QF operational upgrades for Platinum One

[GoldenWinger]

The Plat One treatment leaves so much to be desired...registered for a long haul upgrade from Bangkok to Sydney Economy to Business. It finally came through today even though the Business cabin has been pretty wide open most of the whole week - so much for WP1 getting considered earlier to upgrades like a week before (requested upgraded 3 weeks ago).

But the thing that p***ed me off the most is that I was the only person registered for an upgrade - no one else. Flight was over sold in Economy by 9 seats so they totally disregarded giving me un op up but yet upgraded 8 pax without deducting points. So moral of the story you register and they won't bother considering you for op up in oversell situations.

Overall the who Plat One program is nothing but a big load of rubbish with empty promises and whole lot of BS in their "black book" - will be 3rd year I am WP! and in that time only one miserable invitation to Les Miserable movie - that's it. First time I have booked Y class to test it out with the upgrade. What a joke.

 

[samh004]

If you put in a points upgrade request then you must have seen the value in it. I do understand it seems sh¡tty of them, but you've got to see it from their point of view. If you were the only person who was willing to spend money (points), why would they say to you, especially just because you're a very frequent flyer, no charge today, he's a free upgrade? They're clearly going to take the points, they're a business. If they didn't, and continued doing that every time for frequent flyers, we'd all have much bigger point balances that were worth a lot less because the airline would be broke

 

[GoldenWinger]

I totally agree with your remark that's true...But had they done an op up I would seen the P1 program in a more positive light and felt more "valued" for being a loyal customer. What they've done in this instance is further confirmed that I just don't see the value in flying 3 x more that what is required for WP and get nothing much in return. Also the 2700 sc requirements for QF marketed flights is getting more ridiculous seeing they don't fly anywhere. QF international is getting more and more insignificant everyday.

 

[samh004]

I do understand your point of view, and perhaps if you hadn't out the request in I would have expected them to be forthcoming in the upgrade. What would happen if all the WP's put in upgrade requests and you didn't though? I think ultimately, your status trumps theirs, but money (points) trumps status. It'll always be that way.

As for P1, I'm not sure flying 3x what you usually would (if that's what you're saying) is worth any status, short of lifetime OWE I'm guilty of this myself I might add, but stopped short of pushing myself within range of P1 as I didn't see the value, as an only-domestic flyer.

 

[zachary.august]

I've had this happen as a CLPO and it's just the way the game works. I was in J once to EZE back when they sold F on that service, I registered for a points upgrade not only was it not confirmed immediately but it was declined and I was then upgraded at the gate; but with points deducted! They then proceeded to OP-UP another 8 people! Making me the only passenger who paid anything to be in that cabin. Pretty rotten indeed but it's the way it works. I also had an instance when I was flying on QF to HNL and I had a friend of mine in economy, requested with the SYD station manager to have him upgraded, 20 minutes before the flight, and they did it, with no points cost! So I mean QF works in mysterious ways!

 

[yohy?!]

They like to have their cake and eat it too - they really should allow confirmed upgrades ahead of depature like CX do rather than this "op-up at the gate for points" nonsense.

(international upgrades at check-in would be nice also if they allowed confirmed ones)

 

[boomy]

It's hard to understand the way QF does OpUps.
Sometimes I seat in a full Y cabin (with plenty of WP's & P1's) while the J cabin is half empty.
Sometimes I notice pax with lower status then mine being upgraded in the lounge or at the gate.

If I want to fly J I will always use points to upgrade and never count on Qantas to give me a free one.
P1 is an excellent program but unfortunately it doesn't guarantee more OpUps then WP or even SG.

 

[elbarto]

The points are a liability to Qantas. If you make an offer to them to upgrade to a higher class using them they're going to take it so long as there's not another higher yielding customer.

 

[danny09]

P1 is an excellent program but unfortunately it doesn't guarantee more OpUps then WP or even SG.

I dont agree, well atleast in Domestic anyways. As a WP for 2 years my Op-Up rate was like 1-2%, but as a WP1 its now 20-25%.

There are alot of unhappy campers of the P1 program, but I love it

 

[boomy]

I dont agree, well atleast in Domestic anyways. As a WP for 2 years my Op-Up rate was like 1-2%, but as a WP1 its now 20-25%.

There are alot of unhappy campers of the P1 program, but I love it

I was sharing my personal experience as P1 from the first day the program started.

Maybe you are flying on different routs or different times of the day so you get upgraded more often, I really don't know.

The fact is that I'm still sitting on ~5% upgrade rate even as P1.
I'm taking about domestic flights only.

Having said that, I do think this is an excellent program that's give its members a very high level of service 24/7 and I appreciate that enough to stay loyal and not credit my points to other programs.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Paying points for upgrade is simply getting priority consideration ahead of everyone else, and your upgrade was given before everyone else who didn't offer any payments. I consider this perfectly fair. After all, there's no guarantee you would've been given an upgrade if you didn't use your points.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I see the problem as when you gain higher status you generally expect more recogition of that status when actually flying. An op up is recognition whereas a FA that has a piece of paper with a list of those to give the stale hello speech to is not.

What qff really needs to do is make sure every plat member gets x upgrades a year and p1 gets noticibly more. For those always in the front most cabin they need to do something extra to aliviate the pain of flying for them. Always blocked seats, triple points, free chuefer. Something meaningful. In this sense it doesn't devalue plat or make p1s feel alienated but rather re-enforces to the member that their loyalty is valued.

I think qff is doing a solid job with this, but I think the oldschool mindset of thinking member retention looks after itself is failing and its most obvious with p1.