Purchasing Upgrade at airports.

[TanyaB]

Just a question for all you very knowledgable frequent flyers out there (I am an avid reader of the many posts and have learnt so much for our upcoming trip!)

The following is a recent quote from a review of Thai airlines
"Sydney - Bangkok - Sydney in economy class in June. Paid to upgrade the first leg to business on departure at Sydney airport - AUD700 one way - excellent value. AIR NZ lounge used in Sydney with great facilities."

Is it normal practice to be able to purchase upgrades as per above just for one leg of an otherwise economy class trip? Or is this just a Thai Airways thing?

And to clarify - because the reviewer purchased an upgrade did that then qualify him/her to use the Air NZ lounge at the departure point for that upgraded leg?

With thanks.

 

[taswegian77]

A few moons ago around 2003-04 I think I flew Thai Airlines to BKK from MEL and at the time TG had a promotion that for AUD$500 you could upgrade from certain classes of economy to business. I took up the opportunity which was good value. Ont he return leg I also managed to purchase at the check in for 15000 baht, which was about the same AUD. And yes, I managed to get access to the lounges both times, except on the MEL-HKT-BKK trip the lounge in MEL was the QP J lounge, weird.

 

[Travel Guru]

Is it normal practice to be able to purchase upgrades as per above just for one leg of an otherwise economy class trip? Or is this just a Thai Airways thing?

Hi Tanya,

If by normal practice you mean all airlines offer them, then no they don't, but it's by no means exclusive to TG.

The old adage, if you don't ask, you don't get applies well, the worst they can say is no.

TG

 

[Evan]

Some airlines i fly...

Those who do offer upgrades: JQ (Jetstar), BA (British Airways)
Those who don't: QF (Qantas), CX (Cathay), SQ (Singapore), JL (JAL).

Many others in an our but i can only speak of the ones i have asked recently.

Sometimes they are really good value, you should never expect it will always be available but its good if the price is right and its available.

E

 

[v8Statesman]

Some airlines i fly...

Those who do offer upgrades: JQ (Jetstar), BA (British Airways)
Those who don't: QF (Qantas), CX (Cathay), SQ (Singapore), JL (JAL).

Many others in an our but i can only speak of the ones i have asked recently.

Sometimes they are really good value, you should never expect it will always be available but its good if the price is right and its available.

E

CX did it in 02/07 for a friend of mine. So they sometimes do.

 

[zig]

I have paid for on departure upgrades to business with Emirates and Vietnam Airlines.

 

[TanyaB]

Greatly appreciate all your responses - I have learned something new!! (Again!) Many thanks.

 

[Cynicor]

While on the subject, does anyone have any experience with BA ODUs?

I will be flying BA from NRT to LHR in late Dec and LHR to HKG late Jan.

Any idea what I should expect to pay, or what my chances are?

Thanks

 

[StevePER]

Add LA to the list of airlines that allow purchase upgrades.

 

[farstar]

Air Pacific also offer Paid upgrades on all routes. You get 25% extra QANTAS FF point as Business Class and Business class SCs.

 

[cleopatra]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any idea on what the cost is to purchase a business class upgrade on Air Pacific from Brisbane to Nadi?

 

[dede]

So is the upgrade cost usually just the difference between Y & J? I know the Jetstar ones are substantially less.

 

[BOoyaMEdic]

Sorry to pull up an old thread.

Has there been any recent reports of QF doing this for either Domestic or International flights?

and if so, is it treated as point upgrade, where you'd only get the points from the fair class you paid for?

When asking for an ODU at the airport, are points/pay always deducted, or have there/are there cases where there happens to be a empty seat, a friendly face and a cheeky smirk, where an upgrade has been awarded at no 'cost'.

 

[taswegian77]

Sorry to pull up an old thread.

Has there been any recent reports of QF doing this for either Domestic or International flights?

and if so, is it treated as point upgrade, where you'd only get the points from the fair class you paid for?

When asking for an ODU at the airport, are points/pay always deducted, or have there/are there cases where there happens to be a empty seat, a friendly face and a cheeky smirk, where an upgrade has been awarded at no 'cost'.

Quite a known fact that QF do not do ODU anytime for international flights but they are available if you are Gold or higher as they can be done at the lounge ODU for I beleive only points and you get the original points and SC from original booking for domestic travel. Asking for one IMO is quite wrong but that is my feelings on the matter. I did find out that if an op-up is required they aim to op-up the higher status passenger first, for e.g. CL, then WP etc if it fits their requirements to do so. Also pays to fly alone as the chance to get an op-up is increased, not to say it cannot happen if 2 are traveling.

 

[Danger]

Sorry to pull up an old thread.

Has there been any recent reports of QF doing this for either Domestic or International flights?

QF does not permit ODUs (on departure upgrades) for international flights, only domestic.

and if so, is it treated as point upgrade, where you'd only get the points from the fair class you paid for?

Rarely does QF provide "op-ups" - operational upgrades that are essentialy 'free' upgrades. As the name implies these usually occur for operational reasons. For example, the flight has been oversold in economy so some passengers are op-upped to business. In all upgrade cases, points and SCs are only awarded for the booked class of travel. So in the example of the economy oversell, the passenger op-upped to business would only receive points for the economy ticket.

When asking for an ODU at the airport, are points/pay always deducted, or have there/are there cases where there happens to be a empty seat, a friendly face and a cheeky smirk, where an upgrade has been awarded at no 'cost'.

Reports on AFF suggest 'free' upgrades are extremely rare. As has been noted, QF differs from, for example, some US airlines in that they will allow premium seats (business and economy) to be flown empty, rather than upgrade passengers for free. What's more, it's not uncommon for a person's request for a points upgrade to be denied, even though the flight departs with empty seats in the class the passenger requested to upgrade to.