Upgrade Strategy Advice

[NZ_Flyer]

So I’ve got an Economy Saver (S) planned for work for the following flights:

1 Apr QF9
14 Apr QF2

I have the option of upgrading to a Flexi fare for $400 each way which would reduce my upgrade costs. I’m planning to put in upgrades to J both ways with option to be considered to Y+. And I’m thinking of upgrading one way to Flexi and leaving the other as a Saver (I have enough points for that but not enough for two upgrade rewards at Saver prices).

I’ve been told that QF9 is has few J seats left but lots of upgrade requests in. Few PE seats but less upgrade requests currently than seats available. QF2 has quite a few seats in both classs and less upgrade requests than seats available. So would you upgrade QF2 to Flexi as that seems like a better chance?

 

[mviy]

QF9 is on the 787 whereas QF2 is on the much larger A380. So yes based on the information you've provided you'd likely have a better chance of an upgrade on QF2.

Note however that all it'd take would be for e.g. a sporting team or other group to suddenly book out a lot of the J seats on the QF2 flight and that would all change.

So you have SG status? WP and above would be ahead of you for upgrades and some SG may get upgraded ahead of you too. QF has only posted a limited amount of general info about upgrade priority online.

 

[justinbrett]

QF9 is on the 787 whereas QF2 is on the much larger A380. So yes based on the information you've provided you'd likely have a better chance of an upgrade on QF2.

That’s debatable. There’s a higher proportion of J/Y+ to Y seats on the 787, so theoretically you would be competing with more people for upgrades on the A380.

 

[serfty]

From reports, if you have a reasonable seat in Economy on the QF B789 then Y+ is NOT the way to go.

 

[NZ_Flyer]

Hmmm OK thanks all. I just bit the bullet and paid $800 extra for Flexi for the whole journey as seems worth it to halve the number of points required. Thanks all for the info and advice.

 

[AIRwin]

My upgrade request was unsuccessful when I flew QF9 even as a WP, so hope you'll have better luck!

 

[NZ_Flyer]

One final question: if I’ve requested a Y to J upgrade but also ticked the box for PE and an upgrade at the gate...would they give me a PE seat (if able) if no J available and that’s that? Or do they give a PE seat and then also do a gate upgrade from PE to J if a J seat becomes free?

 

[Silvia]

It also depends on when you put your upgrade... if you hold status and put the upgrade as early as possible, your chances would increase.
I would put the option to upgrade last minute in case of any passengers missing any connections, etc. If you hold status, you still get lounge access and all of those perks.