Upgrades process

[lisemare]

Does Qantas take into consideration the fare class paid ( flex economy takes preference over economy ) when processing the upgrading pool of members and the order of upgrades is then based on your elite status and when you request the upgrade.

lisa

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Australian domestic or international?
More so got to do with your status with QF, esp on international flights.
Classes, whY, flexY, J, or F (where offered) only gives you earnings as to FF mileage.
The higher the fare, the more FF points you earn.
Plus now that you can bid for an upgrade, so your class you bought for, not much placed on that, because the more $ a person who has bid to go up a class, from Y to J or J to F, the more chances that person has to the J or F seat than you, if you did not bid for the upgrade.
Some on here do not accept differences of opinions, drivel its called.
But you can work it out for yourself, now that bidding has come into play.

 

[RooFlyer]

Australian domestic or international?
More so got to do with your status with QF, esp on international flights.
Classes, whY, flexY, J, or F (where offered) only gives you earnings as to FF mileage.
The higher the fare, the more FF points you earn.
Plus now that you can bid for an upgrade, so your class you bought for, not much placed on that, because the more $ a person who has bid to go up a class, from Y to J or J to F, the more chances that person has to the J or F seat than you, if you did not bid for the upgrade.
Some on here do not accept differences of opinions, drivel its called.
But you can work it out for yourself, now that bidding has come into play.

I believe biddable upgrades only come into play once applications for points upgrades have been dealt with, so not really relevant to the OP's query.

... to which I don't know the answer for sure, but the class of fare would come I into the mix. I have a vague recollection that some-one here (?serfty) did state a while back what was thought to be the hierarchy of considerations, which IIFC included: original fare class purchased; pax status; pax's score for revenue to the airline (that's one I've never gotten my mind around properly). I'd be happy for it to be spelled out again.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

As I mentioned on here, a few weeks ago, I got upgraded, without asking, and no points used at that too, from 7F to 2A.
I was between PS and SG.
And it was a red e deal seat I paid.
There were empty seats too when I was in that J class.
The FA knew I was SC chasing!
My dog face is not easily forgotten I guess.

 

[lisemare]

Thanks . International . Our travel agent has given me op to pay additional to change fare to flex Eco as she believes it will up chances of upgrade on points to either Bus or PE. Got an upgrade on NY both legs return BNE last year from PE (sale fare) to Business that came in approved 48hrs before departure.

 

[kitkatff]

I thought the cheapest eco fare does not entitle you to upgrades? I mean upgrade you apply for, not the ones decided by the kindness of the checkin person or other.

 

[lisemare]

Currently have a saver fare which is classed as economy and is upgradeable.

 

[ABC1]

Yep bid upgrades only come into play after normal points upgrades.. And you can't bid for J to F.. My understanding is QF has a 50-50 deal with a private company that is running the bid program.

 

[RichardMEL]

I don't know that fare basis is always the most important thing. I'd think there are a number of factors. Status has to come first, then within those of equal status requesting an upgrade, there would be PCV issues, or even as simple as you may have 2 requests in for 2 pax each and a singleton, and there's one seat... in that case the singleton has to get that seat - even if they're on a lower paid fare than the others.

I think discussion of op ups and bid for upgrades are not too relevant if points upgrade requests are being discussed - as those are considered ahead of all others in the relevant timeframes prior to departure.

IMHO buying up to a flex Y fare would prob bost a fair whack, but you WOULD earn more SC's and points for that fare.. would it give a higher consideration upgrade wise? who knows. Do CSR's at the gate think "Oh they're on an O fare, and that one is on a H fare so..." or does the computer simply pop up eligible pax to upgrade? I don't know. I'm sure there are those that do know.

Personally I wouldn't pay up unless you felt the benefit (of the credit earned etc) was worth the extra cost, or even the added flexibility of the fare. That's just me though.

(I've had 100% success rate in being upgraded from cheapest sale J fares (I class) to F on long hauls, but then again status has obviously helped, and being a solo pax)

 

[eminere]

As I mentioned on here, a few weeks ago, I got upgraded, without asking, and no points used at that too, from 7F to 2A.
I was between PS and SG.
And it was a red e deal seat I paid.
There were empty seats too when I was in that J class.

A tech op-up, which you experienced, is very different to a points upgrade, which is the query here.

 

[dodgeyhack]

If time of upgrade request makes a difference (and I'm pretty sure it does) - then I doubt that fare bucket or PCV would come into it as it's unlikely a tie would need to be resolved.
Although I expect fare bucket on a particular flight would affect PCV.

 

[RichardMEL]

If time of upgrade request makes a difference (and I'm pretty sure it does) - then I doubt that fare bucket or PCV would come into it as it's unlikely a tie would need to be resolved.
Although I expect fare bucket on a particular flight would affect PCV.

I've been told in the past time of request makes a difference. I dunno though. Maybe in terms of ranking of requests within status classes, but then again if you have a P1 making a last minute booking and request should that trump a P1 who's waited six months? but if the long request is from a deep discount fare, vs a walk up....

clearly many factors would go into such decisions.

I had definitely been informed time of request did matter though.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Our travel agent has given me op to pay additional to change fare to flex Eco as she believes it will up chances of upgrade on points to either Bus or PE.

Firstly are we talking about classic points upgrades ie using points only as opposed to bidding for upgrades part points/part cash?

Unless your TA is privy to the formula used by QF for the upgrade process I wouldn't bother - remember the TA makes more commission for the higher fare so the advice is not exactly impartial.

Got an upgrade on NY both legs return BNE last year from PE (sale fare) to Business that came in approved 48hrs before departure.

PE to J upgrades are a different kettle of fish so that's not really relevant to a Y to J scenario.

I thought the cheapest eco fare does not entitle you to upgrades?

I mean upgrade you apply for, not the ones decided by the kindness of the checkin person or other.

The checkin staff don't have anything to do with the upgrades other than issuing you the J boarding pass. The actual upgrade would have been actioned ahead of time by yield ops.

 

[CaptJCool]

What you're really asking is "which poker hand trumps another?"
In the game, everyone knows the rules as to what hand wins, but we don't know the Intellectual Property surrounding upgrades.
We do know it uses Amadeus
Gleaned from the posts here are these themes;
Who’s first in the queue?

Before you get to the airport

Points Upgrade request (initiated by FF anytime from booking date to day before travel)

Bid Now Request (NEW) (initiated by QF invitation)

Automated upgrades (for service recovery) – these are a feature inside Amadeus

At the airport
Checkin
Lounge
On departure
Points Upgrade at the gate (when there’s No shows and late cancellations – travellers can often have multiple bookings in the system)

Battlefield on board
Broken seats
Double allocated seats
Separating sparring passengers…


The Amadeus system;

Proactive on load
Pax booked vs estimated to check in and board
so if all the seats are sold for cash / awards redemptions then there are no upgrades


So the items that appear to be in the decision-making process include;

Comparative status of other passengers
PCV
Class cabin flown
Booking class within cabin
Frequency of travel
Current Status level (QF and One world status)
Highest number of segments
Status credits 3 year rolling average
Proximity to end of status year (incentivising you to stay with the airline)
On the last day of one of my status years, I was to fly JQ Syd – Melb $39, and they cancelled the flight – I was given a choice of a QF flight around the same time or a JQ flight 6 hours later. I chose the QF flight – at the gate, it beeped, and I got the Business Class Op upgrade – what a coincidence that it coincided with the end of my annual status credit period…..

Lifetime Silver
Lifetime Gold
Qantas club membership number of years
Highest fare paid
Need to seat a group together
PNR association
How much money you spent with them including paying for family members – not sure this is actually valued but it ought have some consideration)
Forward bookings
FF Number (lowest to highest)
Sequence number on the actual flight

Flight Loading eg overselling one cabin in one leg of a 2 leg trip - sometimes the cabin is only full on one leg but not the other – I figured from my experience that upgrades were given to those who went the one empty leg rather than the one who went both legs.
Emirates cause Eco cabin is full and no upgrades available via the qantas system so QFF can’t ask for points upgrades, and I'm told unless EK oversell the Eco cabin the likelihood of free OPS Up are zilch...

Availability is also affected by Repositioning of crew as well as for example the number of Qantaslink pilots going to Seattle for Flight Sim training