The Operational Upgrade Thread

[bossreggie]

I am in the SYD FLounge waiting to leave for AKL to meet up with +1 who is flying direct from MEL..... I'm in J (1C as usual) +1 just texted me and he YET AGAIN got an Op-Up MEL-AKL on a Red E Deal.

He is the JAMMIEST person I ever knew!!

 

[trippin_the_rift]

The Qantas Operational Upgrade Thread

Had an op up on dec 20, bne-mel.

I'm expecting op ups on every flight in Jan.. Make it happen, thanks Qantas.

 

[samiam]

The Qantas Operational Upgrade Thread

I am in the SYD FLounge waiting to leave for AKL to meet up with +1 who is flying direct from MEL..... I'm in J (1C as usual) +1 just texted me and he YET AGAIN got an Op-Up MEL-AKL on a Red E Deal.

He is the JAMMIEST person I ever knew!!

Or gives the staff that special/cheeky/innocent/sophisticated (strike out that which is non-applicable) look ! 

 

[dfcatch]

I too had an OPUP on AA last week. Was the 24th Nov (busiest air travel day of the year) from LAX to LAS (probably one of the least visited destinations for Thanksgiving; I assume lots of transfers to other places).

Pre-selected 20B (exit on an MD80), beep at gate with 'DUPLICATE!' showing on the BP reader. Agent came back with boarding pass saying "we've got you a more comfortable seat here sir!" and gave me 4B.

whY was heaving, F had 4 other people in it. I can't believe there were no other EXP's on the flight and I got bumped. Thanks AA!

BOOM!

Not officially part of my SC run, but a side-trip back from YYZ-LAX to rejoin QF to BNE and I just got paged in the AC and a nice op-up

Like you Drewbles, I'm assuming there are no EXP's on the flight being NYE. And of course AA treating OW Emeralds quite favourably.

Thanks AA!!

 

[Smackbum]

A bit old news now, but when I checked in at Sydney to QF87 on the 15th of December I found that the entire family had been upgraded to Business for our flight to Hong Kong. Most unexpected as the other 3 were on classic awards and I was the only paid seat.

We connected through to LHR on QF29 for which we were back in economy, but the good mood continued on regardless. I'm hoping the luck continues on the homeward legs.

 

[serfty]

... And of course AA treating OW Emeralds quite favourably.

Thanks AA!!

I believe AA's computer core systems cannot differentiate between the emeralds of AA and other oneworld emeralds.

Or to put it another way, these systems code all Emeralds as EXP.

 

[dfcatch]

The Qantas Operational Upgrade Thread

I believe AA's computer core systems cannot differentiate between the emeralds of AA and other oneworld emeralds.

Or to put it another way, these systems code all Emeralds as EXP.

Cheers Serfty, this makes sense based on what is printed on BPs as well as the fact that the computer always connects me to the EXP desk when I call in relation to a booking that has my QF number.

Not complaining though

 

[Batesy]

Not quite a QF upgrade but Mrs Batesy and I were upgraded to F on BA from LHR to JFK. Beep at gate. Was part of our J oneworld award so very good. The first FA told me that Y was chockers. Very good service and dining.

 

[kirk7]

Nice.

I remember last year. I took the 150 pound upgrade from Y to Y+ and then got beeped at the gate and it was then J.

Best £150 ever spent lol

 

[guybaxy]

Upgraded QF001 28 December 2010 SYD-BKK from Y to Y+

Was told at gate Y was still showing minus 3 in Y

 

[Batesy]

Not quite a QF upgrade but Mrs Batesy and I were upgraded to F on BA from LHR to JFK. Beep at gate. Was part of our J oneworld award so very good. The first FA told me that Y was chockers. Very good service and dining.

Got another one with BA again. SIN-SYD on BA15. Both of us upgraded at check in.
Great service from a fantastic purser.

 

[Ghostdunks]

Just returned from holiday in HK. Had a flight from MEL-SYD-HK for the outbound leg on 20 Dec, and came back 6 Jan on a direct flight from HK-MEL, booked as red e-deals in economy about 2 weeks before the trip commenced.

For both international legs, I got upgraded from economy to business, score! Both times, I found out I got upgraded at check-in. On the HK-MEL leg, they put me in business class on upper deck, first time I've gone upstairs, also pretty much everyone had two seats to themselves, ie. no one was sitting next to anyone, so that was quite nice.

Also, both times, my bags were one of the first out on the carousel, so that made it really quick transitions once I arrived at my destination.

I've been upgraded quite a few times on my domestic flights(fly from melb-syd and back once a week) as well, about one upgrade every 3 or 4 flights.

I have no evidence for this, or maybe I've just been lucky, but I reckon the frequency of my upgrades have something to do with the JASA's I flew last september to hit platinum. Not sure if that has somehow skewed me over into a "more valuable" segment or anything like that, but I've got friends who have been platinum a lot longer than I have(and have never flown business), and also flew to HK(on slightly different dates), and they didn't get upgraded. I seem to have been upgraded more times than my colleagues flying up to sydney as well, so not sure what the algorithm is they're using to select op-ups, but maybe I have managed to be segmented into a higher value group or smething.

 

[JohnK]

Op-up on 26 December QF009 MEL-SIN from economy to premium economy. Got paged in the F lounge in MEL and given my new boarding pass.

 

[medhead]

Op-up on 26 December QF009 MEL-SIN from economy to premium economy. Got paged in the F lounge in MEL and given my new boarding pass.

Nice. Qantas is showing you some love. :shock:

 

[JohnK]

Nice. Qantas is showing you some love. :shock:

Some love is better than nothing although serfty did predict that flight was going to yield some op-ups. Even some Silver appeared to get op-up.

Wish I knew the trick to choosing flights with greater chance of op-ups for my travel patterns....

 

[MarcB]

Travelled with +1 on delayed QF15 to LAX on 22 December. Had a paid Y+ seat in skybeds. At the gate our BPs beeped and we were given new boarding passes for J in F seats! First time in zone one in a four class bird. Seats 3E and F in the middle - not bad as there were other couples travelling together spread across the aisles/windows.

Not an op-up, but on the return we got points upgrade from Y to J from JFK to SYD. They left 36 PAX in LA though so probably could have scored another freebie. With that said, QF have been very kind with the OPUPs the last couple of years so I don't mind having to pay for one.

 

[guybaxy]

I was op up from PE to J on sin/syd 9 January 2011, the PE UG was a points UG confirmed -20 hrs out.

My partners was travelling on a separate PNR and was not UG to J but we asked in the Sin F lounge and they op up as well.

Thanks Qantas

 

[Baysider]

Does anyone have an opinion about whether online check-in reduces your chances of an upgrade?

 

[MelUser]

My view is that online checkin does reduces chances of an OPUP.

But, checking in on line decreases your chances of being denied boarding if flight is oversold.

On Friday nights out of LAX there are often 30-50 passengers who stay in hotels and have to travel the next night.

I would think though that Golds/Platinums would be low on the list of passengers who don't get to travel.

 

[reductionist]

Does anyone have an opinion about whether online check-in reduces your chances of an upgrade?

Wouldn't mind hearing some thoughts about this too.

I am specifically interested in knowing if my chances are increased if I check-in at a counter due to the fact that sometimes the check-in staff seem to have some level of control over who gets upgraded?

There are certainly examples on AFF of PAX being "silently" upgraded when they scan their QFF card at the gate after doing OLCI. However, all that proves is that op-ups are still possible (and not how op-up chances are affected [if at all]).