Waitlisting for Upgrades

[Rossmurdoch]

Has anybody had success getting international upgrades from the waitlist service. I've tried several times Business to First and Economy to business but no luck.

 

[redrat]

Yes. Had a beautiful trip in FC LAX-MEL last Dec. which cost 4 upgrade points.
The best thing QFF ever did was to go away from the paper upgrades (2 per year) to online upgrade points where I've got 20 (and counting), waiting to be used.

 

[shillard]

Has anybody had success getting international upgrades from the waitlist service. I've tried several times Business to First and Economy to business but no luck.

Many times....

SYD-AKL Y -> J
SYD-CHC Y -> J
DRW-SYD Y-> J
WLG->SYD Y->J
PER-SYD Y->J
AKL-SYD Y->J

Usually confirmed within 7 days of departure. I don't like to risk it on longer flights, so these days I'll just fork out for the J fare.

 

[redrat]

Has anybody had success getting international upgrades from the waitlist service. I've tried several times Business to First and Economy to business but no luck.

I don't keep a record like some of the others posting to this site so I don't usually remember the DOM flight upgrades. I only do points upgrades on the shorthaul flights like SYD-MEL/SYD-BNE & if it doesn't work, well it's only an hour or so.
MEL-BNE or longer, I always try to get a certificate upgrade through the TA and unless I have to go when it's peak, it's usually confirmed right there and then.

Travelling International, J is usually enough & upstairs is the preference (no screaming babies, no middle seat, etc.)

 

[icemann]

Pecking Order ?

Are upgrades assigned on the basis of 'first come, first served' or on status ?

E.g. if I waitlist for an upgrade with points / upgrade credits and I've got in before someone else, but they waitlist, and they're a higher status, do they get the preference to get the upgrade ?

 

[redrat]

My experience is that status gets you to the front of the queue. If the queue is made up of Plats then it's 'first in best dressed'.

I love it.

 

[icemann]

So really, the lower status members would do well to try and get their upgrade confirmed ASAP after they make it before their reservation gets bumped by a higher status member ?

 

[Guest]

I've had a few problems lately with ODU .. they say "should be ok, leave your boarding pass with me and ill page you"

10 minutes before boarding they tell me theres no seats left

something funny going on....

to top it off, when boarding i see qantas staff in those J seats.. what the.. ?

this is growing trend on my travels of late :?

 

[icemann]

I can understand why you're miffed.

Do QF just like giving us upgrade credits so that we can mess around, try and use them, then watch them expire ?

I should have added a little bit - "get their upgrade confirmed ASAP after they make it before their reservation gets bumped by a higher status member ?" - or a Qantas Staff member ? :evil:

 

[shillard]

I can understand why you're miffed.

Do QF just like giving us upgrade credits so that we can mess around, try and use them, then watch them expire ?

Keep up that talk and you'll be starring in an ACA expose "how the banks and airlines convince you to rack up points you can never use!" Time to revive my 1996 political party "The Australian Coalition Against Ray Martin."

Only once have I been unable to cash in an upgrade credit domestically, and I ended up with an op-upgrade anyway. Internationally, a couple of times I've been unable to redeem on really popular routes like SYD-AKL and peak times - big deal. The J ticket is always there if you want to buy it.

ODUs are something I've never really dabbled with, I'm far more strategic with my points redemption.

 

[redrat]

So really, the lower status members would do well to try and get their upgrade confirmed ASAP after they make it before their reservation gets bumped by a higher status member ?

I'm not referring to reservations, only waitlisting.
Mind you, I've often seen cases where the a/c is overbooked & I'm fairly sure FF or full paying ticket status makes the difference at departure time.

 

[icemann]

Quote :- "Keep up that talk and you'll be starring in an ACA expose "how the banks and airlines convince you to rack up points you can never use!" "

Neil Thompson has me in a headlock and bullies me to earn points every month

 

[shillard]

I'm not referring to reservations, only waitlisting.
Mind you, I've often seen cases where the a/c is overbooked & I'm fairly sure FF or full paying ticket status makes the difference at departure time.

You betcha. I've seen AA's scheduling fall to hell when a bout of serious storms completely disrupted East-Coast schedules in the July break. OW Emerald status got me a seat on the ONLY flight going west to LAX that was likely to get there before the midnight QF departures, and I wasn't even booked on it.

 

[straitman]

Mind you, I've often seen cases where the a/c is overbooked & I'm fairly sure FF or full paying ticket status makes the difference at departure time.

How correct you are :!: From the airlines perspective the full fare customer will always get the priority. After all the full fare customer is where the airlines make their money and consequently are the people they want / need to keep onside.

e.g. A few years ago at Chicago we arrived to find our flight to SFO had been cancelled. As we wandered past another gate, we made a casual enquiry about getting on board. They fell all over us to get us on the flight. Although we ended up not sitting together we got onto an already over booked flight.

The fact we were on International Business / internal first class tickets got us the seats. i.e. You get what you pay for :!:

As for FF flier making a difference, I really can't comment.

 

[b.dowe]

I travelled Sydney London Frankfurt Sydney in March, was waitlisted business both ways and was upgraded both times. I did change the date from Frankfurt to a day earlier to get the upgrade

 

[HardieBoys]

I booked a ticket from Sydney to HK in mid-November, and the ticket was issued 19th Sept. Was waitlisted for an upgrade the following day. Upgrades for both legs came through within 10 days.

 

[Davo]

I was waitlisted for two Qantas LAX-MEL economy-business upgrades in October for a November flight and they came through much to the delight of my father and his wife (officially my step-mother which is counted).

They visited the USA for a whole month mind you but they stuck to their original return flight that was waitlisted for the upgrade and didn't have to change flights.

 

[HardieBoys]

Subsequent to being upgraded to HK both ways, I had to change my flights. I was informed that the upgrade could not be automatically transferred, as I was changing flights, which was fine. Placed myself on the upgrade waitlist for the return flight only, and was told a week before this flight that the upgrade had come through. A phone call to the FF centre was made several weeks prior to travel, to see how likely it was that an upgrade would come through. The staff member informed me that there was only one person ahead of me, and that, looking at the load, it was "highly likely" that the upgrade would come through, but they couldn't confirm it until closer to the time. On the actual flight, there were several spare Business seats upstairs... unfortunately the new business seats were nowhere to be seen.

 

[jc73]

Upgrades

I was going sydney - auckland recently. had requested an upgrade weeks in advance which didn't come through then when I boarded - last one on I might add - there were 6 empty seats in J.

I'm platinum and was a tad bewildered as to why there were no chance for them to upgrade when there was clearly availabilty in that section

 

[Jano]

UPGRADES

Like many people I just wondered when Qantas would let me use my points....I have been told by them that to use points for an international ticket it is best to book a year in advance...I have pointed out that frequent flyers are often the ones that don't have the luxury to plan a year ahead for holidays etc...this concept didn't compute.
I have now embarked on an alternative strategy...book economy ticket and pay for it ASAP and then look at times of travel and aircraft. I think it is only worth an upgrade if one is travelling at night and the aircraft has skybeds...it doesn't hurt to ring Qantas to check if upgrade available - often not, so next step is to get back on the dial 90 days before departure though I have weighlisted 21 days before with success. Keep a check on your bookings page and I have been successful 3 times out of 4 in last 6 months on Bangkok and Hong Kong routes. Considering the cost of business tickets on Qantas this seems to be a good use of points.
As Qantas and the banks seem to be chipping away at value of points my opinion is to keep ticking them off before they wipe them completely though I am cynic because of loosing heaps when that other airline went bust...what was it's name again!