UK Premium Economy - upgrading to Business

[MikeG]

My father gets free Premium Economy flights return to the UK paid for by the UK government, and I'll be traveling with him.

I have Gold Qantas QFF status and Gold Virgin FF status, my father has no FF status...

My father suggested paying the difference to get Business Class, and I was wondering what the chances are of upgrading with points if we select Qantas as our carrier. Can I upgrade my father and me to business with QFF points (I have ~600k QFF points) - is there another carrier that it would be better to select for SYD-LHR flights? We don't care about cost, as we won't be footing the bill for the Premium Economy flights... Emirates? Qatar? Cathay?

I'm not fussed about the number of points I earn, but it would be good to be able to get the most out of this trip as it may be the last flight I take with my father.

M

 

[andye]

With Qantas on International, you enter an upgrade lottery with Priority to higher status members. There are a lot of P1s and Plats so not easy
Most other airlines process the upgrade immediately if the required availability is there
With Star Alliance you may be able to use other partners points to upgrade but with Oneworld it's largely airline-specific

 

[MikeG]

With Qantas on International, you enter an upgrade lottery with Priority to higher status members. There are a lot of P1s and Plats so not easy
Most other airlines process the upgrade immediately if the required availability is there
With Star Alliance you may be able to use other partners points to upgrade but with Oneworld it's largely airline-specific

I dont think Virgin is a Star Alliance partner any more...

 

[andye]

I dont think Virgin is a Star Alliance partner any more...

And it never had the ability to upgrade Star Alliance

 

[MikeG]

Is it worth paying for the difference? What would be the best airline to do this on?

 

[bam71]

You’d need to give dates and city pairs for someone to check that for you.

 

[jase05]

And to add that not all airlines don’t offer Y+
You would need to see what’s on offer for the dates you wish to travel

 

[Seat0B]

For SYD-LHR I personally think it is worth going business class over premium economy. Obviously that’s just a personal opinion, but I think you will sleep better on such a long flight.

 

[MikeG]

OK, I've booked the premium economy flights.

SYD-SIN SQ222 (sold as LH 9781) 10/06/2022 1500
SIN-FRA SQ26 (sold as LH9763) 10/06/2022 1155
FRA-BHX economy LH954 11/06/2022 1150

LHR-FRA economy LH925 25/06/2022 0830
FRA-SIN SQ25 (sold as LH9762) 25/06/2022 1230
SIN-SYD SQ211 (sold as LH9784) 26/06/2022 0935

My father is 70+ and I have AirNZ Gold. Open to ideas of how we can upgrade the long haul components.

Thanks
M

 

[andye]

My understanding is you can't make a Star Alliance upgrade award on a codeshare flight

 

[bam71]

I think you’ve done yourself a dis-service there. Happy to stand corrected, but to upgrade you’d need the flights to be booked on the operating carrier, i.e. SQ, and you’d need at least have SQ points to do so initially, or another Star Alliance program as they allow upgrades from one carriers FF program to another. In short, it seems you have QFF and Virgin points. If so, the only option you have is to book QF, and enter the lottery for an upgrade to business using the QFF points. The VA points are currently useless at the moment for an upgrade on any carrier.

 

[MikeG]

What about upgrading with $ or SQ Points? Any experience with that?

 

[bam71]

With $$, it’s simply the difference in price between premium economy and business. Using SQ points, on an SQ flight number, there is a calculator, but see the screenshot below.

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/ppsclub-krisflyer/miles/mileage-calculator/?calculator=redeemMiles

 

[MikeG]

I actually have Krisflyer points, however, it says:

"Your booking cannot be upgraded. Online redemption upgrades can only be made if passenger names in the booking match the names of the KrisFlyer member or his/her redemption nominees."

Oddly, they do match. Must be a website problem.

By the look of things using $ is not possible as the seats are tickets by Lufthansa.

I'm sure there will be a way.

 

[MikeG]

Given the changing options and the relatively low cost of cancellations with Lufthansa, given the flights below, what would people recommend for a good chance of upgrading to Business on long-haul legs, if I were to book something new? Whether that be booking PE or Economy...

SYD-FRA depart 10/06/2022 pm arriving into FRA early morning 11/06/2022
FRA-BHX depart 12/06/2022 pm (Lufthansa is probably the only option)
FRA-SYD depart 25/06/2022 pm arriving back in Sydney on 26/06/2022

I have QF Gold, VA Gold, AirNZ Gold, QR Silver, and have the majority of points in QF and VA, though some in Singapore Airlines.

The purchase price should be <$6kpp
Upgrades with cash or points.

M

Post automatically merged: May 6, 2022

Incidentally, Lufthansa will do a cash upgrade from PE to Business for a mere $5500pp - yikes.

 

[bam71]

As Lufthansa is star alliance, you’ll need to use points from a star alliance carrier, so Air New Zealand. I must admit though, all premium cabins ( business and first) are selling like hot cakes, so the chance to use points to upgrade would be rather slim I would think.

 

[bam71]

Other alternative would/could be flying economy from AUS to Asia, the just buy business from Asia to Europe. May work out the same as a Premium Economy ticket overall.

Google Travel

www.google.com

 

[MikeG]

As Lufthansa is star alliance, you’ll need to use points from a star alliance carrier, so Air New Zealand. I must admit though, all premium cabins ( business and first) are selling like hot cakes, so the chance to use points to upgrade would be rather slim I would think.

Upgrading with cash is also on the table but the majority of my points are QFF.

Post automatically merged: May 7, 2022

Ideally looking for a PE upgrade to Business for under $3k pp. or flex economy to Business if that’s manageable.

 

[MikeG]

I would imagine that simply cancelling this booking and going with a Singapore Airlines ticketed version of the same flights would enable upgrades at the gate etc... Thoughts?

 

[bam71]

I dont believe Singapore Airlines do on departure at gate upgrades as far as I’m aware.