Qantas Upgrades - Successes or Failures (post results)

International upgrades to J avoiding PE

Can I ask for peoples thoughts? (mod please move to different thread if appropriate...)

I have a return trip ADL-DFW-ADL (in Y) for work at the end of May 2022. Simplest option on outbound is ADL-SYD-DFW. Happy to buy a sale fare for this leg as it leaves midafternoon and I can cope with Y on the leg to DFW.

The return trip I would like to upgrade to J, but I don't want to end up in PE. This happened last time I put in a request for Y-> J on the A380 from DFW to SYD got an on-departure upgrade to PE instead. (It was pre-covid) I didn't like the PE seat and I got very little sleep. I thought it a waste of points.

I am WP and my questions are:

1) What do people think my chances are/would be of getting the upgrade straight from Y to J on the DFW-SYD flight on a Wed evening departure? It's a B789, (28 PE seats and 42 J seats)

2) Am I more likely to get the upgrade if I route via LAX and BNE? The LAX-BNE leg is showing as an A330. (no PE cabin, 28 J seats).

Getting an upgrade to J via BNE is more likely I think, but it's obviously a longer overall trip and has an extra leg. I'd be interested in peoples thoughts and experiences. Price is essentially the same flex fare either routing on the return leg

Thank you in advance.

Medicus
 
Immediate Upgrades yesterday for partners return flight to Melbourne next week for work - first trip since last July just before the Sydney breakout. A triple benefit - return for $218 plus it is the flight needed to be booked to retain his WP. Make that four benefits - as it's for work then Business rewards posts a bonus of 3000 FF points. Presumably each way.
 
QF104 Y to J unsuccessful. Not surprised, it was J0 for about the week before. Y was only half full so I had a shadow which stuck.

That said, it was hands down the best QFi Y flight Iā€™ve ever taken - cabin manager was working Y for the whole flight and kept fussing over me - I was drinking J wines out of glass for the entire flight. My glass never went dry.

Frankly it was better service than some J flights.
 
The return trip I would like to upgrade to J, but I don't want to end up in PE.

It's been a few years since I've put a request in so forgive me if this is incorrect, but I recall a checkbox allowing you to opt in/out of PE upgrades?

I am WP and my questions are:

1) What do people think my chances are/would be of getting the upgrade straight from Y to J on the DFW-SYD flight on a Wed evening departure? It's a B789, (28 PE seats and 42 J seats)

2) Am I more likely to get the upgrade if I route via LAX and BNE? The LAX-BNE leg is showing as an A330. (no PE cabin, 28 J seats).

I would go with option 1. It's a very long flight so the more optimal cabin pressure & humidity of the Dreamliner will make a significant difference, regardless of whether your upgrade comes through.

I do like your chances as a WP with the additional premium seats, but worst case if you get stuck in Y, you can probably snag a poor man's lie-flat (block of 3 Y seats) at check-in given the 3-3-3 seating layout on the 789. I can't imagine DFW-SYD Y loads will be particularly high in a few months time.
 
SYD-BNE, 30/1/22, upgrade successful for Platinum retention flight and on A330-300, so they must be repositioning the aircraft.
 
Successful upgrade Y->J SYD-CNS end of April.

Flight purchased 10-Dec-21 with EF showing U1. Upgrade applied for immediately on ticketing, confirmation through 30-Jan-22.

Now hoping the scheduled A330 sticks!

Regards,

BD
 
25FEB QF466 Y->J classic upgrade success. Friday arvo A330 flight, was sitting at D9 I9 yesterday, after upgrades clear it's now D9 I0. Still 18 J seats unallocated in MMB.
 
QF777 MEL-PER on March 28 has been downgraded from an Airbus to B737. Horrible! If the flight does not fill, I will get a ghost seat, but I'm not taking the risk and have requested an upgrade to J. No instant response, but I did not expect it with only12 J seats. With my luck, the metal will revert to an Airbus before the flight date and the upgrade request will be approved.
 
Unsuccessful bid, Red e-deal > J on QF520 SYD/BNE yesterday (22/2), for 2 @ $150 + 0 points each. I didn't really expect success but, as WP, QF kindly blocked the middle seat so, we had the row to ourselves, pretty full flight too. So thanks QF for that.
 
QF1 tomorrow, in flexible economy, wanted business, only got premium economy (I never know if ticking that box is the right move). I was told loadings suggested my chances would be slim so I guess I should be glad to have gotten what I did.
 
Read our AFF credit card guides and start earning more points now.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Gā€™day, first post. Strange upgrade happening to report.
Iā€˜m on QF12 next week, LAX - SYD in PE. Coming across in November I was successful in bidding for an upgrade PE to J. Today I got the ā€œbidā€ email for my return trip, but to my surprise it indicated I had already bid. For a couple of hours the system wouldnā€™t even let me get in to see how much I had supposedly bid, later in the day I was able to see the bid but not change it. When I finally got to the point where I could modify the bid a little (my hope being that I could then see the payment details) - the Qantas system showed what one would call a spinning ball. I gave up after 5 minutes. I have tried 3 times since with the same result.

About 3 weeks ago when the flight schedule from LAX had changed for the third time and the changed booking showed the domestic sector of my flight home had not been changed -eg it was scheduled to take place the day before QF11 departed LAXā€¦ I did manage to contact Qantas through Messenger and after 48 hours the nice fellow kindly rang me in the States at 3am local time to sort it all out. I asked him about the load and my chances to upgrade to J and he said I would just have to wait until I got the email. I had to pay $2 because I swapped to a different flight time for the leg from SYD so he took my card details. is it possible he put in a bid and my card details? I still canā€™t get into that bid to check. No way am I going to try and contact Qantas again, Iā€™ve had enough stress with that over the past months to last me a lifetime. I figure I will either get the upgrade or I wonā€™tā€¦ but whose payment details are in there?
 
Last edited:
Not heard of that happening before, I suppose it depends on whether he heard you say "I want to upgrade from PE to J". If he's triggered the upgrade request, then if he didn't ask you for your CC details, perhaps he has put in a points upgrade request.
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.
Back
Top