Flight Availability/Loadings & Upgrade Probability Help Desk

[Sprucegoose]

PLEASE INCLUDE DATE, FLIGHT NUMBER, ORIGIN & DESTINATION IN ALL REQUESTS

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>>>> ADDED BY ADMIN (6 Sept 2010) <<<<

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Background to this thread
We have noticed an increase in the posting of questions about seat availability on specific flights. These are all valid questions and we all appreciate the efforts our members go to to provide answers.

The only drawback is that our forums can become "cluttered" with specific questions about availability on specific flights. This tends to reduce the overall usability of our site.
We have therefore created this new consolidated thread where you can ask questions about seat availability on specific flights. Hopefully, this will reduce clutter and improve useability.

Guidelines for posting in this thread
Please post questions about availability of specific flights or upgrade probability in this new consolidated thread. Be sure to include the airline, flight number, date, origin and destination and any other relevant detail.

When answering questions, please include the original question. This will assist in readability and management of the thread.

Thanks!

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For Questions about Aircraft Configuration and Seat Availability, please use this thread:​

Understanding [Fare Buckets] Expert Flyer

I'd appreciate some help understanding the information EF provides. For example, F6 A6 J9 C9 D9 I0 B9 H9 K9 M9 R9 L9 V9 S0 N0 Q0 O0 X0 E0 What letters do I look at to try to work out how many seats are still available in economy? What letters do I look at to try to work out how many...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

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See this thread for hints on how to read loadings:

Interpreting and Understanding Expert Flyer​

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If looking for, say Qantas points upgrades, look for A class for First, mid to high D or any I class for Business and any R for Premium Economy.

Look for the most expensive category of the cabin YOU are currently booked in as being sold out e.g. J0 to first, W0 to Business & Y0 to PE for increased op-up chances. Also, look for availability on the discount premium buckets (A, P, I, D, U, T & Z inventories).

Conversely, look for high numbers in the discount economy buckets (N, O, Q, E & X inventories) for reduced op-up chances.

Seat maps can be a VERY rough guide but note that just because a seat is not showing as allocated does not mean that seat hasn't been sold. Not everyone pre-selects seats.

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>>>> END OF ADMIN UPDATE <<<<

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Original thread title: update on QF93 on 12 sept

Appreciate it if someone could check EP for loadings.

thnxs

SPRUCE

 

[arlene_i]

IB and BA are a bit far out for any accuracy at this stage.

Nothing to stop you putting in for an upgrade with QF9, but for 4 pax and as a NB I think you have less than two chances.

Upgraded to J. All four of us.

 

[JessicaTam]

Upgraded to J. All four of us.

Brilliant. I am glad I was wrong in my assessment of your chances.

Have a great flight!

 

[Boca68]

Upgraded to J. All four of us.

My faith in the world has been restored! that's pretty special!

Enjoy!

 

[ab9898]

Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

Hello all

A few months ago I booked flights for my wife and I on QF9 and QF10 MEL-LHR economy.

I put in an upgrade request for premium economy (240k points).

Today I discovered there is a sale on premium economy on the return leg of the flight, so I paid $1100 to change those two tickets.

I then canceled the upgrade request on the first leg and put in a new business upgrade request (192k points).

I am Bronze Q Club.

Do I have any chance of getting the upgrade on the first leg?

 

[mviy]

Re: Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

Welcome.

There is an existing thread for this: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ility-loadings-upgrade-probability-25311.html

As NB the chances are probably low, but it does depend on the loading and who puts in an upgrade request. Dates would be needed and checking is best not too long before the flight.

 

[Deleted member]

Re: Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

Two chances.... Buckley and ... it depends on a number of factors IME , how full is the flight? How far down the list are you when it comes to upgrade time? If I were you, and if you were wanting to secure a seat, I would be tempted to blow points on an award seat (if you have the spare points). Otherwise if you're happy to,suck it up in whY , and relax in the knowledge that your flight home will be better.... well it's up to you I suppose.

 

[ab9898]

Hello

My wife and I are travelling QF9 next Friday 16 December MEL-LHR.

I submitted a request for an upgrade from economy to business today.

Any advice on our chances would be greatly appreciated. I am Bronze Q Club.

 

[ab9898]

Re: Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

Thank you very much. I subsequently found that thread, sorry.

I imagine I'm quite far down the queue as I had to cancel the premium economy request and submit the business one today. Turns out that may have been a mistake!

It's QF9 16 December.

I suppose my next question is are there any other methods to pursue an upgrade? Eg sometimes do sale fares appear (as one did in relation to the return leg) closer to the day? In any case it's only 7 days away so chances of that are low too.

 

[mviy]

Re: Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

Typically J fares would get quite expensive in the final days leading up to a flight on such a popular international route.

 

[kermatu]

Hello

My wife and I are travelling QF9 next Friday 16 December MEL-LHR.

I submitted a request for an upgrade from economy to business today.

Any advice on our chances would be greatly appreciated. I am Bronze Q Club.

Here are the loads: F9 A9 J8 C6 D0 I0 W5 R4 T0 Z1 Y9 B9H9 K3 M0 L0 G0

While there are plenty of F and J spots, my suspicion is that the late request and your status level would make it unlikely - but you never know!

 

[ftm]

Re: Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

Currently the availability is

F9 A9 J8 C8 DL IL W6 R6 TL Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9

It's hard to tell from that what the upgrade chances are this far out. But looking at that you can say that it isn't likely that you'd get a cheap commercial Business ticket. Best to cross everything for the points upgrade!

 

[arlene_i]

Hello

My wife and I are travelling QF9 next Friday 16 December MEL-LHR.

I submitted a request for an upgrade from economy to business today.

Any advice on our chances would be greatly appreciated. I am Bronze Q Club.

I requested for our upgrade 3 days before the flight. There's 4 of us, all bronze status and on rewards flight. I looked at our chances as nil, and yet I tried my luck. Glad I did!

 

[ozmille]

Hello
My wife and I are travelling QF9 next Friday 16 December MEL-LHR.
I submitted a request for an upgrade from economy to business today.
Any advice on our chances would be greatly appreciated. I am Bronze Q Club.

Here are the loads: F9 A9 J8 C6 D0 I0 W5 R4 T0 Z1 Y9 B9H9 K3 M0 L0 G0
While there are plenty of F and J spots, my suspicion is that the late request and your status level would make it unlikely - but you never know!

the loads look a bit different already today

QF 009 F9 A9 J7 CL DL IL W6 R6 TL

still heaps of F seats so potential for J to F upgrades.

Good luck!

 

[freebo]

Chance of a business u/g BNE-LAX (SEA)

Hi,
I'm Velocity Gold hand have a good amount of points.
I need to travel to Seattle in Feb, departing Aus on Sunday and departing SEA on Fri/Sat. Can anyone tell me if there's a reasonable chance of upgrading with points to business and any hints on finding availability.
I think I need to book a certain class of econ to be able to upgrade so would rather try to understand if an upgrade looks possible before paying the extra cash. In fact I might take a shorter flight on Canadian if an upgrade looks unlikely.
I've previously had expertflyer and would subscribe again if someone can tell me what to look for.
Thanks!

Sorry about the weird background, pasted this post.

 

[ab9898]

Re: Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

Hi ftm and GPH

Thanks for the flight load information. I've signed up to expert flyer so I will monitor the load.

I've done a search on classic flight rewards and premium economy is available for 96k points if I search for one adult. However if I search for two adults there appear to be no seats available.

It sounds like the best chances of any upgrade would be to book in two premium economy classic flight reward seats but I can't see any way of doing this.

My next best option is leaving the business upgrade request and hoping for the best.

 

[ab9898]

Re: Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

I don't really understand the code numbering system, but using expert flyer's seat map function it looks like at the moment there are 12 free business seats and 14 free first class seats - 26 in total.

Is it the case that if business fills up they will upgrade some of those people to first, then backfill business from economy?

 

[serfty]

Re: Chance of a business u/g BNE-LAX (SEA)

Welcome to AFF freebo

I have moved your post to a general thread we have for these types of requests.

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Also, look for Premium sales, they are upgradable as well and for less points. If the upgrade does not come through at least you have a better seat and better service than in economy.

 

[Mattg]

Re: Chance of a business u/g BNE-LAX (SEA)

Hi,
I'm Velocity Gold hand have a good amount of points.
I need to travel to Seattle in Feb, departing Aus on Sunday and departing SEA on Fri/Sat. Can anyone tell me if there's a reasonable chance of upgrading with points to business and any hints on finding availability.
I think I need to book a certain class of econ to be able to upgrade so would rather try to understand if an upgrade looks possible before paying the extra cash. In fact I might take a shorter flight on Canadian if an upgrade looks unlikely.
I've previously had expertflyer and would subscribe again if someone can tell me what to look for.
Thanks!

Sorry about the weird background, pasted this post.

To be eligible to upgrade on VA long-haul, you will need to be Velocity Gold or Platinum (which you are) and book a flexible Economy or Premium Economy fare. Then, in order to process the upgrade there needs to be a Business Reward seat on that flight. I just had a looked and there are none available currently on BNE-LAX (or the return flight) in February next year. Some may become available around a week before the flight, but it depends on the loads. If you let us know exactly which flights you're looking at we can check the current loads for you, but with two months to go these could change.

In my opinion, while an upgrade on these flights would be possible it's probably not likely. Especially given you're flying on the weekend - these days are generally more popular with business travellers.

If I were you, I would be converting some Velocity points to KrisFlyer and redeeming for Business seats on Air Canada's BNE-YVR flight. The cost of an outright redemption seat on this flight is equivalent to around 132,000 Velocity points + approx. $100 in taxes (only) each way. Award availability is generally OK, too.

 

[serfty]

Re: Chance of a business u/g BNE-LAX (SEA)

Also note that you may be better off purchasing a PE fare - can be had for $3200 to LAX, that Freedom fare is from $2400.

 

[mviy]

Re: Upgrade chances next Friday, QF9 MEL-LHR

The numbers provided are different fare buckets

F9 means that there are at least 9 seats available for purchase in the F bucket.

Cheaper business fares are in the I bucket. J is a business bucket. J8 means that there are 8 seats available for purchase in that business fare bucket.

That is showing 8 of those 12 ("free") seats as being blocked. That is partially at least due to your status level. The best seats remain blocked for higher status travellers to select till closer to departure.

For your sake hopefully a number of those J passengers get upgrades into F freeing up more seats for potential upgrades to J.

Just because seats are not showing as allocated that doesn't mean that seats haven't been sold. Some people don't choose seats and so the seats end up being allocated on check in (up to 24 hours before the flight).

Do note that QANTAS doesn't have to fill the business cabin if they don't want to. They will try to avoid having to bump someone off the flight.