Syd- Singapore Best chance of seat upgrade on either the A380 or 747-400

[Kazda]

Hi

Looking at booking 2 seats Syd - Singapore (return) in Sept 10 in economy and I'm making the booking with 2 x seat upgrades in mind. I've checked out the fare conditions and it states that Flight Upgrade Awards are eligible on the fare. There's a choice of flights available - either on the A380 (QF31) or the 747-400 (QF5)

Does anybody know which aircraft would give me a better chance of getting 2 seat upgrades from economy to business class. I hold a silver status.

Even though it would be nice to travel on the A380, if I had a better chance of an upgrade from economy to business on the 747-400 I'd go with the 747-400 flight and the price is roughly the same give or take a few dollars.

Any thoughts would be appreciated on which flight / aircraft may give a better chance of 2 x seat upgrades.

Tks

 

[albatross710]

OP at 9pm and now 57 minutes and no reply. I guess it's up to me at this time of night:

Upgrades are always going to be hard to predict. I would consider some research around the dates of your travel on the flights you are considering on the award booking engine of your chosen airline.

If there is a consistent pattern of more award J seats on one flight than another then I think that would indicate lighter bookings and perhaps lend some input into your choice.

I wouldn't put much hope on it myself.

The only way to really guarantee a J seat is to pay for one.

 

[Mal]

This is a bit of a tough one to answer as there are several things that come into play.

On the positive side for the A380, there are more J seats than the 747. On the negative side, the A380 is normally more popular with frequent travellers because of the better Skybeds.

So it really may be a case of flip a coin and see. As has already been suggested, perhaps using SeatCounter to test the same weekday (but this week or next week) might help with identifying trends. Note that you won't have much luck checking 20-22 and 27-30 March dates as Qantas flights have been closed for bookings due to the potential BA strike.

 

[Kazda]

This is a bit of a tough one to answer as there are several things that come into play.

On the positive side for the A380, there are more J seats than the 747. On the negative side, the A380 is normally more popular with frequent travellers because of the better Skybeds.

So it really may be a case of flip a coin and see. As has already been suggested, perhaps using SeatCounter to test the same weekday

Hi

Can anybody advise what booking class would I need to look at on seatcounter.com to ascertain availability of business class upgradable seats. I'm not sure if upgrading from economy to business using points uses a different booking class. I read that full business is J and Disc business is D, does either of these class codes apply ?

The flight I'm going to book Syd-Sin is a Red-e deal but booking conditions state it's upgradable using points.
any advise on what booking class I should be looking at on seatcounter.com would be appreciated.
tks
Karen

 

[NM]

Can anybody advise what booking class would I need to look at on seatcounter.com to ascertain availability of business class upgradable seats. I'm not sure if upgrading from economy to business using points uses a different booking class. I read that full business is J and Disc business is D, does either of these class codes apply ?

It snot as simple as that. While points upgrades to business class usually result in the booking class changing to U, the on-line tools like seatcounter and ExpertFlyer will not show these in the days prior to flight. U is used for business class award seats. And even if U=0 for months before the flight, when upgrades are processed a fresh allocation of U may be made available for upgrades. So there is no way to use the on-line tools to know how many upgrade seats may be offered for any particular flight.

 

[serfty]

It snot as simple as that. While points upgrades to business class usually result in the booking class changing to U, the on-line tools like seatcounter and ExpertFlyer will not show these in the days prior to flight. U is used for business class award seats. And even if U=0 for months before the flight, when upgrades are processed a fresh allocation of U may be made available for upgrades. So there is no way to use the on-line tools to know how many upgrade seats may be offered for any particular flight.

Expert flyer DOES show U class availability these days - but you need to use the "Awards & Upgrades" facility.

Airline Award/Upgrade Classes supported by ExpertFlyer.com®

 

[NM]

Expert flyer DOES show U class availability these days - but you need to use the "Awards & Upgrades" facility.

Airline Award/Upgrade Classes supported by ExpertFlyer.com®

yes it does show U, but what I was stay that looking for U in the days/weeks before departure is not a good indication of upgrade availability. A better indication comes from the ratio of I to D and J.

Yes indeed if U is showing the day before the flight there is a very good chance there will be some upgrades offered. But if U is showing 0 for the days, weeks or even months before the flight, this does not in any way imply there will not be any upgrades. A fresh allocation of U is done during the review/processing of upgrades during the T-24 to T-?? timeframe. And even looking for U during the last 24 hours before departure is not going to help much since the time between the fresh allocation of U and the upgrades being processed is likely to be very small.

 

[serfty]

yes it does show U, but what I was stay that looking for U in the days/weeks before departure is not a good indication of upgrade availability. A better indication comes from the ratio of I to D and J.

Yes indeed if U is showing the day before the flight there is a very good chance there will be some upgrades offered. But if U is showing 0 for the days, weeks or even months before the flight, this does not in any way imply there will not be any upgrades. A fresh allocation of U is done during the review/processing of upgrades during the T-24 to T-?? timeframe. ...

Fully agree! I have a flight this week on a 388 showing:

• F9 A9 J9 C9 D9 I1 W9 R5 T1 Y1 B1 H0 K0 M0 L0 VC SC NC QC OC XC E0

As a WP any points upgrade request is almost certain to be granted, however I am in O class so cannot make one. (There is a good operational upgrade chance on this flight in any case.)

 

[MelUser]

My view is that QF 31 gives you a better chance of an upgrade.

QF 31 has 4 cabins - First Business Premium and Economy.

Passengers will request upgrades from 3 lower cabins so there is always some shuffling across classes and if your business upgrade is not successful they will try to sit you in the Premium Cabin.

QF 5 only has 2 cabins so there is much less shuffling as business passengers cannot upgrade into anywhere.

Good luck - as always please report back on your upgrade.

 

[david870mdg]

Fully agree! I have a flight this week on a 388 showing:

• F9 A9 J9 C9 D9 I1 W9 R5 T1 Y1 B1 H0 K0 M0 L0 VC SC NC QC OC XC E0

As a WP any points upgrade request is almost certain to be granted, however I am in O class so cannot make one. (There is a good operational upgrade chance on this flight in any case.)

+1
mmm are you in 80k?

 

[NM]

As a WP any points upgrade request is almost certain to be granted, however I am in O class so cannot make one. (There is a good operational upgrade chance on this flight in any case.)

May the OU deity of your choosing shine its blessings upon you with great abundance

 

[serfty]

+1
mmm are you in 80k?

Currently ... ...

 

[JohnK]

Can someone interpret the availability on this flight? It is a SIN-MEL flight on a 747 and is still 2 weeks away but looks likely to be extremely full. I think op-up chances, even as a Platinum, are quite low as well.

F6 A6 J5 C0 D0 I0 W1 R1 T0 Y4 B2 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0

 

[Kazda]

My view is that QF 31 gives you a better chance of an upgrade.

QF 31 has 4 cabins - First Business Premium and Economy.

Passengers will request upgrades from 3 lower cabins so there is always some shuffling across classes and if your business upgrade is not successful they will try to sit you in the Premium Cabin.

QF 5 only has 2 cabins so there is much less shuffling as business passengers cannot upgrade into anywhere.

Good luck - as always please report back on your upgrade.

thanks for all the replies they have been really helpful.

Meluser - I didn't think to take into account that QF31 has 4 cabins v's 2 on QF5, thanks for the heads-up on that.

 

[Kazda]

Expert flyer DOES show U class availability these days - but you need to use the "Awards & Upgrades" facility.

Airline Award/Upgrade Classes supported by ExpertFlyer.com®

When I checked out the link above, it states the codes for 'Award' flights for Qantas. Does the same class/code also apply for 'upgrades'.

EG: Is the U class for 'Award' flight on Qantas the same class for an 'upgrade'. ?
As some airlines state classes for Award & Upgrades and the Qantas classes just state their for 'Awards'

Can anybody confirm that Qantas use the same codes for Award and Upgrades, and that the expertflyer site does actually show availability for Upgrades (I realise they may not show upgrade availability until -24hrs of departure) or does it just show availability for Awards.
thanks

 

[knasty]

I can't give advice but can relate my experience last week on the same route, booked in V Class (Disc economy). Tuesday Qf31 A380 Syd-Sin upgrade came through, happy days. Return journey upgrade Fri o/night didn't come through due to QF5 747 being packed from Frankfurt. I had forgotten what the back of a sold-out 747 looks and feels like. All I could do was reminisce about the outbound journey as the seat in front reclined into my knees....I certainly prefer D to V.

 

[serfty]

...
EG: Is the U class for 'Award' flight on Qantas the same class for an 'upgrade'. ?
As some airlines state classes for Award & Upgrades and the Qantas classes just state their for 'Awards'

Can anybody confirm that Qantas use the same codes for Award and Upgrades, and that the expertflyer site does actually show availability for Upgrades (I realise they may not show upgrade availability until -24hrs of departure) or does it just show availability for Awards.
thanks

For Qantas U class is both business class award and businiess class upgrade.

For domestic flights, if you can see U availability for a particular flight and you ticket on that flight in an upgradeable class then you can immediately use points to upgrade into bisiness class.

For international flights it's different, and in respect to upgrades it's moot as it is supposed to all happen within 24 hours of the flight; award bookings/upgrades are not avialble within that time frame.

 

[knasty]

Thanks Knasty for the insight into your upgrade last week on QF31. Can I ask what QFF status you are.... as that one of the determining factors for upgrades being granted.

Sure - I am QF Silver.

 

[Kazda]

For Qantas U class is both business class award and businiess class upgrade.

For domestic flights, if you can see U availability for a particular flight and you ticket on that flight in an upgradeable class then you can immediately use points to upgrade into bisiness class.

For international flights it's different, and in respect to upgrades it's moot as it is supposed to all happen within 24 hours of the flight; award bookings/upgrades are not avialble within that time frame.

Thanks serfty
Can I take it when expertflyer shows the availability of 'U' class that takes into account the award and upgrade availabilities rolled into one.

It's just the expertflyer website states they show awards avail for Qantas (no mention of upgrades - even though they are the same code.)
Whereas other airlines actually state: award and upgrade.

 

[MelUser]

Qantas releases very little (U) seats for redemption - usually 2 per flight and these are snapped up 330 days before the flight.

Do not expect to see any (U) in the months leading up to the international flight as U is snapped up for award tickets.

As far as my upgrade experience goes, for business upgrades you are looking for J9C9D9. If you see this via availability then (my view) the upgrade should come through. J9C9D0 it is less likely although still possible. J9 it is even less likely. Anything under J9 then upgrades are unlikely but not impossible.