Upgrade prospects for flight to the USA in Oct '14?

[Flying Sailor]

Hi,

I'm investigating options for my wife and I to fly to the US in October. Just had a quick look on Qantas website and came up with the following that would suit our dates:
7th Oct:
PER-SYD QF574
SYD-LAX QF11
31st Oct:
LAX-MEL QF94
MEL PER QF769

If the above booked as Semi Flex cost is $6145.00, Saver is $4745.00
I have WP status, my wife NB.

Would you kindly give us your thoughts on the following:
- Is it worth our while to pay an additional $1400 for the upgradable fare?
- What is the likelyhood of an upgrade for both of us?
- Are there dates or flight times around these dates with a higher likelyhood of an upgrade?
- How many points is it to upgrade if available?

Thanks!

Jason

 

[phily]

Hi,

I have WP status, my wife NB.
- What is the likelyhood of an upgrade for both of us?

Last year I flew with my sister SYD-LHR on QF1 & 2. I'm WP and my sister is a lowly NB. Our booking was in J, and I requested a points upgrade to F for both of us, and we got them, both ways! My sister had no status and almost no points in her account, never before having flown as a QFFer, yet because I was a WP and a joint booking she got the upgrade with me. She now wants to fly with me more often - having ever only flown in Y before, she's now spoilt for life.

 

[oz74]

Last year I flew with my sister SYD-LHR on QF1 & 2. I'm WP and my sister is a lowly NB. Our booking was in J, and I requested a points upgrade to F for both of us, and we got them, both ways! My sister had no status and almost no points in her account, never before having flown as a QFFer, yet because I was a WP and a joint booking she got the upgrade with me. She now wants to fly with me more often - having ever only flown in Y before, she's now spoilt for life.

Same thing happened with my wife and I last year. She's now refusing to travel in anything other than J or F.

I have created a monster!!! Lol

 

[Deleted member]

Hi,

I'm investigating options for my wife and I to fly to the US in October. Just had a quick look on Qantas website and came up with the following that would suit our dates:
7th Oct:
PER-SYD QF574
SYD-LAX QF11
31st Oct:
LAX-MEL QF94
MEL PER QF769

If the above booked as Semi Flex cost is $6145.00, Saver is $4745.00
I have WP status, my wife NB.

Would you kindly give us your thoughts on the following:
- Is it worth our while to pay an additional $1400 for the upgradable fare?
- What is the likelyhood of an upgrade for both of us?
- Are there dates or flight times around these dates with a higher likelyhood of an upgrade?
- How many points is it to upgrade if available?

Thanks!

Jason

Have you tried a MASA?

 

[amaroo]

That's expensive for PE?

I'd play around with flights to see if you could find a better deal or wait for another sale to pop up.

We paid less than $6k pp for BNE-SYD-LAX-xJFK.........DFW-BNE all in J. Dates were DEC13/JAN14

In regards to upgrades it's worth it. For the SYD-LAX sector the four so us got upgraded to F

 

[markis10]

Hi,

I'm investigating options for my wife and I to fly to the US in October. Just had a quick look on Qantas website and came up with the following that would suit our dates:
7th Oct:
PER-SYD QF574
SYD-LAX QF11
31st Oct:
LAX-MEL QF94
MEL PER QF769

If the above booked as Semi Flex cost is $6145.00, Saver is $4745.00
I have WP status, my wife NB.

Would you kindly give us your thoughts on the following:
- Is it worth our while to pay an additional $1400 for the upgradable fare?
- What is the likelyhood of an upgrade for both of us?
- Are there dates or flight times around these dates with a higher likelyhood of an upgrade?
- How many points is it to upgrade if available?

Thanks!

Jason

Save yourself some money, forget upgrading and fly Business instead, NAN-LAX is just over $2500 on your dates?? A flight PER-NAN in J is $3000 or cheaper if booked one way ex Perth and then booked one way ex NAN.

Nadi (NAN), Fiji Tue, 07 Oct, 21:40	Los Angeles International (LAX), United States Of America Tue, 07 Oct, 13:25	FJ810 Fiji Airways	Biz Saver Business Class Non stop
Airbus Industrie A330-200

Los Angeles International (LAX), United States Of America Fri, 31 Oct, 22:30	Nadi (NAN), Fiji Sun, 02 Nov, 05:50	FJ811 Fiji Airways	Biz Special Business Class Non stop
Airbus Industrie A330-200

Fare breakdown

Passenger Type	Base Fare per person	Taxes & Fees per person	Total Fare per person	Number of passengers	Total Fare
Adult	3,958.00	327.60	4,285.60	x 1	4,285.60 FJD

NAN-LAX: Biz Saver Fare Family Benefits


LAX-NAN: Biz Special Fare Family Benefits


View Baggage and Optional Charges.

Total Air Fare: 4,285.60 FJD

​

 

[Steelo]

If you have some time on your side why not look at travelling via Bali. A J flight in Cathay from Denpasar to LAX sells at $US3722 return, as a WP you will be treated well on CX and get the benefit of status credits at J. You would just have to endure a JQ flight from Perth to DPS to start your journey. I have used a similar strategy of using Bali as the international departure point last year on MH - and the cost was what I would normally pay for economy - comfort, status credits were the benefits.

 

[Flying Sailor]

Thanks to all those who have replied.
GPH, have not tried MASA, will look at that.
amaroo, the prices are for both Pax, not pp, apologies for the confusion
markis10, had not considered another airline such as Fiji, however the total price for 2 Pax is more than we would like to spend. (We have enough points for a OW Explorer 280k J and are planing another trip next year so are watching the $)
Steelo, had not considered the Bali idea. Is the CX flight able to be ticketed as a QF so that we get QFF status credits?

Cheers,

Jason

 

[markis10]

markis10, had not considered another airline such as Fiji, however the total price for 2 Pax is more than we would like to spend. (We have enough points for a OW Explorer 280k J and are planing another trip next year so are watching the $)
Steelo, had not considered the Bali idea. Is the CX flight able to be ticketed as a QF so that we get QFF status credits?

Cheers,

Jason

You get Status credits with airlines other than QF, you could do a MASA to Fiji and just pay the $2500 each for J ex Fiji which earns a stack of points and status credits.

 

[Steelo]

As a one world member you will get the status credits on your Qantas account for a booking CX - just ensure you put your frequent flyer number in your booking. As a precaution I always keep my boarding passes (or photo) when flying another One World Airline just in case they are slow positing your status credits and points to your QF account. As I said before - it takes a bit more time - but is certainly worth the experience. It may be worthwhile checking out J fares on other One World Airlines using Bali, Jakarta or Singapore as you departure point.

The only challenge is getting a good fare back from your Asian port to Perth on the final leg. But if you land back in Singapore for example, you can often get a very good fare on QF to Australia by using the Qantas Singapore site - or try Malaysian from Singapore to Perth - you can often get a very reasonable J fare (in fact it is usually cheaper to book MH from Singapore than KL).

The only down side I have found from this strategy is that Mrs Steelo now expects to travel business class on all routes - so it all takes a bit of planning. But all options should be considered. Use the One World site to check it out.