Just hit GE and....

[trooper]

Well.. it was actually weekend before last....

The day I went from G to GE (again!) a standby A$ upgrade Y>BP LAX-AKL cleared... which I doubt is any coincidence.

Just booked a cheapy return SYD-USA for a Convention in a few months time... applied for A$ standby UG's to BP (natch!) and BOTH legs cleared on application....:shock:

GE seems to be poweful mojo! :mrgreen: (Yeah OK.. it's winter in the US then...)

These thoughts were prompted by (yet another) thread describing how tough upgrades are on QF..... and comments about "protecting the integrity of premium cabins" etc

NZ doesn't upgrade just to fill the C cabin (AFAIK anyway).. and certainly doesn't have a substandard Premium product that folks won't PAY for... yet IME at least it just isn't as hard to upgrade on NZ....

Am I just really lucky?

 

[serfty]

Well.. it was actually weekend before last. ...

Congratulations! Welcome back.

Am I just really lucky?

Unless you ascertained R class availability before booking, then you are lucky.

In any case, the "confirmed" standby upgrades for GE are great.

It was probably my post that elicited those comments you mentioned which were split to their own thread.


One thing I have considered about these upgrades is that NZ can more afford to have this facet (when compared to Qantas) as GE is not as easy as WP to achieve, needing at least ~60% of status earning to be on NZ flight numbers and metal.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Yes congrats Trooper. Much harder than WP and not well publicized

 

[dfcatch]

I share your view.....

This is my comments previously made about how QF could make a "similar to NZ" system work win-win for them:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....equent-flyer-changes-30095-82.html#post439731

 

[trooper]

Interesting!!

I say that because I thought WP seemed MUCH harder to reach..??? Of course I haven't really dug into the QF program.. so I may well be talkng through my hat...

I got to GE pretty much accidentally (again) IIRC it was one paid J trip + 1 paid PE SYD-LAX vv... some (cheap) Asia origin C fares... and the (usual?) YUPP/KUPP type travel while in the US and probably a one way Y ex USA... Doesn't seem like a lot compared to my impression of WP/1K etc....

No serfty... I don't have an EF subscription... but when booking I did notice BP fares were at the lowest level on those flights... which might act as a very (very!) crude indicator that upgrade space might be available..... I don't really ever have date flexibility so I just book the flights I need then (if Y or Y+ obviously) apply for upgrades...

I have missed one Transpac in the last 2 years..... so it must be sheer dumb luck!

Still.. understandably pretty happy with NZ at the mo!

P.S. I think the "not well publicised" comment is spot on..... which no doubt has an effect...

 

[serfty]

Even the one-way Y will earn at least 85 SP's, so there's 9% of the NZ Qualification requirement.

This year I had a little over 100 SP carry over; am looking to extend my earnings (including that) to 2K so as to 'bank' a GE year.

 

[trooper]

Wow.. that'd be quite an achievement..... (I am a simple recreational traveller.. so that's a bit out of reach I reckon!)