QFF Pregnancy Upgrade

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tocal

tocal

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Hi guys,

I've been lurking for a while, and I'm not sure if this is the right place, but thought I'd ask anyway.

My husband and I are hoping to fly with his two daughters in December to the UK (not on points, but as a QFF Bronze member) at which time I'll be around 20 weeks pregnant (i.e. clearly showing but able to fly). Any chance that we'd be able to get an upgrade due to me being pregnant, considering the two girls are 5 and 9 (well-behaved, but still children which may be looked down on). I know nobody can say for sure, but I was wondering whether it would even be worth requesting, whether we could use points for it, etc.

Thanks!
 
Welcome to AFF, the good news is pregnancy is a medical condition that can be cured but does not affect upgrade chances, while it does restrict your access to exit row seats, it does not stop upgrades from happening should you be lucky!
 
You are more than welcome to use points (if it is an eligible fare bucket).

I wish it was that easy, my wife would love flying right about now:cool:

As always, what is the worst that could happen by asking?
 
I'm just wondering whether you may have thought that pregnancy was a reason why you might not be granted an upgrade? I would hope not. But if you thought you might get an upgrade because you were pregnant, then I don't think that would happen. I guess too, getting an upgrade for four seats whether by points or for free might be really difficult anyway.
 
Yeah, I was hoping the whole "I'm gigantic, bloated and take up more room" thing would get some sympathy, but I guess it's really common for women to be pregnant, and having a husband + two kids in tow would be stretching airline generosity. I don't exactly understand how upgrades via points work yet, but I'll look into it - for a long haul flight, I might just be lucky enough to get a front-of-cattle-class seat (I forget what they're called!) or something (being pregnant doesn't equal invalid).
 
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You could apply for exit row seats for you and hubby but the girls wouldn't be able to sit there. But they could sit across the aisle or behind?

Its going to take a lot of points to upgrade everyone. As a Platinum hubby has only been upgraded once for free, and just the two of us. He's had more luck using points though.
 
Wow, good to know :) Like I said, I'm new to all this, and my main experience is from reading about people in America who seem to get upgraded all the time! Oh well, perhaps it'll just be the cattle squeeze for me for a day :)
 
markis10 said:
..pregnancy.....while it does restrict your access to exit row seats, it does not stop upgrades from happening should you be lucky!
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As above for quote below
Pushka said:
You could apply for exit row seats for you and hubby but the girls wouldn't be able to sit there. But they could sit across the aisle or behind?...
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Is my belief check-in agents do not have authority to make random upgrades. All done in a back room. Many freg flyers are trying/hoping for upgrades with points. Many (most?) fail its seems from reports here. And here on AFF many have high status which puts pax up the order

In USA high status freq flyers "expect" an upgrade. First/Business class is upgrade class
There are reasons why so many USA legacy airlines have had/are in chap 11 bankruptcy protection

As you are going at Dec expect this will be in school holidays:- 1000's of people are doing the same.
There are some economy seats that are better than others.
 
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Note that some airlines have rules about adults not being eligible for exit row seating when they are accompanying children under a certain age.
 
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serfty said:
Note that some airlines have rules about adults not being eligible for exit row seating who are accompanying children under a certain age.
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In the case of QF this includes anyone that needs an extension seat belt in terms of exit row seating.
 
You are 99% not going to get four upgrades as a bronze. If you end up flying QF economy make two separate bookings and two separate requests. So even if you only get two seats at least you can share at least.

Otherwise if the budget is constrained I'd recommend BA Premium economy. It's miles cheaper than Qantas' and you could even buy two economy and two premium economy and swap around. Atleast you'd get some comfort for not a huge amount more.
 
Also, some big spending Platinum's barely get upgraded so not good chances for a goodwill upgraded for a pregnant lady plus three.
 
Pushka said:
You could apply for exit row seats for you and hubby but the girls wouldn't be able to sit there. But they could sit across the aisle or behind?
Click to expand...

It was afew years ago (2006), but I did 2.5 international trips while pregnant with QF/BA. On 1 flight, QF let me have an exit row due to my claims of higher potential risk of DVT with the pregnancy (at check-in at LAX). For the other flights, they would not let me sit in an exit row as pregnancy apparently precluded me from being able to potentially help with/operate the exit door. :( The BA flights were in J, so no issues there.

(The .5 of a trip was because I flew to the US unaware I was pregnant, but by the time I flew back, knew I was)
 
Congrats on the upcoming baby!

As many pregnant women travel nowadays, and many with high airline status, that chances of a sympathy upgrade for yourself, let alone the entire family are probably next to zero. If the comfort will be an issue for you, I would highly recommend paying extra for even yourself to fly a higher class.
Also be prepared that they may ask for a letter from your doctor to ensure you are safe to fly if you look way bigger than however many weeks along you are (happened to a friend of mine...was only 20 weeks, but looked ready to pop and they denied her boarding)
 
This has all been great. Do you get points for flying with BA? I know I could look it up but I'm currently bedridden with severe morning sickness so everything takes 10x more effort from my phone!

Does bulkhead seating in the middle row count as exit? Surely not. My husband mentioned them having an area for parents with bassinets (not us) to sit.

After all thus I think fly BA premium eco, get the points four 2a 2c, then fly back after bub is born and .... well, try for a points upgrade then. I suppose if it were easy, the seats wouldn't be so expensive! Oh well, many years to earn SC and points to one day upgrade :)
 
Yes: you do get Qantas points on BA flights (BA number) to London
But you cannot upgrade with QF points on BA flight number
Often (always?) cheap seats are not upgradeable on QF

Bulk head is not an exit row. Exist row is only where the emergency doors are (to exit the aircraft when it crashes or tries to swim in the sea ! )
 
I didn't think so (re: the bulk head) but I couldn't remember as I haven't flown internationally for some time - I do remember the huge exit door space where you could sit on the floor and stretch for ten minutes to relieve the feeling of being cramped and not moving for several hours, but I wasn't sure where the other exits (apart from the obvious front and rear ones) were.

And awesome re: QFF points for BA flights - doesn't matter if we can't use them to upgrade, if we're spending around $8,000 on flights, we'd want to be getting the points for them!
 
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