QF Points Upgrade…who has the authority to action an upgrade?

[sweens]

Last Saturday I flew JNB –SYD on QF on a PE ticket, I had applied for an on line points upgrade from Y+ to J a few weeks before.
As WP a felt that I had a reasonable chance of obtaining the upgrade and I looked forward to a bit of a snooze on the 11 + hour flight to SYD in a J seat.
I was disappointed on the day to see my requested upgrade had not come through but I understand the system and assumed that J was full…this was confirmed when I checked in at JNB.
I took my PE seat and was surprised that the Y+ section of the plane was only 50% full and Y was about 60% full…so I approached the FA and asked about J seats , she told me that there were in fact some spare seats in J.
I then asked to see the CSM and he told me that while there were in fact 3 spare J seats on the flight…he said that J had indeed been fully booked but there were 3 no shows.
He went onto say that it was all too late to allocate these seats, even for a points upgrade…he stated that he did not have the authority to uograde anyone?
As we were delayed for sometime on the tarmac he said the only opportunity I had was if we had to return to the gate and the ground staff may indeed choose to offer me a points upgrade.
As it turned out we sat on the tarmac for around 90 minutes, due to another plane blocking the runway after bursting a tyre…we did not return to the gate.
My question is could the CSM have chosen to offer me an upgrade or was it all just too hard?

 

[notzac]

QF Points Upgrade…who has the authority to action an upgrade?

IANAFA, but I don't believe that staff on board are able to process or offer upgrades.

QF are famously stingy with premium cabin awards and upgrades - I've missed one or two myself where there was ample seating available on board yet the upgrade didn't go through.

I can see it from their perspective though - if people knew they had a decent chance at getting any upgrade they wanted, would anyone pay for a premium cabin seat?

 

[NM]

A CSM has no way to access your FF account and hence to process an upgrade and remove the points from your balance.

Qantas does not make every empty or even every unsold seat in premium cabins available for upgrades. They regularly operate flights with some empty J seat even with people wait-listed for upgrades. They like to keep some seats available for last minute sale and to provide flexibility for operational requirements such as broken seats, family groups or people caught up in irregular ops. So even if J had not been fully sold, it would not be unusual for Qantas not to offer any points upgrades on the flight.

 

[sweens]

Thanks for your feedback...I suppose I was looking at it from my perspective thinking that QF would like to take my points if they had an empty J seat or two.

It does make sense that the CSM would not have access to my FF account but at the time it felt like he just wanted to give me the brush off.

From the feed back I take it that to get a points upgrade to J ..which has happened often in the past , QF would need to be convinced that they had "unsaleable"spare seats not just a few!

 

[NM]

From the feed back I take it that to get a points upgrade to J ..which has happened often in the past , QF would need to be convinced that they had "unsaleable"spare seats not just a few!

Exactly. If they think they can sell them (last minute fares are always high so likely highly profitable), or may need them for other purposes such as knowing there is likelihood of inbound flight delays with the potential to result in irregular ops and people moving from other flights to this flight, then they keep some premium seats up their sleeve. Selling them to another airline that has a delayed flight is good revenue for Qantas.

 

[Dave Noble]

Some airlines allow onboard points upgrades, however the QF lottery scheme is not one of them

 

[meloz]

I have witnessed a QF onboard upgrade once on a flight to BOM.

A lady had been upgraded however her husband was not. QF had told her a lack of J seats was the reason. This turned out to be untrue. After take off the woman discussed the situation with the CSM and would not give up her argument. After about 90 minutes back and forth between the coughpit and using company frequency the upgrade was awarded and the gent took his new seat. She was gold and he was Plat for what it's worth.

I can't imagine this happening too often though.

Meloz

 

[MelUser]

I was on a flight in J last year from SYD to LAX - (QF 11 from memory) and sitting on the ailse seat of the middle 3 abreast bit on the 747. Next to me (in middle) was a man and other ailse of 3 abreast bit was his pregnant wife. They were americans.

Anyhow, come meal time in J the crew soon knows if you are meant to be there as they address you by name. He wasn't on the list and had just sat there on boarding aircraft- he was supposed to travelling in economy. Anyone, the crew went and called the CSM/Purser and this man came up with a big sob story how he had to sit there to look after his pregnant wife. To my surprise the CSM let him stay.

A friend of mine who is a QF CSM has told me that they are not allowed to move passengers from one cabin to another unless there is a good reason - eg IFE not working.

 

[jamesatfish]

It seems the CSM does have discretion to grant non-points, in-flight upgrades where deemed necessary for operational or compassionate reasons, but 'filling empty seats' isn't a good reason alone.

On QF94 the other day I was seated in 5K, with 5F vacant. When I woke up a few hours out of Melbourne the seat was occupied, with the passenger apparently moving there during the flight per the CSM's request. The FA I asked (I was just checking that I hadn't drunk too much St Henri with dinner and not noticed the guy boarding in LAX) didn't know the reason for the move.

 

[Sprucegoose]

It seems the CSM does have discretion to grant non-points, in-flight upgrades where deemed necessary for operational or compassionate reasons, but 'filling empty seats' isn't a good reason alone.

On QF94 the other day I was seated in 5K, with 5F vacant. When I woke up a few hours out of Melbourne the seat was occupied, with the passenger apparently moving there during the flight per the CSM's request. The FA I asked (I was just checking that I hadn't drunk too much St Henri with dinner and not noticed the guy boarding in LAX) didn't know the reason for the move.

On some airlines in the 'developing world' where the CSM's all seem to be male, I used to slip them a bottle of Whiskey. What has happened to the World?

 

[possumFF]

No, the CSM is not authorised to process upgrades. Imagine the bunfight if he/she could! It must be done before boarding.

Last Saturday I flew JNB –SYD on QF on a PE ticket, I had applied for an on line points upgrade from Y+ to J a few weeks before.
As WP a felt that I had a reasonable chance of obtaining the upgrade and I looked forward to a bit of a snooze on the 11 + hour flight to SYD in a J seat.
I was disappointed on the day to see my requested upgrade had not come through but I understand the system and assumed that J was full…this was confirmed when I checked in at JNB.
I took my PE seat and was surprised that the Y+ section of the plane was only 50% full and Y was about 60% full…so I approached the FA and asked about J seats , she told me that there were in fact some spare seats in J.
I then asked to see the CSM and he told me that while there were in fact 3 spare J seats on the flight…he said that J had indeed been fully booked but there were 3 no shows.
He went onto say that it was all too late to allocate these seats, even for a points upgrade…he stated that he did not have the authority to uograde anyone?
As we were delayed for sometime on the tarmac he said the only opportunity I had was if we had to return to the gate and the ground staff may indeed choose to offer me a points upgrade.
As it turned out we sat on the tarmac for around 90 minutes, due to another plane blocking the runway after bursting a tyre…we did not return to the gate.
My question is could the CSM have chosen to offer me an upgrade or was it all just too hard?

 

[possumFF]

Some people actually relocate themselves forward when they think no one is looking. An old trick which an on-the-ball crew will address post haste.

On some airlines in the 'developing world' where the CSM's all seem to be male, I used to slip them a bottle of Whiskey. What has happened to the World?

 

[JohnK]

A friend of mine who is a QF CSM has told me that they are not allowed to move passengers from one cabin to another unless there is a good reason - eg IFE not working.

I had the pleasure of an onboard op-up to business class due to faulty IFE which was authorised by the CSM.

 

[jamesatfish]

Some people actually relocate themselves forward when they think no one is looking. An old trick which an on-the-ball crew will address post haste.

In this instance the guy in 5F was asleep when I first noticed him, with bed fully made including down 'mattress' and quilt. If he snuck that past the FAs he definitely deserved the free upgrade...

 

[JetLagged]

On QF31 on Tuesday (SIN-SYD) there were a number of upset passangers who had requested an upgrade to F only to be told that there were no upgrades. Then, when they learned that there were only 3 passengers in F, their looks told all! Not happy, Alan! Many times, Not Happy people!

 

[markis10]

On QF31 on Tuesday (SIN-SYD) there were a number of upset passangers who had requested an upgrade to F only to be told that there were no upgrades. Then, when they learned that there were only 3 passengers in F, their looks told all! Not happy, Alan! Many times, Not Happy people!

Why would they be unhappy, were they across the cabin crewing arrangements that would have permitted more people ??? I am sure the discretion QF use for upgrades when it comes to availability take into account commercial realities - the cost of the service being provided versus the points value being burned etc etc.

 

[Chicken or Beef]

I'm thinking that there is only a certain allocation for point upgrades for each flight - once the allocation is full, it doesn't matter whether there are other spare seats. They are not available for point upgrades. Once catering is finalised, people aren't able to be moved to Business/First if they haven't got a meal allocated for them - also a dead giveaway that someone is not seated in the right cabin.

 

[medhead]

QF Points Upgrade…who has the authority to action an upgrade?

Why would they be unhappy, were they across the cabin crewing arrangements that would have permitted more people ??? I am sure the discretion QF use for upgrades when it comes to availability take into account commercial realities - the cost of the service being provided versus the points value being burned etc etc.

Agreed. One minor thing, points value being burned is not a variable, it has already been predetermined and set. So it would be used to set the conditions for giving an upgrade, in terms of crewing etc. But would not need to be specifically considered as part of the decision to award an upgrade