International Upgrades - Improved Experience

[simongr]

Currently sat in the F lounge waiting for my flight to WLG and I have to say the lack of upgrade makes the improved process the same as previously... At least I can bank 16K points not blown on the upgrade...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Currently sat in the F lounge waiting for my flight to WLG and I have to say the lack of upgrade makes the improved process the same as previously... At least I can bank 16K points not blown on the upgrade...

there's still the potential for a call any second now... or the beep at the gate!

 

[mannej]

Currently sat in the F lounge waiting for my flight to WLG and I have to say the lack of upgrade makes the improved process the same as previously... At least I can bank 16K points not blown on the upgrade...

Was the J cabin full?

 

[MelUser]

At T-36 hours and still waiting (note the "WAITLISTED") for the improved upgrade experience:

[TABLE="class: tableFlightConf, width: 572"]
[TR]
[TD="class: textColorBold"]waitlisted[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 3"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="class: textBold, width: 15%"]Departure:[/TD]
[TD="class: nowrap"]22:30[/TD]
[TD="width: 90%"]London, United Kingdom - Heathrow , terminal 3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: textBold"]Arrival:[/TD]
[TD="class: nowrap"]06:45 +2 day(s) [/TD]
[TD]Melbourne, Australia - Melbourne Airport , terminal 2 Note: includes 1 technical stop(s)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: space, colspan: 4"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: textBoldSmallFlight, width: 15%"]Airline:[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Qantas Airways QF010[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, colspan: 2"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="class: textBoldSmallFlight, width: 29%"]Duration:[/TD]
[TD]22:15[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: textBoldSmallFlight, width: 29%"]Aircraft:[/TD]
[TD]Airbus Industrie A380-800[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: textBoldSmallFlight, width: 29%"]Last check in:[/TD]
[TD]information not available[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: textBoldSmallFlight"]Fare type:[/TD]
[TD]First[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 4"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 66%"] information not available[/TD]
[TD="width: 33%"] current flight status[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[serfty]

At T-36 hours and still waiting (note the "WAITLISTED") for the improved upgrade experience:
...

What does this site indicate for your booking

Amadeus Itinerary Receipt (ITR)

 

[MelUser]

No reference to the waitlisted segment - just the busiess segment:

LONDON LHR QF 10 I 28MAR 2230 IEURGV2 28MAR 28MAR 32K OK
TERMINAL:3
MELBOURNE ARRIVAL TIME: 30MAR 30MA SEAT:

(I have deleted seat number so QF can't work out who I am!)

 

[serfty]

Hmmm .. I class ...

Aside from that, it seems Qantas are doing these things differently these days with no Amadeus waitlist segment hanging around anymore.

I have less expeirence with international upgrades going forward now as I tend to book the point end in the firsts place using ASA's.

 

[cove]

Good thinking MelUser....stay anonymous!

 

[MelUser]

T-28 hours waitlisted segment has disappeared!

At the moment no bookings showing in the/any QFF account - this seems to be a QF wide problem 6:40am Sydney Time

 

[MelUser]

We are coming up to T-24 and back to where it all started.

IE - reservation shows exactly as it did (and would have under the old system).

My guess is that as per the old system, the reservation will show the waitlisted segment at around the T-23 hour mark and that at or before T-18 all upgrades will be processed (again as per the old system).

I suspect that at T-18 the J-F upgrades will be done followed by the PE and Y to J and finally the Y to PE ones.

I will endeavour to provide updates over the next few hours but in summary I suspect that compared to the old system nothing has changed and certainly there is no "improved experience".

In any event most punters couldn't care less about the improved experience if they get their upgrade.

I for one would prefer a horrible experience resulting in an upgrade at the end compared with a lovely "improved experience" resulting in no upgrade!!!

 

[simongr]

there's still the potential for a call any second now... or the beep at the gate!

I'll catch a flying pig display on my way to the gate.

Was the J cabin full?

Yes it was in the end - 50% capacity in whY and full in J. Empty seat next to me and I think a CL in 4A. His colleagues were in J and kept sending him stuff from J - the FA felt bad that she kept reaching over me to give him the good stuff so brought me a couple of glasses of red from J

As an FYI the waitlisted sector appeared in the MyFlights APP - that uses Amadeus. The extra flight appeared around T-24 and disappeared around T-30 mins...

 

[MelUser]

No waitlisted segment in First the second time around but at T-22.5 hours it suddenly changed from Business (I) to First (P). So no waitlisting, cancelling or anything else just a quick change. Points haven't come out yet but I imagine they will soon.

So it seems little has changed - all upgrades appear to be done at once and sometime between T-24 and T-18 as was the case under the old system. Of course the new "last minute" ones may happen but in my view they have simply replaced what were once OPUPs. But I don't want to start the OPUP debate again.

 

[Princess Fiona]

So it seems little has changed - all upgrades appear to be done at once and sometime between T-24 and T-18 as was the case under the old system. Of course the new "last minute" ones may happen but in my view they have simply replaced what were once OPUPs. But I don't want to start the OPUP debate again.

In my experience last week the J-F upgrade at T-3 LHR-SYD was very unlikely due to an op-up as J/ PE/Y were all very lightly loaded

 

[MelUser]

So what this meant on your flight was that all upgrades (other than perhaps the WP1 ones) were processed in the normal T-24 to T-18 window?

Was this a midweek flight?

 

[Princess Fiona]

So what this meant on your flight was that all upgrades (other than perhaps the WP1 ones) were processed in the normal T-24 to T-18 window?

Was this a midweek flight?

Yes Tuesday. Two weeks ago I had a J-F upgrade SYD-LHR cleared at T-48.
This has never happened to me on any previous upgrades. Just the usual clearing at T-24 or "your request has been declined" at T-5
So at least in my recent experience there has been a new and improved change
YMMV

 

[Ben174]

Just had my first experience with this and am pretty impressed. Flying out 11am Friday. Logged on at 11.15am today so just at T-48 actually and upgrade processed to J. Lets hope this keeps up!

 

[TonyHancock]

Yes Tuesday. Two weeks ago I had a J-F upgrade SYD-LHR cleared at T-48.
This has never happened to me on any previous upgrades. Just the usual clearing at T-24 or "your request has been declined" at T-5
So at least in my recent experience there has been a new and improved change
YMMV

Just had my first experience with this and am pretty impressed. Flying out 11am Friday. Logged on at 11.15am today so just at T-48 actually and upgrade processed to J. Lets hope this keeps up!

Looks like there are some examples of improved experiences. Good to see.

 

[simongr]

Justin terms of this - does really make much difference getting the upgrade confirmed a couple of days in advance rather than at 18 hours before?

 

[Princess Fiona]

Justin terms of this - does really make much difference getting the upgrade confirmed a couple of days in advance rather than at 18 hours before?

Depends on the individual, for me the advance notice and access to First Hosts for spa booking at SYD was good.
I was also happy about the late text message at T3 as I assumed no upgrade so that was a nice surprise.

 

[simongr]

Interesting re Firs hosts - when I have upgraded to F before I only receive the in flight benefits rather than on ground benefits (prefilled cards, calls to book spa etc.) - maybe I am not maximising my benefits enough