Hello and an Upgrade Question!!

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Nug300

Intern
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Aug 15, 2012
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Hi Guys

What an excellent and informative forum.

Except I cant find an answer to my question below.

I have been doing a bit of research prior to booking flights for my upcoming honeymoon.

Have all the flights booked bar the one returning home which will be from HKG to SYD. Looking at 6th October on QF128 which is an A380.

On the Qantas Website the cost equates to approx $1830 inc taxes for both of us.

On Expedia the exact same flight can be booked for $400 less.

The question I have is that I have enough points to request an upgrade to business for this trip, but if I book via Expedia, what are my chances of having the request accepted?

If I book on Expedia, and provide my FF number, does the Qantas system recognise the booking and can I request an upgrade via the website?

Sorry for all the newbie questions but I hope someone can help.

Looking forward to contributing plenty on the forums.

Cheers

Rob
 
Your ability to earn points on a ticket, or get an upgrade, is entirely to do with the fare class booked and nothing to do with the place you buy the ticket.

If they are identical fare classes (and sometimes it can be hard to find out what the fare class is, but you need to be looking for something with a letter like L or M or V) then the same benefits will apply.

You need to check the Qantas website for which fares are upgradeable (it varies) and then make sure the one you book is upgradeable. If you have no status, you will be waiting to see if there are any spaces before they upgrade you - hard to say. One way is to look at making a dummy booking in Biz class - if the fare is low then there are plenty of seats; if the fare is high or no availability, then nothing there for an upgrade either.

Hope this helps.
 
And just to elaborate: the fare class is a Letter. This is taken from the Qantas site:
Domestic Flights within Australia

Fare Type | Travel Class | Booking Class
Red e-Deal | Discount Economy | E, N, O, Q, X*
Flexi Saver | Economy | V, L, M, K, H
Fully Flexible | Economy |B, Y
Business | Business | J, D, U*

International
Travel Class | Booking Class
Discount Economy | N, O, Q, E, G, L, M, S, V, K, B, H, X*
Economy | Y
Premium Economy | T, W, R, Z*
Business | C, D, I, J, U*
First | A, F, R, P*

* X, Z, U, P booking classes are included only when booked as part of a Qantas & Jetstar Any Seat Award and solely for the purposes of eligibility for Points and Status Credit earn.
 
Once you make the booking, if your FF number has been added by the agent (in this case Expedia) then it will be viewable on the Qantas website, either through your QFF Profile, or by using the 6-digit booking reference (ABCD12..). You'll only be able to apply for an upgrade once you agent actually issues a ticket or an e-ticket, realistically there shouldn't be much of a delay between you agreeing to a booking, and the ticket being issued. In terms of upgrading, as fairhsa has indicated, that will depend on the fare type purchased (essentially, the more expensive fare is more likely to be upgraded), and also your FF status. So if you are a Silver and a Platinum has paid the same fare, and you both apply for an upgrade, the Platinum will be further up the queue than you.

The reason why expedia is showing up $400 cheaper is more likely becuase they can source a cheaper class fare, such as Q vs V fare. It makes no difference to you as a traveller, but the fare classes are all around fare conditions and thats how the airlines make their money.

Unfortunately, the the only sure way of getting the upgrade, is to acutally buy the fare itself, which is probably not a real option either. What I would suggest is that you read the terms and conditions of the QF fare thats $400 more and then see if Expedia has the same rules, or if you can ask expedia what class that fare will be booked into.
 
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You could purchase the ticket on Qantas and then lodge a price difference claim if you do it on the same day of booking
I would screen shot the expedia page prior to booking on Qantas incase the fare rises after you book and ensure all flights are exactly the same flight number and times
The only issue is the refund from Qantas only occurs once the flights have commenced.
 
N, O, Q and E (and X as an award class) fare classes are not valid for upgrades: Not On Qantas Ever is something I learned on AFF

Frequent Flyer - Using Points - Flight Upgrades - International Flight Upgrades

You could purchase the ticket on Qantas and then lodge a price difference claim if you do it on the same day of booking
I would screen shot the expedia page prior to booking on Qantas incase the fare rises after you book and ensure all flights are exactly the same flight number and times
The only issue is the refund from Qantas only occurs once the flights have commenced.

The other issue is the price guarantee is only valid for .au websites. Does Expedia fit the bill?


BTW: People there is a number of posts competition going on, why in the hell are you doing multiple posts! :rolleyes: :p
 
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