Status Credits on upgraded flight (points club)

[_flyer]

Hi All,
I’m looking at getting a few extra status credits - I’m currently on a domestic classic economy flight (booked via points) if I upgrade to business will I be awarded the additional status credits? I’m Points Club Plus.
Thanks

 

[sudoer]

I’m currently on a domestic classic economy flight (booked via points) if I upgrade to business will I be awarded the additional status credits? I’m Points Club Plus.

This isn't clearly spelled out in any of Qantas' T&C but I expect the answer is yes, you will earn additional SC.

Once your upgrade clears the booking class should change to U, which earns per the below table:



There is a known bug with this table which works in the traveller's favour. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to know more.

 

[RichardMEL]

I would agree with this since, in essence, you're winding up with a U seat and it "earns" per points club so I think should get more. I think it will be treated as if one booked a reward business class seat for this purpose.

 

[aus_flyer]

I doubt it will - because a fare upgraded to U has always earned at the original booking rate. I don't see why Points Club would change this. The points are earnt on Classic Reward flights. An upgrade is not this. But good luck! Look forward to hearing back!

 

[sudoer]

The points are earnt on Classic Reward flights. An upgrade is not this.

Classic business awards and classic upgrades both use the U booking class shown in the table, and I expect Qantas' implementation of SC earn for Points Club isn't smart enough to differentiate between the two - but I hope @_flyer posts back with the outcome.

It would also be interesting to hear from any Points Club members who've booked an economy seat with cash and subsequently upgraded with points.

 

[aus_flyer]

While there are times this would be favourable, there are also times it would not be. Eg. Full fare economy to U.

 

[JohnM]

I'm Points Club vanilla and recently flew PER-BME-PER on straight-up U redemptions and scored SCs for each sector.

 

[RichardMEL]

yes, for normal QFF SC earning purposes I agree - upgraded fares earn on the revenue fare paid.

So using that logic I absolutely agree that the same should apply to the Points Club earning.

However the catch is that for Points Club SC earning it is allowed on Reward Tickets. So original is booked in X, then upgraded to Y. It really ends up depending on how smart the algorithm is in terms of the earn. Since U is an allowable class for PC earn purposes (as is X) then that is why I think it would be higher - ie points club is about earning and spending points - from QFF point of view they are happy if one spends more points to upgrade a reward seat.

I do agree it could go either way but I still favour (abut 60/40) that higher earn will apply in this scenario. So await the outcome to obviously learn. QFF is full of so many oddities nothing would surprise me.

 

[sudoer]

But [snip] doesn't appear in @sudoer's table above.

There is a known bug with this table which works in the traveller's favour.

Best keep it quiet...!

 

[JohnM]

Big help on my quest for LTP...

 

[sudoer]

Big help on my quest for LTP...

Hey, it all adds up! Especially on multi-leg itineraries once the DSC promos start back up. Do us a favour and edit the pertinent info out of your post?

 

[JohnM]

Hey, it all adds up! Especially on multi-leg itineraries once the DSC promos start back up. Do us a favour and edit the pertinent info out of your post?

There you go.

 

[madrooster]

I expect Qantas' implementation of SC earn for Points Club isn't smart enough to differentiate between the two - but I hope @_flyer posts back with the outcome.

When an upgrade is requested, a SK FQUR element appears in the PNR. This SK FQUR element holds the FF number of the sponsoring member.

You can tell whether your PNR contains a SK FQUR element by looking on QF MMB. QF MMB will say "Upgrade Status: Requested" in the flight info section. The lack of presence of this "Upgrade Status: Requested" means there's no SK FQUR element and therefore no upgrade requested.

When an upgrade is processed, a SK FQUG element appears in the PNR and the SK FQUR is removed. This SK FQUG element holds an upgrade certificate number. The presence of this SK FQUG is what tells the system that you upgraded with points and it tells the system to check the upgrade certificate which tells the system what your original class was eg. O, Q, N etc.

On a classic award, there is no SK FQUG element. Therefore by default, the system assumes X/U/P/Z classes are classic awards. The presence of the SK FQUG element is what tells the system to stop and re-think.

This SK FQUG is used for both commercial fares upgraded with points and classic awards upgraded with points (eg. where you book a U class award and put in a request to upgrade to F).

Therefore I would expect a correctly processed commercial fare upgraded with points for a points club member, to credit according to their original class whatever that may be.

You can tell whether your PNR contains a SK FQUG element by looking on QF MMB. QF MMB will say "Upgrade Status: Confirmed" in the flight info section. The lack of presence of this "Upgrade Status: Confirmed" means there's no SK FQUG element.

A real world scenario where this is important is when you have a flight that you've upgraded with points and that flight gets cancelled. If the system auto rebooks you, then the SK FQUG element gets moved accordingly. However, if you get manually rebooked to another flight (eg. if you didn't like what the system rebooked you to), then the SK FQUG element does not get copied across.

This results in the flight info section no longer showing "Upgrade Status: Confirmed". The outcome of this is the flight you upgraded with points, then credits as a classic award. For non points club members, it'd credit as zero. For points club members it'd credit accordingly at the prevailing rate eg. 18 for a SYD-MEL. That then obviously requires contacting the FF service centre to fix.

 

[Vic]

When did Qantas start allowing upgrade requests on classic awards?

Or to put it another way, AFAIK you cannot upgrade a classic award. So there will be no higher earning.

Edit: ok the terms and conditions says
Yes for upgrade from classic reawards economy and premium economy 16.1.6 (c) but not from buisness class reward to first 16.1.4(a)

This slightly conflicts with the lack of upgrade ability on non-earning fares for anyone who isn't points club 16.1.6(a)

However, in terms of earning the conditions are clearly - lower fare class earning in all cases is the rule 16.1.6(d)

(d) Qantas Points and Status Credits will be earned only for the class of travel originally purchased or redeemed, rather than the upgraded class of travel;

 

[sudoer]

When did Qantas start allowing upgrade requests on classic awards?

Back in 2016: Qantas: business class upgrades on frequent flyer reward bookings

 

[kookaburra75]

It would also be interesting to hear from any Points Club members who've booked an economy seat with cash and subsequently upgraded with points.

On 11 Dec, flying BNE-CBR I upgraded a paid for, discount economy airfare up to Business on points - and only received 10SC's. In the Activity Statement the details are "QF 1567 DISCOUNTED ECONOMY/BUSINESS REWARD 11-DEC-2020 BRISBANE/CANBERRA"

 

[RichardMEL]

On 11 Dec, flying BNE-CBR I upgraded a paid for, discount economy airfare up to Business on points - and only received 10SC's. In the Activity Statement the details are "QF 1567 DISCOUNTED ECONOMY/BUSINESS REWARD 11-DEC-2020 BRISBANE/CANBERRA"

Yes. This is absolutely normal and expected behaviour for points and SC earn on revenue fares.

However since Points Club counts, for bonus SC purposes, points used for rewards it is a slightly different scenario. Logic suggests the lower class reward should apply, but since the upgraded class (U) earns for the purposes of points club, then that makes it a bit grey. We just need real world experience to ascertain exactly what happens.

 

[madrooster]

Yes. This is absolutely normal and expected behaviour for points and SC earn on revenue fares.

However since Points Club counts, for bonus SC purposes, points used for rewards it is a slightly different scenario. Logic suggests the lower class reward should apply, but since the upgraded class (U) earns for the purposes of points club, then that makes it a bit grey. We just need real world experience to ascertain exactly what happens.

A correctly processed upgrade with the correct elements in the PNR for a commercial fare (eg. Q class) upgraded to U class, for a points club member, credits correctly. I have seen multiple examples including one in the last two days.

The only time where it will credit incorrectly, in the points club member's favour (if SCs is what you are wanting rather than points), is when the SK FQUG element is missing from the PNR. See my longer post above explaining how it all works.