Points upgrade granted, then rescinded at the gate

[liamg]

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. I am curious as to how/why this occurs.

I’d put in for a points upgrade (flex economy to business) on QF12 JFK-SYD on Wednesday. Checking in at JFK, no sight of upgrade. At the gate, the light flashes red and they give me a premium economy boarding pass for the LAX-SYD leg. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

Go to board in LAX, light flashes red, I’m thinking maybe they found a business seat. Instead, they say there was an error with the upgrade, and I’ve been re-allocated an economy seat. Of course, now that people are already getting on the plane, all that’s left is a middle seat. Not happy about that. Eventually they found me a bulkhead middle seat, so better, but would have rather the aisle non-bulkhead I chose weeks ago.

Not so friendly gate guy said only LAX has the authority to give an upgrade, so I should never have got one in the first place. Was very unfriendly and unhelpful about trying to find me a decent seat.

Any ideas how this would have happened? At no stage were the points taken from my account, but that has happened to me mid-journey before, so I am not sure that’s an indicator of much at all.

 

[Pushka]

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. I am curious as to how/why this occurs.

I’d put in for a points upgrade (flex economy to business) on QF12 JFK-SYD on Wednesday. Checking in at JFK, no sight of upgrade. At the gate, the light flashes red and they give me a premium economy boarding pass for the LAX-SYD leg. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

Go to board in LAX, light flashes red, I’m thinking maybe they found a business seat. Instead, they say there was an error with the upgrade, and I’ve been re-allocated an economy seat. Of course, now that people are already getting on the plane, all that’s left is a middle seat. Not happy about that. Eventually they found me a bulkhead middle seat, so better, but would have rather the aisle non-bulkhead I chose weeks ago.

Not so friendly gate guy said only LAX has the authority to give an upgrade, so I should never have got one in the first place. Was very unfriendly and unhelpful about trying to find me a decent seat.

Any ideas how this would have happened? At no stage we’re the points taken from my account, but that has happened to me mid-journey before, so I am not sure that’s an indicator of much at all.

That sucks. And then to lose your pre selected seats. I’m sure someone here will chime in with answers to your questions.

 

[RichardMEL]

It all seems quite bizarre to me.

The agents comment about LAX only being able to grant an upgrade is also a bit odd. I presume they meant "when the flight is under airport control" but even then it's more or less "computer says..."

I wonder if, possibly, between the departure of QF12 from JFK and arrival at LAX either some pax showed up for J/PE *or* another flight was cancelled or heavily delayed, and pax were moved around, and a kind of last on, last off was applied to the upgraded seat ? Not that that would be very fair, but it seems something extordinary must have occured between JFK and LAX to undo that upgrade.

Or maybe it's the usual BS with the change of equipment at LAX and QF's inability to manage uprades through ?

Really coughpy

Were any points deducted or anything ?

 

[love_the_life]

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. I am curious as to how/why this occurs.

I’d put in for a points upgrade (flex economy to business) on QF12 JFK-SYD on Wednesday. Checking in at JFK, no sight of upgrade. At the gate, the light flashes red and they give me a premium economy boarding pass for the LAX-SYD leg. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

Go to board in LAX, light flashes red, I’m thinking maybe they found a business seat. Instead, they say there was an error with the upgrade, and I’ve been re-allocated an economy seat. Of course, now that people are already getting on the plane, all that’s left is a middle seat. Not happy about that. Eventually they found me a bulkhead middle seat, so better, but would have rather the aisle non-bulkhead I chose weeks ago.

Not so friendly gate guy said only LAX has the authority to give an upgrade, so I should never have got one in the first place. Was very unfriendly and unhelpful about trying to find me a decent seat.

Any ideas how this would have happened? At no stage we’re the points taken from my account, but that has happened to me mid-journey before, so I am not sure that’s an indicator of much at all.

That would be so annoying and frustrating. In the spirit of not providing decent customer service and because the seat you had originally chosen was then re-allocated (yes I know seats are not confirmed) I would contact QF and request some points as compensation for the poor service and flight. Nothing outlandish but I would point out that you were very disappointed with what happened and that this impacted on the comfort of the flight.

 

[liamg]

Were any points deducted or anything ?

Nope.

I very politely (but firmly) expressed my disappointment at the gate, and did Facebook Messenger when I got to my new seat.

They stressed the seat allocation being a request spiel, but it seems like a coughpy answer. I didn’t lose my first seat to an operational reason, it was given away because an upgrade was given. To me, using that answer just confirms I was upgraded legitimately, only for it to rescinded a few hours later.

 

[Pleb Status]

Nope.

I very politely (but firmly) expressed my disappointment at the gate, and did Facebook Messenger when I got to my new seat.

They stressed the seat allocation being a request spiel, but it seems like a coughpy answer. I didn’t lose my first seat to an operational reason, it was given away because an upgrade was given. To me, using that answer just confirms I was upgraded legitimately, only for it to rescinded a few hours later.

Did you actually request an upgrade to PE or was it effectively going to be an OpUp anyway?

 

[liamg]

Did you actually request an upgrade to PE or was it effectively going to be an OpUp anyway?

I ticked the box that said I wanted a PE upgrade as a fallback to the business upgrade.

 

[Pleb Status]

I ticked the box that said I wanted a PE upgrade as a fallback to the business upgrade.

Typical QF service then.

You will know better next time....

 

[mannej]

I’d keep an eye on your points total as upgrades can take a few days to have the points deducted.

 

[oz_mark]

Upgrades to the gate on international flights have some (on the surface) funny rules:

• For upgrades at the airport, if you are travelling continuously on a flight that stops in one or more ports (with the same flight number), you will only be eligible for an upgrade on the last leg and only if that last leg has a flying time longer than three hours. Points will only be deducted for the portion of your flight that was upgraded.
• Upgrades at the airport will only be awarded for bookings containing one passenger.
• When requesting an upgrade to Business you must also select the option for a Premium Economy upgrade (when offered) to be considered for an upgrade at the airport.

Given the way the system works (and the reason the first rule exists), I would guess that someone else has gazumped the seat.

 

[RichardMEL]

Given the way the system works (and the reason the first rule exists), I would guess that someone else has gazumped the seat.

but this makes no sense. Pax is granted upgrade on LAX-SYD while at JFK, so we're talking say 8 hours pre departure (give or take) which is fine. They're allocated a PE seat (it's unclear if a BP was generated at JFK or not, but it probably showed on the app anyway)... but at any rate one presumes a seat was allocated. Given QF knew where the pax was, on QF12, there's no reason whatsoever to rescind that seat allocation short of them being offloaded for some reason (which they weren't)... and I would find it hard to believe some last minute VIP shows up at LAX to be provided with a PE seat (F maybe J possibly) displacing someone already upgraded.

As presented it doesn't make a lot of sense bar an aircraft swap or something at LAX

imho anyway

 

[liamg]

(it's unclear if a BP was generated at JFK or not, but it probably showed on the app anyway)

It was printed and given to me when I boarded at JFK.

I haven't heard back from Qantas customer service. I wonder at what point I follow up... I'm about to tick over to platinum. So maybe after that

 

[mannej]

Have you called QF?

 

[liamg]

Not yet. Truthfully, I don’t know what I’m asking for. An explanation would be a nice first step. Would be nice for them to give/guarantee me an upgrade at some point in the future.

 

[JohnK]

What an awful situation.

I'd be disappointed if I'd been given an upgrade and then it was taken back without any explanation. Someone mentioned the upgraded seat may have been trumped by a higher status frequent flyer. Poor excuse if that's the case.

 

[Reise]

Rather poor form ... I hope you're successful in getting some sort of satisfaction.

 

[pugwombat]

I had a similar thing happen a few years' ago. We got text confirmation of business class upgrades on the morning of an overnight NRT - SYD flight, only to be downgraded at check-in. Worse than just missing out having your hopes dashed like that. I grumbled here (Upgrade confirmed in the morning, but cancelled on check-in thread) and it was suggested I send a PM to Red Roo. It worked. I got a phone call from an anger-diffusion specialist at Qantas, who grovelled and offered points compensation. They grovelled so well that I felt embarrassed that I'd complained. I didn't really need the points, I just wanted some recognition of the disappointment I felt. It worked so well that I've used Qantas almost exclusively ever since. Now WP (well, I will be after the +50% SCs come through in the next couple of weeks). Qantas does listen. They did in 2014 anyway. Good luck. I feel your pain.

 

[jpk]

Agree this would not have been a nice experience at all, and not comforting to think this could happen to us anytime too. Keep pursuing this with QF, as they should be able to determine what actually happened here. I find the gate agents comments a bit weird, and when these type of events occur it's hard not to get suspicious and wonder if someone's friend/family was upgraded in your place.

There is a small possibility that your seat went out of service (or another one did and some shuffling then occurred), although I would expect them to tell you that if it was the case.

Thanks for coming here to tell us about it, and please keep us updated.

 

[Prof Henry]

"Not so friendly gate guy at LAX"

Tautology!

 

[SOPOOR]

seems that qantas cant get much right in customer relations recently,

ironic how every situation like this ends up with the customer being out of pocket financially and convenience wise, without fail

where common sense does not seem to have any presence