Reduced chance of international operational upgrades on Qantas?

[serfty]

Any-time before it may be granted:

16.3.10 A Member may cancel a request for a Flight Upgrade at any time before the time at which Qantas awards the Flight Upgrade without forfeiture of points.

 

[dfcatch]

Ozbeachbabe's final scenario question is a good one - and in these set of aligned circumstances then I will concede against my previous view..... Ie. perhaps there are some circumstances where the new system could act against opups.

That said - the pax who get their upgrades are happy - the J cabin is full - it's a win win situation.

Plus - I would never be banking on an Opup scenario - especially with QF.

 

[dvt]

From all of the discussion my conclusions are that operational upgrades will be much harder to come by given the fact that Qantas are able to process upgrade requests right up to the point of departure.

So to answer my own initial question I have decided to put in requests from PE to J using points. I'll then monitor the loadings closer to the time to cough wether I cancel the upgrade and take the high risk of receiving an op up. I've never put in a points request before hence my hesitation to do so as I've always been so fortunate in the past to receive op ups. But as I've already pointed out it would appear that times are changing.

Either way my PE ticket only cost $3k return as I booked it from the UK so I'm already a happy passenger!


Thanks for all of your comments

 

[Deleted member]

So given The need for there to be a full Y cabin ( and I suppose you would need to be checking on line to see how it looks, or at least have experience with the time of the flight and how busy it gets) is this a valid method of getting into J ? It would appear that as a silver ( nearly gold) my OpUp prospects are poor at best?


If it doesn't matter if you win or lose.......How come they keep score?

 

[dfcatch]

I would say that Opup chances are slim at the best of time for a WP, let alone anyone else.

And if you've been lucky with opups in the past - congratulations

But even under the old system, I think you'll be sorely disappointed if your strategy was to rely on them.

At least under the new system, you have an increased chance of your points request being successful.

I think old or new - any strategy that relies on opups is foolhardy IMHO.

 

[dvt]

I would say that Opup chances are slim at the best of time for a WP, let alone anyone else.

And if you've been lucky with opups in the past - congratulations

But even under the old system, I think you'll be sorely disappointed if your strategy was to rely on them.

At least under the new system, you have an increased chance of your points request being successful.

I think old or new - any strategy that relies on opups is foolhardy IMHO.

It would appear that I have been extremely lucky, despite only being SG. Considering I'm booked in PE any op up would be another stroke of luck, an added bonus rather than a foolhardy reliance. I fly at Easter so I'll report back on how I get on!

 

[Ewing]

I think old or new - any strategy that relies on opups is foolhardy IMHO.

Agreed.

My strategy is to make sure my preferred seat is available in a cabin that I'd be happy to fly in and then book that. The occasional op-up (which for me only ever seems to be trans-tasman) is then considered the cherry on top.