IMO this thread title is inappropriate and not even addressing the issue - which is some kind of IT snafu - and that should be the focus, not implying due to the stuff up that QF doesn't "care" about upgrades (and likely explanations for the J1 have already been provided).
Respectfully disagree with you on the title. It would be one thing if it was simply an IT glitch, as others have pointed out. I get it, that stuff happens from time to time. What really grinds my gears is frankly no one could be bothered after that point. Not the lady on the phone who spent 30 minutes to effectively cancel the upgrade request and put a new upgrade request in, not the lady at the check-in counter who said it's a roll of a dice, and certainly not the gate agent who kept me waiting like a feral dog until the bitter end to find out if the upgrade went through. And then the cherry on top, seeing that empty J seat in front of me for the remainder of the flight. Surely those at the airport would've known if the flight was in reality J0 and could've said, sorry there is no availability left, even if you might see an empty seat in front of you.
In the end I'm somewhat annoyed here. I mean look CHC > SYD ain't a long flight, the J cabin didn't even have a curtain, and obviously I'd prefer a window seat over an aisle. But as someone who has now dipped their toes into flying QF internationally for the first time, let's just say it didn't make for a good first impression. When I qualified for United Premier Gold for the first time back in 2017, UA forced through the first complimentary upgrade into J without me asking or anything. How do I know that? Because when the flight went IRROP I could see the customer service agent's screen and in the notes it said Upgrade - Surprise and delight. Now look, don't get me wrong, the domestic upgrade process on Qantas is fantastic, I can guarantee an upgrade on booking my cash fare just by checking for flights with U inventory. But international, where it's up in the air, then you really need to compare upgrade processes to other airlines since at least internationally I have options. I could have chosen to fly NZ to CHC and certainly if I was flying long haul to North America I've got a dozen choices from the obvious choices like AC, UA, DL, AA, etc. to ones with interesting routings like FJ or LA. Would they have handled this upgrade process better? I'm inclined to believe so based on prior experiences (at least with UA).
As a Gold one should also have reasonable expectations - and if I were Gold and saw J1 I would not assume I would be #1 on the list for it. Even as P1 I would not be shocked if I did not get it.
Completely understand. That's not what ticked me off, it was seeing J6 just before OLCI and realizing I stood a very good chance of getting upgraded given QF likely already processed World Platinum and Platinum One upgrade requests prior to then and then to receive that stupid error implying that if IT snafu didn't happen I would've gotten a seat is what annoyed me. All I'm saying is, you shouldn't have those gremlins laying around in your system for such a commonly used benefit of frequent flyers. How many international upgrade requests does QF receive on a day-to-day basis? I reckon it's got to be several thousands. And it's one of the keys to retaining loyalty as a QF member. I mean you can't use AA points to upgrade a QF fare into J nor DL miles. It just seems to me that they are throwing all of this loyalty and goodwill away whenever these incidents happen.
Anyway the real issue is the IT glitch that caused QF's system to think you didn't have enough points. Why? Who knows. Who could address it? Interesting question - it seems to be half in the court of QFF and half in the court of the operational side in terms of the system that processes upgrades and that nebulous grey area in between. One could TRY and contact the generic frequent flyer address, but I suspect it would be fobbed off more or less. It could be a systemic issue, - but I'd think if it was we'd see more reports of such a thing - and I haven't heard of anything like this happening before.
It would seem to me that a contact in QF IT should be able to examine this further, but obviously I as a pleb have no contacts at that department for them to investigate further. Is this a rare or a common thing? Who knows, but frankly if I were to book another long haul international I'll be thinking long and hard about whether I book with QF versus UA or DL where it seems less likely that I'd encounter these issues.
Anyway because of a snafu doesn't imply QF doesn't "care" ... seems an unfair title for the situation imo.
If they cared they would've fixed this glitch ages ago. International upgrades on QF didn't happen overnight. They've been a benefit available to members for many, many moons now.
www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au
