Question re Upgrades

[eric2011]

If I was to book a flight from SYD-LAX (QF11, A380) J class and return to BNE (QF16, B747) also J class and put in for a points upgrade to F class, would Qantas look at it and,

1. Decline the whole request because the return 747 flight does not offer F class, or
2. Issue the upgrade just for the first leg regardless of the return

If it is No.2 would I only need to have the correct amount of points in my account (45000 I think) at the time of request
and finally, assuming I made the booking and the request approx. 8-9 months before departure, what are my chances. If my chances are not great I would just do a return BNE-LAX-BNE. The only reason to try for the departure from SYD is being in the F lounge and travelling F class on a QF 380.

Pretty long winded question but hope you understand

Thanks

 

[opusman]

Upgrade requests are only on a per-flight basis, not for the whole trip, and the system won't let you lodge one if F is not available on the flight. So simply lodge a request for SYD-LAX. You only have to have the points required at the time the upgrade is processed (so your points balance now won't matter).

As a gold your chances are reasonable, but of course not guaranteed.

 

[cjd600]

The 2 legs would be treated separately,so effectively you would only be putting an upgrade request in for the SYD-LAX leg,so No.2 above.

As for the likelihood...not sure,will let others comment on that but don't think how 'early' you request it would impact it (status is more important)

 

[TheDan]

Hi,
normally, upgrade requests are always just for one leg, so thats option #2.

The updates are processed some days-hours before departure, so status is much more important then request time. I think AUS-USA has typically less loadings then USA-AUS, but why dont you check the loadings on recent flights to get an idea?
FlightStats | Flight Airline Seat Availability
just select your flight for some upcoming dates and check the availability of seats in F.

 

[eric2011]

select your flight for some upcoming dates and check the availability of seats in F.

Oh, for some reason I thought there were x amount of seats allocated for upgrades and once they were gone then there was no more, but what you are saying is that any F seat would be available towards the last minute, assuming there are no paying pax in the pipeline.

 

[JohnK]

Availability can change up to the last minute.

Generally award availability is snapped up straight away but there could still be spare seats in that cabin for sale. They may decide to release some more award availability closer to the flight.

You can put in an upgrade request now and this is not going to get processed until ~72 hours from flight and there is a possibility the upgrade could clear as late as ~5 hours before flight.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Sorry if this is a bit of a stupid question, but I have never done an international upgrade request before. . I have just put an upgrade request in for master FM. He is on a discount y fare (L). Flying SYD to lax and I have requested J with a fallback to Y+ I think he will thus have my WP status for prioritising? He is silver. Also I assume a bronze in Y+ will get J before he does - is that correct?