No more online paid upgrade from Y to J. Oh gawd, not another enhancement.

[jedinite]

Think I might have stumbled upon another one of Qantas's appalling "enhancements"

I always have to book Y for my work domestic trips. Then when I see a J sale, I used to go online to MMB , select change, and see how much more (in $) it would cost me to pay the difference for J. On the screen would be the 3 or 4 Y fare types and then J at the end.

This function now seems to have disappeared. I have multiple bookings in the system at present, and can still do this on a booking I made about a month ago, but not on ones made after that.

It did disappear about 2 months ago, and I had to call up and do it over the phone, and they waived the booking fee.
Called up again yesterday to ask what is going on, why is it showing up on my booking I made a month ago, but not on any new bookings.

"You can't do it anymore online, you will need to call....mumble mumble, something about new booking system cant do it"

Now Im clueless when it comes to IT, but if I can currently do it for one booking but not another , thats sounds like to me that its possible to be done, but Qantas is just choosing not to allow it anymore.

 

[anat0l]

OK just to be clear - this is not an online paid upgrade. This is changing a Y fare into a J fare.

For a moment there I thought QF was offering small differentials to upgrade Y fares into J fares, and somehow I'd missed out on all these cheaper J fares. :shocked:

But in any case, it does suck, and is a side effect of the new booking system (though suffice to say, the old "change booking" system seems not to have caught up with the new booking system).

 

[jedinite]

Sorry, I put paid so it was clear i was not referring to a points upgrade.
But yes, you know what i mean. I often found that when at short notice having to buy a Y flexi for $300 ish, the different to change the fare to a sale J fare was only a small amount eg $150-$200.

 

[anat0l]

Sorry, I put paid so it was clear i was not referring to a points upgrade.
But yes, you know what i mean. I often found that when at short notice having to buy a Y flexi for $300 ish, the different to change the fare to a sale J fare was only a small amount eg $150-$200.

Sorry, just semantics. When I hear "upgrade" I'm thinking a small amount (paid in either cash or points, but typically the latter) to fly in the higher class but essentially still earn in the lower one. The idea is, of course, the amount paid is "less" than the actual fare difference. (A bit like people buying cheap Jetstar fares and then "upgrading" over the phone or at the airport to Business Class for, say, $300 (which is much less than having paid the full Business fare in the first place)).

 

[eastwest101]

...Called up again yesterday to ask what is going on, why is it showing up on my booking I made a month ago, but not on any new bookings.

"You can't do it anymore online, you will need to call....mumble mumble, something about new booking system cant do it"

Now Im clueless when it comes to IT, but if I can currently do it for one booking but not another , thats sounds like to me that its possible to be done, but Qantas is just choosing not to allow it anymore.

I may have some QF bookings coming up - I will see if I see the same thing myself. Your point about changing to J fares in MMB with the older bookings but not in your newer bookings could mean that, as you say, QF have designed this not to be possible anymore, or, possibly your corporate travel agent is now booking into a fare class that prohibits changes to a higher fare type.

Anyone else who does this now not able to?

Just to be clear - with the removal of U class mASA and the other changes to the QF booking site, say like not being able to view J and Y fares on the same page, its all still the Amadeus reservation system running underneath the new web sites isn't it? SO we can only assume that QF is making these decisions about what to show/allow vs what to hide/prohibit either un-intentionally or intentionally.

 

[jedinite]

I may have some QF bookings coming up - I will see if I see the same thing myself. Your point about changing to J fares in MMB with the older bookings but not in your newer bookings could mean that, as you say, QF have designed this not to be possible anymore, or, possibly your corporate travel agent is now booking into a fare class that prohibits changes to a higher fare type.

I haven't noticed a pattern. I book all my fares myself online at Qantas, occasionally red-e deals, but mainly flexi-savers.
Would be interested to see if it has disappeared for everyone else.

 

[eastwest101]

Ah OK cheers - didn't realise that they were self booked online.

As I mentioned - awaiting my flights to be booked. A bit surprised that no one else has noticed this yet. Could it be that you were previously not supposed to be able to change fare types (especially when originally booked as Red-e deals) but due to a bug/mistake or omission you were able to purchase a J ticket online? Possibly this "loophole" may have been closed now? Just thinking.....

I assume you will continue to do this if the difference is only modest from Y to J but will have to call up and request it from now on?

 

[eastwest101]

OK - my bookings ended up being on VA rather than QF so sorry to the OP that I can't replicate his/her problem with the QF web site.

On another note and a bit OT - don't think that the grass is any "greener" on the other side when it comes to web sites/IT/reservation systems and managing confirmed bookings. Have a look at my confimed VA bookings (after I had to do the multiple login circle a few times).....


Notice any important info missing? Luckily I have tripcase to view my VA bookings and am not relying on the VA web site to tell me about my own flights.

 

[geordieladinoz]

View attachment 18999
Notice any important info missing?

Don't worry, we did not all write your booking references down before you obscured them!

 

[straitman]

Don't worry, we did not all write your booking references down before you obscured them!

Speak for yourself :!:

 

[eastwest101]

Don't worry, we did not all write your booking references down before you obscured them!

Yep - although with the VA web site it may have been easier to just leave them up and just got some of the members to remind me of my flights. Besides - anyone evil enough to want to steal my modest SC or booking refs deserves the VA web site as punishment.....

 

[eastwest101]

speak for yourself :!:

Oh thanks straitman - could you put in a request for a points upgrade to J for me? I am having trouble managing the booking myself.

 

[straitman]

Oh thanks straitman - could you put in a request for a points upgrade to J for me? I am having trouble managing the booking myself.

Sorry you now don't have enough points :!: