Super Saver Not upgradeable

[LuisT]

Hi All,

I recently booked some flights from SIN to BNE return, and decided to book a super saver on the way to BNE with the hope of an upgrade.

I checked the T&Cs for the super saver, it says upgrades are available, so went ahead a booked it, but now i'm finding the class is 'N' and I can't request an upgrade.

Is this normal? Can I do anything about it? When I view my booking it shows that I did book the super saver, so I didn't make a mistake when I booked it.

Any help would be appreciated.

Luis

 

[markis10]

Another good IT mistake from Qantas, I would call Qantas and explain what happened, given you paid extra for an advertised benefit thats not available as advertised you have a cause for complaint.

 

[Mal]

Another good IT mistake from Qantas, I would call Qantas and explain what happened, given you paid extra for an advertised benefit thats not available as advertised you have a cause for complaint.

Definately. Also document the steps taken to make the booking, and take screenshots etc.

 

[MelUser]

I posted a thread earlier this week asking if anyone was aware of changes for fares to USA as far as status credits were concerned.

If you now book a flexi saver fare from AUS to USA it says under Flexi fares that status credits are earned at the (FULL) Economy level.

My post was dismissed on here and others noted that this must be a mistake and that only discount economy status credits would be used (and a higher number of points would be required to upgrade to business).

As an aside, if I require upgradeable economy seats, I instructed my travel agent to book me into Economy (S) or higher and this guarantees that I can request an upgrade.

It appears that if one is after an upgrade one should not book through the qantas website but use a reputable travel agent who can confirm the booking code before the fare is ticketed and paid for.

 

[markis10]

I posted a thread earlier this week asking if anyone was aware of changes for fares to USA as far as status credits were concerned.

If you now book a flexi saver fare from AUS to USA it says under Flexi fares that status credits are earned at the (FULL) Economy level.

My post was dismissed on here and others noted that this must be a mistake and that only discount economy status credits would be used (and a higher number of points would be required to upgrade to business).

Without knowing the fare basis how could you not believe the website, it (the QF website) should look at the fare basis and change the wording to reflect the applicable benefits, most of the regulars are well aware of the limitations of QF IT, but that does not prevent a company from complying with the law in terms of misleading and deceptive conduct under the TPA.


There are a lot more fare buckets that are upgradeable than there are fare buckets that earn full Y SCs, so the knowledgeable person would be right to be skeptical of the claims with regard SC earn, however in the context of this thread, its not fair to expect such a mistake in terms of the upgradability of the fare to be obvious by comparison.

I would expect your claim for full SC earning to be successful regardless, and probably a lot easier to fix than moving a non upgradeable fare into an upgradeable fare category.

 

[oz_mark]

I would expect your claim for full SC earning to be successful regardless, and probably a lot easier to fix than moving a non upgradeable fare into an upgradeable fare category.

In both cases, I suspect both could argue that they relied on the information presented on the web site in making their purchasing decisions. QF have a legal obligation to present information accurately, and purchasers should be able to make informed decisions based on the way Qantas represents the fares.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It appears that if one is after an upgrade one should not book through the qantas website but use a reputable travel agent who can confirm the booking code before the fare is ticketed and paid for.

Agree with this.

Trip MEL-HKG rtn - QF (website) and TA offering the SAME price.

QF was NOT eligile for upgrade. TA fare was in V class (eligible).

Saved myself a couple of hundred dollars by going through the agent and not having pay a higher price on the qantas site just to stick my name down for upgrade!!

 

[Mal]

In both cases, I suspect both could argue that they relied on the information presented on the web site in making their purchasing decisions. QF have a legal obligation to present information accurately, and purchasers should be able to make informed decisions based on the way Qantas represents the fares.

Indeed. Why should Qantas expect to be exempt from TPA and similar laws about the display of correct information?

If I was affected in either case described (T&Cs show upgradeable, but fare not upgradeable, Fare shown as Economy for SC earn, yet not given Economy SC), then I would normally be looking for a resolution from Qantas.

That might help teach them to ensure their website provides *correct* information that can be relied on by customers.

 

[JohnK]

I am sure something similar was posted on AFF in the past and it appears it has still not been resolved.

It would appear that even though a fare is sold as a "Super Saver" on the QF website some sectors may book into "N", "O", "Q" classes making those fllights ineligilble for upgrade requests.

I still cannot understand after all these years why QF cannot show the class of each sector of the booking rather than grouping it into "Sale", "Super Saver", "Flexi Saver" etc. The CX website has a similar type of grouping but before purchasing shows the class of the flights about to be booked.

And my experience booking from the QF Singapore website is "Sale" and "Red e-deal" airfares book into "V" class and are eligible for upgrades.

 

[MarcB]

I have noticed that with multi-city bookings (particularly originating overseas), the fare conditions that show are those for the highest fare class being booked. For example, I wanted to book a multi from the US and it showed that the entire fare was eligible for an upgrade even though the only sector booked in 'S' class was SYD-BNE!!! All other sectors were in 'O'.

See my post below (reproduced from an earlier thread) about how to confirm fare classes before booking. Not the best solution, but at least you know what you are buying!

If you want to see the booking class, once you have selected your flights and are on the "Review" page, right click on your mouse and click on "view source". When the source page opens, scroll down until you see (after a big blank section) a line that starts with "var mileageRequest". Then look a little further down (about 8 rows) for the line that says "mileageRequest += "&CLASSES=". After the = sign, you will see the booking classes for each sector. If you are doing a multi-sector itinerary, it is relatively easy to view which sector is which by looking at the entry a few lines above which starts with "mileageRequest += "&SECTORS=". Each sector is separated by a comma, and the fare classes follow the same format. For example a SYD-BNE-SYD you see the following in the source code:

var mileageRequest = this.earnPointsConnectorUrl;
mileageRequest += "&REQUEST_ID="+this.earnPointsRequest_Id;
mileageRequest += "&SECTORS=SYD/BNE,BNE/SYD";
mileageRequest += "&SEGMENT_ID=1,2";
mileageRequest += "&FLIGHT_NUMBERS=532,557";
mileageRequest += "&AIRLINE_CODES=QF,QF";
mileageRequest += "&OPERATING_CODES=*,*";
mileageRequest += "&NB_STOPS=0,0";
mileageRequest += "&CLASSES=L,E";
mileageRequest += "&FQTV_NUMBER_LIST=*";
mileageRequest += "&DATES=150320101505/150320101535,150320101925/150320102200";
return mileageRequest;

I have found this an invaluable method for checking which fare class I am booking into, especially when trying to ascertain best fare availability with ExpertFlyer etc.

This method works for both domestic and international bookings. For example, SYD-SIN-SYD returns this:

var mileageRequest = this.earnPointsConnectorUrl;
mileageRequest += "&REQUEST_ID="+this.earnPointsRequest_Id;
mileageRequest += "&SECTORS=SYD/SIN,SIN/SYD";
mileageRequest += "&SEGMENT_ID=1,2";
mileageRequest += "&FLIGHT_NUMBERS=5,6";
mileageRequest += "&AIRLINE_CODES=QF,QF";
mileageRequest += "&OPERATING_CODES=*,*";
mileageRequest += "&NB_STOPS=0,0";
mileageRequest += "&CLASSES=V,V";
mileageRequest += "&FQTV_NUMBER_LIST=*";
mileageRequest += "&DATES=160320101655/160320102145,220320101955/230320100625";
return mileageRequest;

So in this case, the fares selected are booking into V class.

Hope this helps!

 

[dajop]

IThe CX website has a similar type of grouping but before purchasing shows the class of the flights about to be booked.

A more pertinent comparison is with TG, as they like QF use Amadeus. IIRC CX does not. TG allows you to click a button for "Fare basis & Booking Class information". An example result:

Traveller groups Fare Basis & Booking class
(The booking class is the first letter of fare basis)
Singapore to Dubai
Singapore to Bangkok (TG 404) 1 adult(s) QLE1YSG1
Bangkok to Dubai (TG 517) 1 adult(s) QLE1YSG1

Dubai to Singapore
Dubai to Bangkok (TG 518) 1 adult(s) HLE1YSG1
Bangkok to Singapore (TG 413) 1 adult(s) HLE1YSG1

 

[Stealth]

What I found annoying about this sort of thing is that in my case the Flightcentre quoted fare was upgradeable on points, but not the QF on-line fare at close to the same price. On-line saved me the chore of taking time off to go to Flightcentre. Emailed this query to QF and got the usual evasive answer. I can't understand it, they did a great job of helping people with the volcano problem, but they fall down on the basics.
Next time its Flightcentre and QF lose out.