Flight Upgrades

[cssaus]

Doing a flight from Sydney to Boston later this month and was waitlisted for an upgrade to business class. Well, the transpacific upgrade has come thru but I still appear to be waitlisted for the flight to Boston.

If I'm not mistaken didn't it use to be the case that once the transpacific upgrade got cleared then any same day connecting internal flight got upgraded at the same time?

 

[clifford]

Doing a flight from Sydney to Boston later this month and was waitlisted for an upgrade to business class. Well, the transpacific upgrade has come thru but I still appear to be waitlisted for the flight to Boston.

If I'm not mistaken didn't it use to be the case that once the transpacific upgrade got cleared then any same day connecting internal flight got upgraded at the same time?

I don't recall it was ever the case that if transpacs were ugraded that all domestic flights were automatically upgraded.

My experience is that each flight is treated as a separate entity as far as upgrades are concerned (I've been 1K for 10 years). Worth checking upgrade availability before making a booking.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Only if it is ticketed as a single flight number (eg and I dont know if this exists SYD-LAX-ORD is single flight number and ticketed as SYD-ORD) will upgrades clear for more than one leg at once.

 

[cssaus]

Only if it is ticketed as a single flight number (eg and I dont know if this exists SYD-LAX-ORD is single flight number and ticketed as SYD-ORD) will upgrades clear for more than one leg at once.

Come to think of it, I think that might be the case. Recently did SYD-LAX-JFK on same flight number and the upgrades all cleared at the same time.

I'm using 15,000 miles to upgrade my B class ticket and according to the rules that should allow me to ugprade all the way to the east coast. I'd always been under the impression that once the transpac upgrade cleared then the continuing sector got cleared automatically.

 

[ozstamps]

The thru flight one number deals to both ORD and NYC can be "broken" into two by an agent into 2 if they wish to. Handy trick to know.

One gets less miles of course on either and I avoid them like the plague.

 

[cssaus]

The outcome of this posting was that I ended up getting my upgrade at the gate (one of only 2 people upgraded) 30 mins before departure.

 

[sadlier]

My understanding is that the domestic upgrade is automatic only if sandwiched between two upgraded international legs.

 

[Mal]

Each time I've flown Domestic-SYD-Some Intl Destination and applied for a J upgrade on the outbound or inbound journey I have been upgraded on the domestic sector as well as the Intl sector.

Qantas doesn't fly to Boston do they? Codeshared maybe with AA, but not on Qantas metal. How can Qantas upgrade you on a AA plane using points?

 

[rosesplus]

Each time I've flown Domestic-SYD-Some Intl Destination and applied for a J upgrade on the outbound or inbound journey I have been upgraded on the domestic sector as well as the Intl sector.

Qantas doesn't fly to Boston do they? Codeshared maybe with AA, but not on Qantas metal. How can Qantas upgrade you on a AA plane using points?

OP's travelling UA not QF.

 

[Mal]

Each time I've flown Domestic-SYD-Some Intl Destination and applied for a J upgrade on the outbound or inbound journey I have been upgraded on the domestic sector as well as the Intl sector.

Qantas doesn't fly to Boston do they? Codeshared maybe with AA, but not on Qantas metal. How can Qantas upgrade you on a AA plane using points?

OP's travelling UA not QF.

Doh! , that'll learn me for replying without reading which forum!

Now where's that "delete post" button...

 

[fraser_john]

This has occured to me on numerous trips to/from the USA. Last time it occurred I spend the time to interrogate the UA representative I was talking to (I have a VOIP phone for the USA, so its a free call for me), having lived there for so long.

Anyway, she told me that there is a software bug in the upgrade system, that everynow and then, and she had no definitive reason for it, on a change of plane type i.e. 747 to 777 on an upgrade request, the first request will go through, but all subsequent requests are left in Waitlisted status!!

Given that there are change of planes in LAX in almost every case (sometimes Dulles flights are 747's), this has resulted in MANY of my second/third legs not being upgraded until CheckIn!! And then, on busy legs, such as Chicago or Denver, no upgrade at all!

She indicated that the solution was to book each leg as an individual legs i.e. book MEL to LAX, then LAX to DEN then DEN-BOS or whatever, whereas the booking from MEL-BOS would have the bug trigger!

Anyway, that is what I was told, whether or not its true............

But, being a programmer myself, it would not surprise me that such a bug may in fact exist!

 

[rosesplus]

This has occured to me on numerous trips to/from the USA. Last time it occurred I spend the time to interrogate the UA representative I was talking to (I have a VOIP phone for the USA, so its a free call for me), having lived there for so long.

Anyway, she told me that there is a software bug in the upgrade system, that everynow and then, and she had no definitive reason for it, on a change of plane type i.e. 747 to 777 on an upgrade request, the first request will go through, but all subsequent requests are left in Waitlisted status!!

Given that there are change of planes in LAX in almost every case (sometimes Dulles flights are 747's), this has resulted in MANY of my second/third legs not being upgraded until CheckIn!! And then, on busy legs, such as Chicago or Denver, no upgrade at all!

She indicated that the solution was to book each leg as an individual legs i.e. book MEL to LAX, then LAX to DEN then DEN-BOS or whatever, whereas the booking from MEL-BOS would have the bug trigger!

Anyway, that is what I was told, whether or not its true............

But, being a programmer myself, it would not surprise me that such a bug may in fact exist!

My next 3 US/Australia upgraded trips SYD- LAX/SFO- IAD have all cleared inbound/outbound into C at time of booking ( I've got either 15A or B on all 6 of the transpacific legs).

Mark