Qantas Domestic Flight Upgrades

[OwlDo]

Was wondering if anyone can help.

I bought economy domestic tickets making sure that there was business classic reward seats available assuming I would be able to get an immediate upgrade if this was the case.

I requested the upgrade using my points and a day later it still hasn't done anything. I called QF and they told me I would have to wait 72 working hours before any result would show.

Just wondering if this was the case or I have been told the wrong thing which isn't uncommon for support centres.

I'm new here so sorry if I misunderstand anything.

Thank you.

 

[defurax]

If there is U class available they should process it manually if you call (I've had to do it a few times on MEL-PER-BME, where the MEL-PER would not upgrade online even when showing U4). Just make sure you mention U class availability in case the agent is clueless or just HUACA!

 

[OwlDo]

If there is U class available they should process it manually if you call (I've had to do it a few times on MEL-PER-BME, where the MEL-PER would not upgrade online even when showing U4). Just make sure you mention U class availability in case the agent is clueless or just HUACA!

Thank you, I'll give it another shot.

 

[RichardMEL]

Did you request the upgrade before the flight was ticketed properly?

that can sometimes cause issues. I would cancel the upgrade request, and resubmit if so.

I am not sure where this 72 hours thing comes from. that sounds incorrect. For domestic if there is U class it should clear immediately and be confirmed.

 

[OwlDo]

Did you request the upgrade before the flight was ticketed properly?

that can sometimes cause issues. I would cancel the upgrade request, and resubmit if so.

I did try that today, doesn't seem to of worked. I have received a confirmation and E-Ticket Flight Itinerary email, is this what you are talking about?.

 

[RichardMEL]

I did try that today, doesn't seem to of worked. I have received a confirmation and E-Ticket Flight Itinerary email, is this what you are talking about?.

yes. That indicates the booking is ticketed.

Sometimes people have booked flights and put in the request in before the flight has actually been properly ticketed and this has caused issues. However once ticketed cancelling the request and resubmitting it should have sorted it.

I think unfortunately you will need to phone QF again and get this looked at. Seems odd if you definitely see the number of J reward seats showing on the flight you're on.

 

[OwlDo]

yes. That indicates the booking is ticketed.

Sometimes people have booked flights and put in the request in before the flight has actually been properly ticketed and this has caused issues. However once ticketed cancelling the request and resubmitting it should have sorted it.

I think unfortunately you will need to phone QF again and get this looked at. Seems odd if you definitely see the number of J reward seats showing on the flight you're on.

Thanks,

I'll ring and be more direct this time. I tried to be picky with the flights making sure there were U class seats available to make it easy. Apparently not.

 

[OwlDo]

yes. That indicates the booking is ticketed.

Sometimes people have booked flights and put in the request in before the flight has actually been properly ticketed and this has caused issues. However once ticketed cancelling the request and resubmitting it should have sorted it.

I think unfortunately you will need to phone QF again and get this looked at. Seems odd if you definitely see the number of J reward seats showing on the flight you're on.

No Luck, after waiting 2 and half hours I was told I would have to wait until 24 hours before departure. I did state that it should be immediate if there was a seat available on a domestic flight but she said who ever said that is wrong .

 

[RichardMEL]

No Luck, after waiting 2 and half hours I was told I would have to wait until 24 hours before departure. I did state that it should be immediate if there was a seat available on a domestic flight but she said who ever said that is wrong .

sigh. that is ridiculous.. both the hours on hold and the answer.

sounds like the agent was confusing domestic and international.

Just one question.. is the flight a domestic part of an international flight? eg: QF9 MEL-DRW?

 

[defurax]

I'm not even sure if this could help, considering you've probably already talked with two incompetent agents, but here is the paragraph from QFF T&C dealing with domestic upgrades (my bolding):

16.2 Classic Upgrade Rewards - for travel only within Australia (on flights QF400 and above and travel on domestic legs of flights QF1-299)​

16.2.1 Classic Upgrade Rewards can be requested for a specific flight and date between 353 days and 10 hours prior to scheduled departure of the flight. The awarding of Classic Upgrade Rewards is subject to availability at the time of request. If a Classic Upgrade Reward is available at the time of request, it will be confirmed immediately and Qantas Points will be deducted from the Member's account.
16.2.2 If a Classic Upgrade Reward is not available at the time of request, then the Member will be given the option to register for a Classic Upgrade Reward should one become available in the future on the Member's booked flight. Qantas Loyalty will determine which registered requests for Classic Upgrade Rewards will be awarded, if any, within 90 days of the scheduled flight departure, depending on several factors determined by Qantas including the original booked cabin and the Member's Membership tier.
16.2.3 Classic Upgrade Rewards will be confirmed and awarded before other paid upgrade products including, but not limited to, Bid Now Upgrades.
16.2.4 If a Classic Upgrade Reward is requested for an Itinerary that includes an international leg and a domestic leg with the same Qantas (QF) flight number, this will be treated as an international Classic Upgrade Reward. Provisions specific to international Classic Upgrade Rewards are set out in clause 16.3.

 

[OwlDo]

sigh. that is ridiculous.. both the hours on hold and the answer.

sounds like the agent was confusing domestic and international.

Just one question.. is the flight a domestic part of an international flight? eg: QF9 MEL-DRW?

No, fully domestic. The agent didn't even ask for my booking reference number this time.

Not sure what to do now, just wait and see what happens I guess.

 

[OwlDo]

I'm going to ring a different number seen in a different thread and see if I get a different agent. I've got a feeling I had the same agent twice so she probably didn't want to deal with me again.

 

[OwlDo]

If there is U class available they should process it manually if you call (I've had to do it a few times on MEL-PER-BME, where the MEL-PER would not upgrade online even when showing U4). Just make sure you mention U class availability in case the agent is clueless or just HUACA!

Doubled checked using ExpertFlyer. There is 2 U class seats available for both flights there and 4 U class seats available for both flights back.

 

[OwlDo]

Third call was more proactive. Agent checked seat availability and put a request through saying it should be accepted in a few days. I asked if I was guaranteed the upgrade and he said yes.

P.S He also said the point amount to upgrade was actually more than what was listed on the website. 3 Flights were 5000 and 1 was 8000 but he said 2 were 8000 and 2 were 5000. So something weird happening.

 

[OwlDo]

Also it seems that my upgrade page has now updated with two boxes per flight instead of 1. Is this normal?

 

[RichardMEL]

You said he said he put request through. so sounds like in addition to the one you generated.. so I wonder if that is what the page is reflecting (I don't know why he didn't or couldn't cancel yours out). iirc they are service requests in the PNR and if there's two the page is probably interpreting it that way. I've never seen that, but seems like you're in a weird situation.

tbh I personally don't buy the explanation about WA and whatever else might be going on with the system. If there's U (which I assume the agent was able to verify?) then it should be confirmed on the spot. It doesn't make a lot of sense unless of course there is some sort of Amadeus weirdness going on, but one would not expect that to last.

I wonder if they're trying to cover for an issue...this seems rather unusual in my book.

good luck.

 

[OwlDo]

You said he said he put request through. so sounds like in addition to the one you generated.. so I wonder if that is what the page is reflecting (I don't know why he didn't or couldn't cancel yours out). iirc they are service requests in the PNR and if there's two the page is probably interpreting it that way. I've never seen that, but seems like you're in a weird situation.

tbh I personally don't buy the explanation about WA and whatever else might be going on with the system. If there's U (which I assume the agent was able to verify?) then it should be confirmed on the spot. It doesn't make a lot of sense unless of course there is some sort of Amadeus weirdness going on, but one would not expect that to last.

I wonder if they're trying to cover for an issue...this seems rather unusual in my book.

good luck.

Thanks,

I've messaged there Facebook support (No idea if it's any good). But I've given up trying to ring them after 3 times waiting 2 hours to not really get the result I'm wanting. Just going to wait a few days see if anything happens then maybe try again.

 

[Mattg]

In situations like this, I normally try cancelling the original upgrade request/s and then submitting again.

It's a shame you had to deal with clueless agents at the outsourced call centre giving you wrong information - sadly this is all too common with QF these days

 

[kangarooflyer88]

It's a shame you had to deal with clueless agents at the outsourced call centre giving you wrong information - sadly this is all too common with QF these days

I'll gladly take a clueless agent over having to wait hours on hold for QF. Indeed, the clueless agent is your friend in many respects since they often don't know all the rules and you can slip something past them (or HUCA trying). Perhaps QF should update their hold message to say, "Your call was important to us... 30 years ago!"

-RooFlyer88

 

[OwlDo]

In situations like this, I normally try cancelling the original upgrade request/s and then submitting again.

It's a shame you had to deal with clueless agents at the outsourced call centre giving you wrong information - sadly this is all too common with QF these days

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be working for me. If it doesn't get upgraded mid next week I'll try cancelling and resubmitting. Do you recommend waiting a certain time before resubmitting after cancelling or just do it straight way?