Not happy with platinum service

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nige_perth

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As a Qantas Platinum frequent flyer I'm not impressed to been told my upgrade request to business class will happen 5 (five) hours before departure??? Qantas state within 2 (two) days on their website.

Am I correct?


Cheers Nige
 
I think it is just a failure to update the website in line with the new "improved upgrade experience".

There is certainly some anecdotal evidence of WP's receiving notification of an upgrade 48 hours out. That said there is also a fair bit of debate about the "improved" experience.

Also QF advise that the will try to give notification 48 hours out if possible, so it is not a definite benefit.
 
As a Qantas Platinum frequent flyer I'm not impressed to been told my upgrade request to business class will happen 5 (five) hours before departure??? Qantas state within 2 (two) days on their website.

Am I correct?


Cheers Nige

I think it is just a failure to update the website in line with the new "improved upgrade experience".

There is certainly some anecdotal evidence of WP's receiving notification of an upgrade 48 hours out. That said there is also a fair bit of debate about the "improved" experience.

Also QF advise that the will try to give notification 48 hours out if possible, so it is not a definite benefit.
My take is that you will be told as early as 48 hrs ahead but it may be as late as 5 hrs. IMHO that is good as it means the system is not locked down at the 48 hr mark.
 
As a Qantas Platinum frequent flyer I'm not impressed to been told my upgrade request to business class will happen 5 (five) hours before departure??? Qantas state within 2 (two) days on their website.

Am I correct?


Cheers Nige

I'm interested as to what difference it makes?
 
In my experience and what I read on here and hear from others: Sometimes you're lucky and really receive a txt at T-48 (has never happened to me personally but it seems to happen sometimes), sometimes you receive nothing and suddenly your FF profile tells you that the upgrade has come through, sometimes you get a last-minute beep at the gate (which denies you Flounge access and F check-in if you're not Platinum AND get the upgrade to F in the last second) and once I got my entire booking messed up telling me to urgently call QF from overseas because "the flight has been cancelled" which turned out to be some strange system error due to the upgrade.

In short: Better don't count on it and in my opinion, the whole "new experience" made everything even more messy and roll-a-dice like than before. Oh well- as long as the upgrade comes through in the end, you seem not to be able to ask for more with QF!
 
I'm really of the mind that some posters are expecting WAY too much here....

The new upgrade system DOES NOT guarantee that you will now receive an upgrade.

So I think it's wrong of posters here to complain that because they don't receive an upgrade (due to J being full) that this means the new system isn't working/

NEWS FLASH: If J is full you ain't receiving an upgrade under any system, new or old. (Or even a confirmed upgrade system - as if they think they can sell all the J seats - they won't release them for awards or confirmed upgrades).

Here's how it works:

OLD SYSTEM:

You MAY receive an upgrade if there are seats available at the time QF processes the upgrades (no guarantees). You are not promised to find out any earlier than T-5.

AND - you may very well miss out, and then get on the aircraft to see J half empty - and then you get upset at that.




NEW SYSTEM:

You still may not get an upgrade, and if you do you may not find out until T-5.

If possible to provide an upgrade as early as T-48 - then you may be lucky and find out earlier.
If you miss out at T-5, and there are late no-shows, you may still be lucky enough to get an upgrade at the last minute due to no shows. (Where you would have previously been stuck in whY).

QF never promised that the new system guarantees an upgrade, just that they have extended the processing window, and also introduced a last-minute round to fill the empty J seats (where you would have otherwise missed out).



PS. Oh - and the last minute round has nothing to do with affecting op-ups. In perhaps 1% of cases, without an upgrade request, IF the whY cabin was full, and IF you are a WP, and IF there are spaces still in J, and IF they need to perform op-ups, and IF they are actually choosing to perform op-ups in status order, and IF they don't choose a different WP member....... Then yes, in this tiny percentage of cases the WP (with NO upgrade request) will miss out on their "maybe-perhaps-if you're lucky-once-in-a-blue-moon-op-up" in favour of the SG/PS/NB who had an upgrade request in. Of course - if the WP had an upgrade request in - they would still trump others for the seat :)


I believe QF are delivering exactly what they said they would.


FWIW - if you are missing out on an upgrade, but seeing the J cabin full - that indicates to me that the system is working.

OTOH - if you miss out on an upgrade and you see the J cabin is NOT full - then that tells me the new system is NOT working.
 
I'm interested as to what difference it makes?


Have to agree here. What would you do differently in hours 48-5?

What would you do differently knowing you had an upgrade anyway? Perhaps pack a few less toiletries to take on board. Perhaps not pack the old tracky dacks and sloppy joe. Surely these adjustments could be made still. I realise if there is a domestic connection involved then it might change things and make it a little more difficult timing-wise.
 
I believe QF are delivering exactly what they said they would.

As with their First Class "Suits" that turn out not to be suits and with their "Wine Cellar in the Sky" which turns out to consist of four bottles to choose from only, Qantas as always has been very "creative" in what they advertise, I personally might rather use the term "misleading". Yes, they have not promised anything beyond a 'maybe' when it comes to the T-48 notification and no one, at least not me, is suggesting that you get a guaranteed upgrade (not that this wouldn't be a bad thing and it somehow seems to be possible with some other carriers but that's a whole different topic).

Fact is, if you advertise loudly about an "Improved experience" where a Platinum customer "may receive a SMS notification up to 48 hours prior to departure" and then out of 4 "improved experiences" a customer like me NEVER receives a txt, once gets the upgrade confirmed only at the gate, once has a messed up booking so that he gets inconvenienced to call QF from overseas only to be told that "this happens all the time, you've actually been upgraded but it creates this urgent flight cancellation message in error" and all the other times just finds out about it the same time as always in the past on his FF profile, THEN QF can't be surprised if this said customer is P+*SED off big time.

Saying all that- I am very loyal to QF and all those flights had been absolutely fantastic with excellent service, good (albeit limited in choice) wines and timely arrivals. Oh- and even the priority luggage went well on all but one occasion. Just don't promise -oh, sorry, "hint"- things that you can't deliever. Not that hard, really.
 
My reading of the T&C is that the internal process of upgrading (Int) for WP only start at 48hrs therefore, you can get told anywhere from 48hrs to being pinged as you walk past the gate agent.....

Flight Upgrade Awards will not be confirmed on international services at time of booking or when your registration is received. Requests for Flight Upgrade Awards on international services will be considered in accordance with the following timetable:
  • Platinum One Frequent Flyers, from up to 7 days prior to scheduled departure
  • Platinum Frequent Flyers or higher, from 48 hours prior to scheduled departure
  • All Frequent Flyers, within 24 hours of scheduled departure.
 
So now the uncertainty starts at t-48 rather than say t-18...

I haven't seen it say that processing starts in that order just that notification starts in that order. It still isn't clear that if I am a WP with a request for upgrade on say an I fare and a seat is free for an upgrade - will I get it over the SG on a J fare?
 
So now the uncertainty starts at t-48 rather than say t-18...

I haven't seen it say that processing starts in that order just that notification starts in that order. It still isn't clear that if I am a WP with a request for upgrade on say an I fare and a seat is free for an upgrade - will I get it over the SG on a J fare?

Agree it's not clear, but IIRC they have never publicly stated the upgrade order of priority.
FWIW my two recent upgrades were from deep discount I class
 
Thanks DFCatch for providing some clarity to members as to how upgrades work. I just want to add a bit more.

We changed the upgrade process based on feedback we had received from members. There were two main issues. 1. Why didn't I get an upgrade when I can plainly see empty seats in J. 2. I have to log on to find out if I want to be able to take advantage of additional baggage, lounges etc.....

The old system used to look at available seats on the plane and process upgrades once. If someone did not show up on the day or a connecting flight was missed, the seat went empty. Now (Platinum as example), we run the upgrade system 48 hours prior and and available seats are allocated. We then run it again 4 or 5 times prior to flight departure to fill seats of those who missed a flight or connection. This increases your chance of getting an upgrade and there are less empty seats in premium cabins. While a member may get notified of an upgrade 5 hours from departure due to this new system, we designed it so more members would get upgrades and there would be less empty seats, and this new system does do this. There are still sometimes empty seats due to other reasons and it does not change the fact that if J is full, it is full.

In regards to SMS, this was also based on feedback from members. We wanted to be able to notify people without them having to log on. But we have to have your mobile number to do this so ensure it is updated in your Profile. We use the term 'may' as we relying on technology to send the SMS and technology (and phones) sometimes fail.

We are still working on improvements to the upgrades system. Soon you will be able to register for Domestic upgrades (like current international process). And there will be further changes to international as well.

We know it is not perfect so thanks for all your feedback as we do take it on board (;)) when looking at program improvements.

Cheers
Red Roo
 
Upgrades are processed by tier first so you would receive an upgrade over an SG.

Cheers,
Red Roo

So now the uncertainty starts at t-48 rather than say t-18...

I haven't seen it say that processing starts in that order just that notification starts in that order. It still isn't clear that if I am a WP with a request for upgrade on say an I fare and a seat is free for an upgrade - will I get it over the SG on a J fare?
 
The old system used to look at available seats on the plane and process upgrades once. If someone did not show up on the day or a connecting flight was missed, the seat went empty. Now (Platinum as example), we run the upgrade system 48 hours prior and and available seats are allocated. We then run it again 4 or 5 times prior to flight departure to fill seats of those who missed a flight or connection. This increases your chance of getting an upgrade and there are less empty seats in premium cabins. While a member may get notified of an upgrade 5 hours from departure due to this new system, we designed it so more members would get upgrades and there would be less empty seats, and this new system does do this. There are still sometimes empty seats due to other reasons and it does not change the fact that if J is full, it is full.

Cheers
Red Roo

Thanks for that. Your explanation regarding timing is how I read the T&C.

Any change in procedure that ensure that I get a better chance of an upgrade is fantastic:cool:
 
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we run the upgrade system 48 hours prior and and available seats are allocated. We then run it again 4 or 5 times prior to flight departure to fill seats of those who missed a flight or connection. T

I DO like how we get information directly from the source like this. Too bad that what is happening in reality seems to not be aligned with what is said here. On my last upgrades I got bumped up to J both times at around T-18 and both times, it messed up my booking for hours which seems to be something happening quite regularly.

No txt message either and Qantas certainly has my mobile -it somehow works perfectly well whenever they want to tell me that my flight has been cancelled :shock:
 
I DO like how we get information directly from the source like this. Too bad that what is happening in reality seems to not be aligned with what is said here. On my last upgrades I got bumped up to J both times at around T-18 and both times, it messed up my booking for hours which seems to be something happening quite regularly.

No txt message either and Qantas certainly has my mobile -it somehow works perfectly well whenever they want to tell me that my flight has been cancelled :shock:

What's been posted by Red Roo is exactly what my experience has been with the new system. I think that QF have to work on getting that experience consistent amongst their customers
 
What's been posted by Red Roo is exactly what my experience has been with the new system. I think that QF have to work on getting that experience consistent amongst their customers

Oh yes, I've read and heard this from quite a few people but also know about some others who had been rather unpleasant experiences like myself. The latter bit of your statement is the key I think, totally agree.

Now, Qantas and consistency- I wonder how well those two terms go together! :confused::shock:;)
 
Oh yes, I've read and heard this from quite a few people but also know about some others who had been rather unpleasant experiences like myself. The latter bit of your statement is the key I think, totally agree.

Now, Qantas and consistency- I wonder how well those two terms go together! :confused::shock:;)
Your experience has certainly been disappointing, Berlin. That gremlin in the system must be fixed, particularly the impact on people already overseas. It would be good to hear that QF is addressing - and resolving - that glitch.

On the other hand, any increase in the likelihood of an upgrade is a bonus for me. Much rather hear that 'ping' at the gate than to have my upgrade request declined, and then find there are empty seats in the upper level cabin! Better still to have the upgrade confirmed days in advance, of course.:)
 
Thankyou Qantas for the 2am wake up text !! upgraded to business class ! So the journey begins......Qantas to SIN then Qatar to LHR in
 
Much rather hear that 'ping' at the gate than to have my upgrade request declined, and then find there are empty seats in the upper level cabin!

I totally agree with you! :cool: And as I said elsewhere- those glasses of champagne tasted better than ever after that surprise upgrade! :p
 
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