Playing the lottery...LAX-BNE, LAX-SYD or SFO-SYD...Best chance for Y to J?

[CaptJCool]

Are the QantasLink pilots still flown Upto Seattle for flight sim training ?
Ran a cropper on the Bri-LAX upgrade lottery some years ago now. There were several of them flying J ….

 

[ozflier]

LOL@Polaris Catering better. Oh dude....

I sat through numbers of UA transpacs this year in J and while the catering is OK in a dull midwestern kind of way, I longed for QF offerings (although UA made a decent mug of tea I must say). Onboard catering is NOT a strong point of UA's

but that's subjective of course. Having flown both products many times in J/F QF beats UA in just about all depts catering wise.

I suppose UA caters more to the North American palette perhaps.

"I suppose UA caters more to the North American palette perhaps."

Please RichardMEL, do not take offence .

I regularly misspell words and, to be fair, I am not 100% sure whether you actually meant a "board on which an artist mixes colours" (and hence are referring to how US pax would design their offering )
or
a taste organ in the human mouth

My partner and myself have just had a lively discussion over whether "Palette" - is actually a Malapropism or a Homophone or both. Kept us occupied in our joint office for a good 15 minutes. alphaDictionary - Dr. Goodword's Word of the Day is "malapropism"

My wife thinks you were referring to what an "artist" ( UA management ) does !

Amazing what I learn from AFF .

 

[equus]

F3 A3 P0 J9 C9 D6

Slightly sideways, but not totally OT for those playing along at home and looking at numbers of seats potentially available for upgrade to J, this availability does not necessarily indicate that there are up to 9 available J seats at this point in time. This actually only says that QF is willing to SELL up to 9 tickets at either J or C price. The fact that they are only willing to sell 6 at the D price, and the coincidence that they have up to 3 F seats could mean that there are only 6 J seats left - but QF is willing to sell 3 more than that, because they will upgrade (via points or even op-up if they need to) up to 3 people currently in J to F in order to sell those J seats (i.e. they are not confident in selling the A3 first seats, which are in the discount First bucket).

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Slightly sideways, but not totally OT for those playing along at home and looking at numbers of seats potentially available for upgrade to J, this availability does not necessarily indicate that there are up to 9 available J seats at this point in time. This actually only says that QF is willing to SELL up to 9 tickets at either J or C price.

Incorrect. When you see a 9 on ExpertFlyer it should be interpreted as 9 or more since the digit field can only go up to 9. So that could mean there are exactly 9 seats, it could be 10 or maybe even 16 for all we know!

The fact that they are only willing to sell 6 at the D price, and the coincidence that they have up to 3 F seats could mean that there are only 6 J seats left - but QF is willing to sell 3 more than that, because they will upgrade (via points or even op-up if they need to) up to 3 people currently in J to F in order to sell those J seats (i.e. they are not confident in selling the A3 first seats, which are in the discount First bucket).

It's a possibility but not the only option. It could also just so happen to be that they have say 11 seats in business available right now but revenue management only is willing to sell 6 at a discounted rate.

 

[RichardMEL]

"I suppose UA caters more to the North American palette perhaps."

Please RichardMEL, do not take offence .

I regularly misspell words and, to be fair, I am not 100% sure whether you actually meant a "board on which an artist mixes colours" (and hence are referring to how US pax would design their offering )
or
a taste organ in the human mouth

My partner and myself have just had a lively discussion over whether "Palette" - is actually a Malapropism or a Homophone or both. Kept us occupied in our joint office for a good 15 minutes. alphaDictionary - Dr. Goodword's Word of the Day is "malapropism"

My wife thinks you were referring to what an "artist" ( UA management ) does !

Amazing what I learn from AFF .

Ha! good catch! I'm edumacated. Indeed I meant "Palate" (I honestly didn't know it was a different spelling). of course I meant the sense of taste/taste organ.

Zero offence taken. Always happy to learn something. I think homophone is what happened with me - it's always sounded the same to me so yeah, I'd always assumed the same spelling. Mea Culpa. now I know better.

Glad to provide a diversion for you two also. Pretty much what AFF is for half the time

Hope your dinner tastes great

 

[RichardMEL]

Incorrect. When you see a 9 on ExpertFlyer it should be interpreted as 9 or more since the digit field can only go up to 9. So that could mean there are exactly 9 seats, it could be 10 or maybe even 16 for all we know!

Almost there.

it's 9 or more yes, but in the sense of a single transaction per the major GDS's it's going to be practically 9 (10 or more is considered a group anyway). So while yes, 9 absolutely can mean 9 or more, and possibly does, it still also means that they will only sell 9 max in the next transaction (I'm pretty certain group bookings 10+ are handled separately).

This is tied back to the nature of the legacy GDS's.

At least that's my understanding.

 

[ozflier]

Ha! good catch! I'm edumacated. Indeed I meant "Palate" (I honestly didn't know it was a different spelling). of course I meant the sense of taste/taste organ.

Zero offence taken. Always happy to learn something. I think homophone is what happened with me - it's always sounded the same to me so yeah, I'd always assumed the same spelling. Mea Culpa. now I know better.

Glad to provide a diversion for you two also. Pretty much what AFF is for half the time

Hope your dinner tastes great

Just lost at Scrabble. Sardines on toast on offer as I can’t cook !

 

[TheRealTMA]

"I suppose UA caters more to the North American palette perhaps."

Please RichardMEL, do not take offence .

I regularly misspell words and, to be fair, I am not 100% sure whether you actually meant a "board on which an artist mixes colours" (and hence are referring to how US pax would design their offering )
or
a taste organ in the human mouth

My partner and myself have just had a lively discussion over whether "Palette" - is actually a Malapropism or a Homophone or both. Kept us occupied in our joint office for a good 15 minutes. alphaDictionary - Dr. Goodword's Word of the Day is "malapropism"

My wife thinks you were referring to what an "artist" ( UA management ) does !

Amazing what I learn from AFF .

Many times one thinks that Americans have a food palette rather than a palate. and often it comes on a pallet!

 

[Katie]

As a WP last year on QF15 and 16, while I stayed in Y (no upgrades came through), I scored an empty seat next to me in each direction and was close to the front of the Y cabin. That was a bonus all things considered. I noticed another WP/P1 in a similar situation with an empty seat next to him. It gave me more leg and elbow room than I was expecting, though I'm far too tall to really curl up into two seats to sleep.

 

[Bundy Bear]

(* of course if OQL shows up then the J hard product is inferior)

I was on QF12 OQL got the upgrade and then when the seat went to flat mode with groans I then realized it was the unrefurbished plane, although upgrade better than no upgrade thank you and the crew were pretty good as well.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Update: QF12 on the 15th is still the winner here showing excellent J availability:
F2 A0 P0 J9 C9 D6 I0 U0 W9 R9 T0 Z0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G0 X9 E0

 

[Quickstatus]

Dont forget that the LAX-BNE is actually crewed by NZ based crew.
I think they do an AKL-BNE-LAX-BNE-AKL?
I find them to be just as good as their Aussie cousins

making onward connections to BOS or MIA

Anyone wanting to go onward ex JFK would be better off via DFW/LAX instead of the non stop JFK

LAX-BNE, LAX-SYD, or SFO-SYD

Don't forget looking via AA, FJ
And looking left - HNL-SYD

 

[CaptJCool]

Dont forget that the LAX-BNE is actually crewed by NZ based crew.
I think they do an AKL-BNE-LAX-BNE-AKL?
I find them to be just as good as their Aussie cousins

Is it

NZ Crew flying QantasLink pilots to USA for flight sim training !

Simulator Evaluation Course

They must be seeing the 717 is NOT on the listing

 

[Quickstatus]

Is it

Cabin crew

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Anyone wanting to go onward ex JFK would be better off via DFW/LAX instead of the non stop JFK

Especially given the fact that some of the LAX flights land in the early morning meaning there will be plenty of onward connection opportunities. Heck, when I had to fly to PIT, I chose to fly via DFW (landing in the afternoon) and ultimately arriving in the evening in PIT.

Don't forget looking via AA, FJ
And looking left - HNL-SYD

I don't see how booking AA or FJ would help with improving the odds of upgrades considering you cannot use QFF points to upgrade partner flights. Now maybe FJ has a cheap J fare or AA has a cheap cash upgrade, but it seems unlikely.

 

[Quickstatus]

I don't see how booking AA or FJ would help with improving the odds of upgrades considering you cannot use QFF points to upgrade partner flights

Agree. More of a sideways comment - there are other airlines plying the transpac route

 

[djjk78]

Getting an upgrade to the US is just that, a lottery. Best to book direct on business via Fijian or China Airlines via Taipei. Both have a great J cabin. I just easily got J seats return to SFO and I’m a lowly bronze member. On the way back I had to stop the flight at Nadi. Will get a seperate booking from there.

Your chances are really low via qantas

 

[RichardMEL]

Getting an upgrade to the US is just that, a lottery. Best to book direct on business via Fijian or China Airlines via Taipei. Both have a great J cabin. I just easily got J seats return to SFO and I’m a lowly bronze member. On the way back I had to stop the flight at Nadi. Will get a seperate booking from there.

Your chances are really low via qantas

While this is not an unreasonable comment as general advice, it doesn't really fit the situation of this thread being that the OP was looking at (and possibly flying right now depending on what choice was made) an employer paid Y fare at reasonably short notice for the best chance to upgrade.

Getting reward seats, usually with some planning and advance notice is a great way to go, but not really in this specific situation.

my 3 cents.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Getting an upgrade to the US is just that, a lottery.

Getting an upgrade to clear with most airlines is more like going to the roulette table at a casino and placing your chips on a (flight) number. Whether the roulette ball lands on your number on its face is a very low probability. But what you can do is to understand the game and rig the system so that it is more likely that the ball will land on your chosen number. Understanding how many business class seats are available, especially when you have a close-in booking like that is crucial. If you’ve got a situation where there are 9 or more open business class seats at OLCI, then chances very good that your upgrade request will clear, since Qantas will want to fill those seats with some revenue passengers than to have them go out empty (and yes Qantas recognizes those points as revenue in their books just ask AmEx!).

I should also point out that yes, it is true that the only way to potentially get a business class seat on Qantas or partners is to book it with them either by points or cash, there are many reasons why that may not be feasible. For instance, it may be cost prohibitive to book said flights, even on an airline known to historically have cheap J seats like Fiji, or a lack of business classic award availability - talk to anyone trying to book a flight to Rome next summer. Point upgrades provide a potential way of getting that business class seat you want at the time you want to travel at a good price. It’s not a guarantee you’ll get it but nor is a flight booked in business with Qantas anyway (it’s technically a bundle of wrongs per Qantas’ submission to the ACCC enquiry).

-RooFlyer88

 

[CaptJCool]

that's also the point of understanding how many J seats are on which type of plane (likely A380 got more J seats 64-70 than say 787 42 J seats or A330 28 J seats) as well as the EBA obligations to fly QF staff in J class to basic things like the Seattle flight sim training for their 717 pilots (Embraer 190 and Fokker 100) plus where flight sim training might be done for new aircraft - 29 x A220s, 20 x A321-XLRs, 2 x A350-1000ULRs, and 12 x A350-1000LRs.
(an interesting list CAE includes Perth@)