every thread.
Your suggestion sounds so much better than what I currently do. Have I got this correct? I see a flight which suits me. If there is a J classic award, I buy the cheapest ticket. Then what do I do? If there is availability and I have the points, is the upgrade instant? At present, I have to wait until the day before the flight or later before I know whether I have been successful.
I have my fingers crossed as I have just heard that I have the best reason to cross the Nullarbor on a regular basis.

 

[mannej]

Once ticketed, submit an upgrade request. If it doesn’t go through, Call QF and they will manually process the upgrade.

 

[RichardMEL]

Domestically yes, if you see a Business Reward seat buy the Y seat at whatever fare you like (noting that discount/sale fares will require more points to upgrade than flex Y) and once the flight is ticketed then submit the upgrade request. It should clear instantly if the reward (U class) seat is still available (which is likely). As above if it does not clear and the reward seat still shows, then call QF (there is a bug that can get in the way from time to time)

This does not work internationally with QF.

 

[sinophile888]

Domestically yes, if you see a Business Reward seat buy the Y seat at whatever fare you like (noting that discount/sale fares will require more points to upgrade than flex Y) and once the flight is ticketed then submit the upgrade request. It should clear instantly if the reward (U class) seat is still available (which is likely). As above if it does not clear and the reward seat still shows, then call QF (there is a bug that can get in the way from time to time.

If I am reading this correctly, may I use the example of PER -> MEL to clarify the exercise? I could buy a discount Y ticket for around $200 - $300 and upgrade to J with 25000 points. Or I can continue to buy flex tickets at around $700 and upgrade for 10000 points. Either way, if I choose a flight that has J reward availability, my upgrade would be instantaneous. This would be a huge improvement as I far prefer to know I am flying J at the time of booking. Not waiting for the phone to ping on the day of travel.

 

[RichardMEL]

If I am reading this correctly, may I use the example of PER -> MEL to clarify the exercise? I could buy a discount Y ticket for around $200 - $300 and upgrade to J with 25000 points. Or I can continue to buy flex tickets at around $700 and upgrade for 10000 points. Either way, if I choose a flight that has J reward availability, my upgrade would be instantaneous. This would be a huge improvement as I far prefer to know I am flying J at the time of booking. Not waiting for the phone to ping on the day of travel.

Yes, you have it correct.

 

[mannej]

If I am reading this correctly, may I use the example of PER -> MEL to clarify the exercise? I could buy a discount Y ticket for around $200 - $300 and upgrade to J with 25000 points. Or I can continue to buy flex tickets at around $700 and upgrade for 10000 points. Either way, if I choose a flight that has J reward availability, my upgrade would be instantaneous. This would be a huge improvement as I far prefer to know I am flying J at the time of booking. Not waiting for the phone to ping on the day of travel.

Yes that’s correct. Domestic doesn’t have the same restrictions as international in regards to upgrades

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If I am reading this correctly, may I use the example of PER -> MEL to clarify the exercise? I could buy a discount Y ticket for around $200 - $300 and upgrade to J with 25000 points. Or I can continue to buy flex tickets at around $700 and upgrade for 10000 points. Either way, if I choose a flight that has J reward availability, my upgrade would be instantaneous. This would be a huge improvement as I far prefer to know I am flying J at the time of booking. Not waiting for the phone to ping on the day of travel.

Correct.

You only go into the lottery for domestic flights if there are no business class award seats available at the time of booking and you choose to go on standby for the upgrade.

The trick for domestic is to always confirm the higher class before booking

 

[serfty]

Back to the OP ...

...
One thing I didn't realise (I do think in hindsight obvious) I cant be upgraded as a comfort seat needs to be on the same booking as the person so the upgrade would need to be for both seats.
...

Hmmm ... An upgrade for your (paid for) shadow ... an interesting thought ...

 

[mrsterryn]

Hmmm ... An upgrade for your (paid for) shadow ... an interesting thought ...

Now if only Qantas could convert two business into one big bed for sleeping.
Only problem is Shadow doesn't have status (?)

 

[serfty]

...
Only problem is Shadow doesn't have status (?)

Being on the same booking a paid shadow would be endowed with the glory of yours.

 

[VPS]

Do you get FF and status points for your shadow

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Do you get FF and status points for your shadow

You do, for both.

 

[sinophile888]

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice about the best way to book J by upgrading from Y.

I bit the bullet and booked PER -> MEL, MEL -> SYD and SYD -> PER using the method as discussed. It worked a treat if a little nerve-wracking.

This exercise cost 120000 points plus $1390 for 2 passengers.

Booking with points only would have needed 176000 points and around $200, but I didn't have enough points.

Booking paid J would have cost $10800. "Tell 'em they're dreamin'."

The only issue was that I had found all the flights I wanted about a week ago, but when I came to book today, two of the three no longer had J seats available at the times I preferred. I booked later flights with J seats available but may be able to bring forward the flights on the day.