Upgrade on BA flight but on QFF program ? Possible? Ever happens?

[Omarko_man]

hi all

I am on a flight to Singapore from Sydney end of the month with British Airways in Premium Economy.

I am only Gold QFF but have heaps of frequent flyers.

Does it ever happen, if I ask in the Business lounge, that I can be upgraded to Business class using my QF points? Or a general upgrade at all when in Q lounge and on a BA flight?

dont care so much going there but would be great to upgrade on the way back as its an overnight flight landing 6am back in Syd and have to go to work.

cheers

 

[TomVexille]

QFF point upgrades are only available on QF metal

 

[Mattg]

You won't be able to upgrade on BA using your Qantas points.

The only way you might get an upgrade (short of paying for it) is if premium economy happens to be oversold, and you get an op-up. Though that is pretty unlikely.

 

[Aus ATC]

We (QF WP + 1) were in Premium Economy and received an Op Up to J on an LHR-HKG flight a couple of years ago. Seems that Y was oversold - in HKG we bumped into the couple who were Op Up'd into our vacant PE seats....

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

QF and BA are no longer friends, and even when they were, you couldn't upgrade one with the other's points.

 

[serfty]

I've been upgraded on BA as an Emerald, but that was last decade. Of course, this was an Operational upgrade, not points.

 

[Ontime]

I believe that BA have tightened up on upgrades even for their own FF members. I was on a flight in Premium Economy Hong Kong to LHR a couple of years ago and my TV didn't work. I asked if I could move to another seat in PE and they had none available. I was offered 4 seats in economy which I declined. They told me they could not upgrade me because although they had spare seats they had declined requests for family for several of their Gold Card members. I asked them to ensure the fault was recorded and i would seek compensation after the flight, which I had done in the past due to a faulty business class seat that did not recline. All this was very amicable and after dinner the CSM came and saw me and said he would upgrade me to business but not my wife. I think that be doing it this way he thought that most people would be asleep and not notice. And yes I did accept the upgrade, saw that most movies were rubbish and had 6 hours sleep joining my wife in my original seat for landing. I was Platinum at the time.

 

[david1]

In early-Jan, I did CX ADL-HKG in premium economy, connecting to BA HKG-LHR in premium economy. Got upgraded to J for HKG-LHR at check-in at ADL. J was pretty packed, not sure about further back, so not sure why I got picked.

So it can happen if you're (very) lucky.

 

[Omarko_man]

thanks for the input guys!

what site can I use to find out how many seats are left on a specific flight?

selecting seats, looks like there is 80% of premium economy available, should I select an aisle seat in the middle section so I can then sleep across the 4 seats if they are free (appear to be across all 4 rows on a 777) ?

 

[serfty]

thanks for the input guys!

what site can I use to find out how many seats are left on a specific flight ...

Expert flyer or KVS ... both paid sevices but have some level of intrductory/free opportunities.

 

[ncraigm]

In the past 5 years my wife and I have been op-upped together on BA from PE to J on legs to LHR from BGI, DXB, MIA and CUN and also from SYD-SIN. We were both flying as QF WPs each time.

For comparison, number of upgrades from QF (in 10-12 years and >100 sectors) = 1.

 

[Aus ATC]

thanks for the input guys!

what site can I use to find out how many seats are left on a specific flight?

selecting seats, looks like there is 80% of premium economy available, should I select an aisle seat in the middle section so I can then sleep across the 4 seats if they are free (appear to be across all 4 rows on a 777) ?

I think sleeping across 4 seats in premium economy would be very uncomfortable as the armrests are fixed.

 

[tyrolean]

BA offers Cash upgrades. They are priced quite reasonable. I receved Points and SCs of the upgraded Class. So just look at your booking at ba.com and check the options.

 

[SYD]

Last year I was OpUp'd at checkin on BA J -> F SYD-SIN (ticketed as AY). On the return trip, I received a call while sitting in the QF SIN lounge and asked if I would mind being upgraded to 1st. A nano second passed before I said "yes".

I was travelling as WP, but I had also linked the booking to my BA.com user account (non Executive Club). I've pondered if that did the trick?

 

[katiebell]

Op ups if you are lucky not nothing else.

As has been written BA and QF are having a massive stoushie.

I found that my flights on QF with a BA flight number did not allow me to check in on line, select my meals or any of the other functionality I am used to on QF. In addition I did not get the QF FF points or SCs when on QF metal (only the massively reduced ones allocated to OW partner flights): I was told this was because the flight number was the BA code share. BTW, the T&C did not mention that Q eat was not available on code share tickets, only that the flight had to be on a QF operated aircraft. Next time I fly BA I will use CX between Aus & the connnecting port. Another loss for QF. Still waiting to QF to answer my letter of complaint...

Good luck with your QF sectors.