What Triggers an Operational Upgrade

[Must...Fly!]

I noticed that MEL had limited hotel availability last night.

 

[ReLoad]

I had an op down a few years back, it was only SYD/ MEL but it was a thoroughly awful experience. i ended up in the middle seat of the centre section of the 2nd last row on a full 767.

With counselling and a boat load of therapy I have moved on.

 

[JeffVader]

I had an op down a few years back, it was only SYD/ MEL but it was a thoroughly awful experience. i ended up in the middle seat of the centre section of the 2nd last row on a full 767.

With counselling and a boat load of therapy I have moved on.

This exact scenario happened to me this week! Flew SYD-MEL-DXB-DUB on a fully paid J all the way. SHMBO same on JCSA. SYD - MEL cancelled at last minute and moved to next flight in whY to make the connection. Never had an Op-down before. Still in DUB. Noted I was awarded full points & SCs but no offer of refund for paid J or points for JCSA. Am I likely to be refunded? ReLoad what happened to you? Obviously deserves a call to CS when I get home but I am interested in similar experiences or advice. Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

 

[markis10]

This exact scenario happened to me this week! Flew SYD-MEL-DXB-DUB on a fully paid J all the way. SHMBO same on JCSA. SYD - MEL cancelled at last minute and moved to next flight in whY to make the connection. Never had an Op-down before. Still in DUB. Noted I was awarded full points & SCs but no offer of refund for paid J or points for JCSA. Am I likely to be refunded? ReLoad what happened to you? Obviously deserves a call to CS when I get home but I am interested in similar experiences or advice. Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

No points refund if part of a reward redemption is in a lower Cabin.

 

[medhead]

This exact scenario happened to me this week! Flew SYD-MEL-DXB-DUB on a fully paid J all the way. SHMBO same on JCSA. SYD - MEL cancelled at last minute and moved to next flight in whY to make the connection. Never had an Op-down before. Still in DUB. Noted I was awarded full points & SCs but no offer of refund for paid J or points for JCSA. Am I likely to be refunded? ReLoad what happened to you? Obviously deserves a call to CS when I get home but I am interested in similar experiences or advice. Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

You should make sure that you both get full business points and Status credits for the SYD-MEL flight. If not do an original routing credit. I don't know about the refund situation.

 

[JeffVader]

You should make sure that you both get full business points and Status credits for the SYD-MEL flight. If not do an original routing credit. I don't know about the refund situation.

I got full J points and SCs for the flight. Listed in my activity profile as whY. Just no refund. BTW the only status recognition I got was the CSM, on boarding, asking why I was at the back of the plane. He said he would come down and talk to me. (He didn't)

 

[mitwg]

I sort of try and 'wing' it on my personal short-haul flights by making a booking on a exit row seat and then checking in really late on a flight. With this method though, you kinda have to forfeit any changes of being able to make it into a lounge

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I'm also pretty sure that since it was a good friend of mine who was my TA at the time, I was having the VIP flag ticked on the booking, because as soon as he left the TA agency, my Op-Up's also dried up.

Was this 20 years ago? Not many airlines these days would upgrade someone just because a travel agent said the pax was a VIP as the frequent flyer tier status of a pax determines who is a VIP/CIP to an airline that so if an op-up was necessary it would be one of the airline's elite pax who do a lot of flying with them who would get it.

I sort of try and 'wing' it on my personal short-haul flights by making a booking on a exit row seat and then checking in really late on a flight. With this method though, you kinda have to forfeit any changes of being able to make it into a lounge

What difference would checking in late make when you have already allocated a seat?

In the past there may have been instances of a flight being oversold in whY so if you checked in late & you didn't already have a seat allocation, they may have upgraded you to J but these days more than likely an elite pax would get the op-up then the person late to checkin would be moved into the seat in whY vacated as a result of the op-up.

I think the best insurance to avoid being bumped off a flight is firstly allocate yourself a seat at the time of booking then secondly OLCI.

Elite pax can still get caught out ie bumped when booked on what becomes an oversold flight (eg due to an aircraft downgrade or flight cancellation of the flight before/after your one) because they don't allocate themselves a seat ahead of time, then arrive at the airport at the last minute with HLO & haven't done OLCI.

Having a seat request/preference for an aisle or window in your profile is not going to help if there are physically no seats left to allocate when you try to checkin on an oversold flight.

Just because someone has checked in doesn't mean they're excluded from an op-up.

 

[chrisb]

No points refund if part of a reward redemption is in a lower Cabin.

Really? I understand that if you make a J Award booking and accept Y on a segment then that's your choice.

However, if you have a full J award and it's downgraded at the last minute by the airline you should expect something.

 

[serfty]

No points refund if part of a reward redemption is in a lower Cabin.

I'm not sure that relates to JeffVader's post.



Generally, if the downgrade was accepted as part of the original booking, then indeed no refund. However, if forced to travel in a lower class than originally booked then some level of compensation would be due. (Ex Eu the regulated penalties can be as high as ¾ the "price of the ticket" [not just the downgraded segment]).

So, for JeffVader's fully paid booking a there would be some compensation payable for MEL-SYD, but hardly worth the trouble.

 

[chrisb]

So, for JeffVader's fully paid booking a there would be some compensation payable for MEL-SYD, but hardly worth the trouble.

The raw award cost of that is 8000 vs 16000 points. I don't think 5-8k would be unreasonable since it was their fault and the customer could have stamped their feet and demanded J, potentially causing serious flow on issues for every other flight in the trip and further costs to Qantas.

Oh and one of the 2 tickets was paid J, so again something should be expected.

 

[serfty]

This is where it can get complicated - for the "JCSA" I would assume it was charged MEL-DUB, so the points cost would have been at least 128,000 for the 10,682 mi GC distance.

Postulate pro-rata 439/10682 * (128K-64K [points diff]) gives about 2630 ...

 

[docjames]

I sort of try and 'wing' it on my personal short-haul flights by making a booking on a exit row seat and then checking in really late on a flight. With this method though, you kinda have to forfeit any changes of being able to make it into a lounge

I don't see how this helps you op-up.

The only thing this process is likely to do is get you bumped off the flight( if oversold).

 

[Fantic125]

Not sure what the trigger is, but I've had a good run lately.

Dec upgrade to J for my SYD-LAX flight with VA,
Feb upgrade to J for my SYD-HKG flight with QF,
April upgrade to J for my SYD-HKG flight, and SYD-ADL flight with QF...

 

[Anna]

Not sure what the trigger is, but I've had a good run lately.

So have I. Maybe they are trying to keep ADL pax sweet? If so I wish they would just bring back QF81 to ADL.

 

[legroom]

Just curious

Who gets to make the op up decisions for the lucky few ?

The back room yield managers or the front line check in staff or both ?

The manager on duty that day at the airport ?

Not that we could influence any of them, but curious I am.

Thanks

 

[markis10]

Just curious

Who gets to make the op up decisions for the lucky few ?

The back room yield managers or the front line check in staff or both ?

The manager on duty that day at the airport ?

Not that we could influence any of them, but curious I am.

Thanks

In the case of QF altea ranks guests in an order and the appropriate person can then fill the seats? I don't believe the airport staff have any real control at their finger tips but they can certainly make a call.

 

[Rebekkap]

Every time I've been lucky enough to get an op up I've specifically been told why. On one occasion, PE to J, from BNE to LAX I was told a domestic BNE SYD flight had been cancelled, and passengers who were flying to SYD to get the flight from the to LA we're being accommodated on the BNE flight. On all other occasions I have been told Y was oversold.

 

[cmdwedge]

HKG-SYD was op-up'd from Y to Y+ - the magical part was that it was a party of six. Me, my wife, my sister, my step-mother, and my two toddler children. All from Y to Y+. And I was a lowly NB too.

I've kinda been a bit of a Qantas fan ever since.