Seat allocation when points upgraded?

[datal1]

Hey,

What happens on QF with seat allocations if a points upgrade is granted?

Obviously pre-selection can be done on the original booking however if an upgrade is processed for the two passengers on the same booking, does it mean they will definately be given seats together in the upgraded class? Or is there a chance of being split up becasue its an upgrade and not a regular booking, where they will just upgrade to fill seats?

If there's a probability of myself and my partner being split I'd rather cancel the upgrade request and stick to our current selection together, being our first trip overseas...and bing the MEL -> LHR leg, sitting together is important to us. From what I've read, if a request is granted you can't turn it down without loosing all the points and facing the chance of the pervious sets being allocated to somebody elese or not being available altogether.

edit: I guess I should add, this is using the hypothetical situation that the upgraded class hasn't got 2 seats available together on the online seat selection prior to checking in at the airport. Would the best move be to not pre-select these separate seats in the upgrade class and let the airport check in sort out seats at the airport?

 

[Katie]

From my experience in upgrading 3pax together on one PNR, if the seats are available together, they will sit you together. It would only be in a situation where perhaps you had a failry full J cabin (I am presuming this is a Y to J UG request), with only two seats available for UG, and ALL J pax had either pre-selected seats or OLCIed and confirmed their seat selection, leaving no two seats together available. In this instance, if your upgrade clears and you are both upgraded, you might end up in seats that aren't together.

If this occurs, I would still attempt to pre-select the seats before going to the airport. Based on our family upgrade last week BKK-SYD, there were no other available seats in the cabin. I wanted to move our assignments amongst us, as the automatic assignment had put Little Miss 6 in the middle aisle seat, Mr Katie in the aisle seat across from her, and me in the window seat next to Mr Katie. I presumed that the pax who would be sitting next to Little Miss 6 would really rather not sit next to a child when that child could be sitting next to a parent. (As tempting as it was for me to leave the assignment like that ).
We just swapped amongst us on boarding. Not the same, but what I'd do if we had been dispersed through the cabin was to 1. Ask at checkin to be put together. If 1 doesn't work, then I'd try 2. Ask in the Lounge to be put together. If 1 and 2 don't work, I'd ask when on board. Another pax might move for you, they might not.
I'd take an upgrade over sitting together MEL-LHR, even if it's your first trip and you're both excited. Chat while you're at your transit point, meet up next to the loos or galley during the flight if you need to, but otherwise get a goodly amount of rest so that you both don't feel like zombies on arrival and spend the first day or more wandering around in a blur.