Upgrade from Restricted Fares?

[auspal]

I have read through the first few pages, but not all of them, so pardon me if this question has been answered. I dont understand all of the seating numbers, and dont travel for business. I usually travel overseas a couple of times a year, and rack up my FF points on my credit card as well.
I am travelling to LA in October, and have paid for my flight. I do have enough points to upgrade, but am not allowed to do so because apparently I got a cheap flight?
Is there any chance that they will let me upgrade with my points from the lounge???
I wish I knew the rules to all of these things.

 

[fairhsa]

Re: Do free upgrades exist?

I have read through the first few pages, but not all of them, so pardon me if this question has been answered. I dont understand all of the seating numbers, and dont travel for business. I usually travel overseas a couple of times a year, and rack up my FF points on my credit card as well.
I am travelling to LA in October, and have paid for my flight. I do have enough points to upgrade, but am not allowed to do so because apparently I got a cheap flight?
Is there any chance that they will let me upgrade with my points from the lounge???
I wish I knew the rules to all of these things.

No, the upgrade classes of flights don't change just because you are in the lounge. If you purchased a cheap flight, you can't upgrade. Tried to upgrade my Husband a few weeks ago but he'd gone and purchased too cheap a seat, even though I'm Diamond (this is cathay, but the rules are almost identical for all airlines) there was no go.

You can sometimes upgrade your ticket though - pay more to get a more expensive economy ticket that is upgradeable. ONly worth doing if you are certain to be able to get the upgrade, which on QF is often not known until right at the last minute these days.

 

[Rebekkap]

Re: Do free upgrades exist?

No, the upgrade classes of flights don't change just because you are in the lounge. If you purchased a cheap flight, you can't upgrade. Tried to upgrade my Husband a few weeks ago but he'd gone and purchased too cheap a seat, even though I'm Diamond (this is cathay, but the rules are almost identical for all airlines) there was no go.

You can sometimes upgrade your ticket though - pay more to get a more expensive economy ticket that is upgradeable. ONly worth doing if you are certain to be able to get the upgrade, which on QF is often not known until right at the last minute these days.

That said, Qantas periodically runs promotions where fares you can't normally upgrade become upgradable. Past experience suggests that although they only send emails to certain FFers, all of the fares become upgradable, even if you haven't got an email.

I've put in successful upgrade requests during these promotions, despite not having been sent an email. IMO, worth going into the Qantas website weekly and hitting the upgrade button, just in case.

 

[auspal]

Re: Do free upgrades exist?

Thanks for the replies, and will check out your suggestion Rebekkap. I did look into upgrading my ticket and it would have cost a lot of money, and no guarantee of an upgrade, sometimes I wonder why I bother being a Qantas FF and Club member, maybe it only works for the Business People and not us commoners.

 

[coyote25]

Thanks for the replies, and will check out your suggestion Rebekkap. I did look into upgrading my ticket and it would have cost a lot of money, and no guarantee of an upgrade, sometimes I wonder why I bother being a Qantas FF and Club member, maybe it only works for the Business People and not us commoners.

Good luck with the upgrade restrictions bring removed has happened a lot over the past year.

However restrictions for cheap fares and no upgrades are the same for everyone regardless of status. It's a yield management thing they don't want people buying cheapest seats and then getting 'free' upgrades instead they want you to pay more either the business seat or higher Econ price (with no upgrade guarantee). It sucks and I was caught once myself but makes sense for the airline.

USA airlines do it very differently however, although they seem to regularly get chapter 11 bankruptcy!

 

[Sprucegoose]

Re: Do free upgrades exist?

I have read through the first few pages, but not all of them, so pardon me if this question has been answered. I dont understand all of the seating numbers, and dont travel for business. I usually travel overseas a couple of times a year, and rack up my FF points on my credit card as well.
I am travelling to LA in October, and have paid for my flight. I do have enough points to upgrade, but am not allowed to do so because apparently I got a cheap flight?
Is there any chance that they will let me upgrade with my points from the lounge???
I wish I knew the rules to all of these things.

it does take some study and patience i have found.

Drop us a question, there is always someone online who will know the answer.

 

[Berlin]

Re: Do free upgrades exist?

That said, Qantas periodically runs promotions where fares you can't normally upgrade become upgradable. Past experience suggests that although they only send emails to certain FFers, all of the fares become upgradable, even if you haven't got an email.

Oh- I didn't know that! Strangely always get those emails when ever I do a cheap Y trip to our Kiwi neighbors over the weekend so I thought it is somehow selected by what's coming up on your itineraries (I was thinking along the lines of "International flight with near-empty J class cabin: Let's send those Discount Ys and email to upgrade with points"). But reading this, it's probably far less sophisticated and they simply send you an email if you got too many unused points

 

[harvyk]

Re: Do free upgrades exist?

Was it the QF site that told you that you couldn't, or a TA or someone else?

I've found that even if the QF site says that you can't upgrade an airfare, it doesn't hurt to try again periodically.
I've personally had a couple on non-upgradable fares end up being upgraded anyway, so it doesn't hurt to try.