The Operational Upgrade Thread

[Fifa]

For reference I'm in revenue J tonight on a completely sold out DXB-SYD.

My daughter and her partner are flying EK MUC-DXB tonight (AU time) and were told at checkin that there are 200 spare seats in Y! At least they have a shadow .

 

[Awesom Andy]

My daughter and her partner are flying EK MUC-DXB tonight (AU time) and were told at checkin that there are 200 spare seats in Y! At least they have a shadow .

I've flown EK twice. Once was an op-up, the other was BNE-SIN with 200 spare seats as well. Had the whole middle block of 4 seats to myself.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Those days are over I think. Big thread on FT about changes to their op-up policy.

Do you have a link to the thread?

Cheers skip

 

[JessicaTam]

Do you have a link to the thread?

Cheers skip

Emirates changes Operational Upgrade procedure

 

[maureeng]

First time flying Korean Air from Seoul to Beijing. Husband and I were in Y and after waiting for ages in the queue we got to the counter and were told" Sorry the flight is full and there are no seats together so we are upgrading you to Business class. No status with Korean . We have Gold and Platinum with QF but haven't had an upgrade in about 15 years lol although we do travel in J for long haul. Great seats too as new A330 with the little individual enclosed seats. Well done Korean Air

 

[Quickstatus]

Oh and I was put in 1K for last 1h 30m of flight. I am stoked. sll because I am Platinum. This why I keep flying Qantas. Go out of their way to assist.

Above from the Qantas Delays and Cancellations thread.

Hi JohnK, can you enlighten us as how this came to pass and what the CSM/CSS said? I know your flight QF23 was late due to weather at SYD and risked a misconnection to an unprotected onward flight.

 

[JohnK]

Above from the Qantas Delays and Cancellations thread.

Hi JohnK, can you enlighten us as how this came to pass and what the CSM/CSS said? I know your flight QF23 was late due to weather at SYD and risked a misconnection to an unprotected onward flight.

The CSS made enquiries regarding my unprotected connection. I wasn't sure of flight number but we determined there were a number of passenger connecting to QF3440 which was the codeshare. I finally found SMS with flight number and advised that I'd already checked in online to 1D.

About 4 hours to go the CSM came around and said BKK Qantas ground crew had offered to either keep me on same flight without bags or move me to 9:35pm flight without charge. I said the 7:00pm flight without bags was fine for me. She mentioned they'll move me to vacant 1K for descent to get me out quicker than 45K.

As it turned out she got me a little early and moved me to 1K after the snack service. Excellent result and an on board op-up of sorts.

Cannot praise the staff highly enough for going above and beyond.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

I was recently upgraded from Y-J on QF ex-SYD on a trip to Asia.

The strange thing was Y was far from full and J was only about 50% full too.

Anyone know why this occurred other than having a lovely CSM take care of me? Very unexpected but welcome!

 

[cmon0005]

The CSS made enquiries regarding my unprotected connection.

Just curious john, but what made it an unprotected connection? QF3440 can only be booked in conjuntion with a QF ticket, or were you booked on sep ticket with PG?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

The CSS made enquiries regarding my unprotected connection. I wasn't sure of flight number but we determined there were a number of passenger connecting to QF3440 which was the codeshare.

I finally found SMS with flight number and advised that I'd already checked in online to 1D.

About 4 hours to go the CSM came around and said BKK Qantas ground crew had offered to either keep me on same flight without bags or move me to 9:35pm flight without charge.

I said the 7:00pm flight without bags was fine for me. She mentioned they'll move me to vacant 1K for descent to get me out quicker than 45K.

Just curious john, but what made it an unprotected connection? QF3440 can only be booked in conjuntion with a QF ticket, or were you booked on sep ticket with PG?

That's how I first read the post however I'm thinking that it was only the pax who had booked their BKK/CNS flight through QF who had booked the QF code share flight on the same ticket as QF23.

Flightstats shows that flight is operated by PG268 which I imagine is how JohnK booked it.

Not sure whether the CSM gets access to Internet mid-flight to liaise with ground staff or whether they did the arranging via ACARS.

 

[JohnK]

Just curious john, but what made it an unprotected connection? QF3440 can only be booked in conjuntion with a QF ticket, or were you booked on sep ticket with PG?

QF23 was booked as award flight long time ago. PG268 was booked on PG website a few days ago. I generally leave ~5 hours to/from PG connections in BKK but for some reason thought 2h 20m would be ok and I wasn't keen on sitting another 2+ hours in basement waiting for the 9:35pm flight.

Not sure whether the CSM gets access to Internet mid-flight to liaise with ground staff or whether they did the arranging via ACARS.

Apparently the CSM goes to the pilots who are able to contact ground staff the old fashioned way like a telex? There must also be a printer available as the CSM was reading the options back to me.

Fantastic work by crew.

 

[QFflyermelbourne]

That rarest of bests - the QF operational upgrade occurred for me last night for the first time (as SG no less) flying SYD-MEL. Thanks to the footy fans!

 

[cmon0005]

QF23 was booked as award flight long time ago. PG268 was booked on PG website a few days ago. I generally leave ~5 hours to/from PG connections in BKK but for some reason thought 2h 20m would be ok and I wasn't keen on sitting another 2+ hours in basement waiting for the 9:35pm flight.

Wow that is impressive then, a non-QF ticketed, non-QF flight number, non-OW member, and they (QF) still managed to help with the connecting flight.

 

[Quickstatus]

Speculation: I wonder if QF has a "unofficial" SST for WP. I suspect it's the same as the SST for P1 and maybe QF is getting them to do some WP pax especially if SST P1 workloads are quiet???

 

[cmon0005]

I would not be surprised if QF has a "unofficial" SST for WP. I suspect it's the same as the SST for P1 and maybe QF is getting them to do some WP pax especially if SST workloads are quiet???

I doubt it, as it was not qf ticketed so I am guessing the only way the csm knew was due to johnk telling them? Johnk, did qf already know about your pg flight somehow? Or did you mention it on board to the staff?

 

[Quickstatus]

I doubt it, as it was not qf ticketed so I am guessing the only way the csm knew was due to johnk telling them? Johnk, did qf already know about your pg flight somehow? Or did you mention it on board to the staff?

Not necessarily as perhaps there were other QF passengers connecting to the same PG flight but on the QF codeshare ticket, so a QF/PG relationship already exists for that connection. CSM probably requested assistance from ground which resulted in JohnK dovetailed into the batch for that connection????

 

[JohnK]

Wow that is impressive then, a non-QF ticketed, non-QF flight number, non-OW member, and they (QF) still managed to help with the connecting flight.

When the CSS introduced himself I mentioned that I was connecting to PG flight to CNX. If we arrived ~1hr late it was touch and go if I had to collect bags and make check-in cutoff in 40 minutes. The CSS looked on connecting flights list and couldn't find me as I was on different PNRs.

He came around again later when flight was re-timed to arrive 1h 20m late and there was no way I would make the connection. Those on QF3440 were ok as they were already checked in. He asked for my flight number but I couldn't remember. I had resigned to the fact that I would need to see what PG ground staff would do on arrival. I had even contemplated going to Mo Chit to get overnight bus.

A short while later I had found sms from PG with flight details. Went to galley to find CSS but CSM was there. I gave her details of flight and seat number and she came back later with options of same flight without bags or next flight all free of charge.

Fantastic work and I was told it's because I am Platinum. At no stage did I ask for anything. It was all pro active assistance. Totally blown away.

 

[Basalt]

My partner and I received an op-up at the check-in desk last November with Cathay, DUS-HKG. We had Cathay ticketed Y+ seats and went to the Y+ line to check-in, which had a small 'queue' (just one person), so we were waved over to the empty J queue to check in. They checked us in and handed over two J tickets, no words at all about the tics. I don't recall how full the flight was, but J was full. I suspect we checked in quite late and were moved to allow over-booked Y to spill into Y+.

Since we fly Y+ a bit, now wondering if in the future we should loiter around the Y+ queue until the J queue is empty...

 

[cmon0005]

My partner and I received an op-up at the check-in desk last November with Cathay, DUS-HKG. We had Cathay ticketed Y+ seats and went to the Y+ line to check-in, which had a small 'queue' (just one person), so we were waved over to the empty J queue to check in. They checked us in and handed over two J tickets, no words at all about the tics.

Since we fly Y+ a bit, now wondering if in the future we should loiter around the Y+ queue until the J queue is empty...

I think you will find the 'computer' aka departure control system actually decided and processed your opup at least few hours before your flight , the checkin agent was probably none the wiser to your upgrade luck.

 

[Kefci2000]

Amazing how QF still place uniformed staff in business (cabin crew) ahead of upgrading passengers