The 'science' of op-up?

[vinilink]

Hello, newbie here

Have a friend who works at QC, would he have any influence to upgrading me from Y to J or does he has to get an approval from back office?

Cheers,
David

 

[straitman]

Hello, newbie here

Have a friend who works at QC, would he have any influence to upgrading me from Y to J or does he has to get an approval from back office?

Cheers,
David

vinilink,

Welcome to AFF.

Maybe the best answer is for you to ask your friend, see what the results are and then report back to us.

As the forum has said the op-up is a dark science, part of the yield management equation and as such is not well understood by many in the outside world :!:

 

[vinilink]

vinilink,

Welcome to AFF.

Maybe the best answer is for you to ask your friend, see what the results are and then report back to us.

As the forum has said the op-up is a dark science, part of the yield management equation and as such is not well understood by many in the outside world :!:

When I get an answer, will post it. But this would be sometime middle of next year as I will fly back to sydney then.
Used to be a QP member and was well worth it since I travelled quite often and to compensate my extra luggages allowences of carrying wines!
Now, my friend pass me 5 complimentary invitation card everytime I see him.

 

[MelUser]

Recent OP UP report.

MEL-LAX - party of 8 - 2 bookings, same flight, all in PE. The party of 2 - 1 Plat OPUP to Business, the party of 6, 2 plats, stayed in PE, albeit PE with business class seating.

 

[dajop]

OK, I was beginning to doubt if international op-up's really existed. I have been flying not infrequently internationally for the last 10 years or so and never ever had an op-up from Y to J cabin on an international flight. I've had a small number on short hop domestic upgrades (MEL-SYD and MEL-BNE). However, in the last 11 days I've now had 3 Y->J op-ups on 3 different airlines (EK MEL-SIN, QF SIN-BOM and SQ CGK-SIN). Can't figure out why the op-up gods have suddenly been smiling on me, but I'm not going to complain!

 

[coyote25]

OPUP Update: Well travelling on an award ticket MEL-LAX both of us got an upgrade to PE. This is the second time in a row I've been OPUP of this particular flight.

 

[MelUser]

Was this PE with PE seating or PE with Business seating?

 

[Febs]

Don't PE pax receive J meals and beverages anyway?

If so, with the exception of PJ's and arrival champagne, what's the difference between J, and PE in a J seat?

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[NM]

Don't PE pax receive J meals and beverages anyway?

Beverages yes, meals no. The PE meals are different to J meals. Last week they ran out of the beef dish in PE and the last PE passenger to be served was brought the beef option from business class. Both had rice and the same vegetables, but PE was stir-fry beef strips and business was a single beef fillet. PE is served on the tray in a foil-topped rectangular dish (foil removed on serving similar to economy meals), while business meal was served on a round white plate.

If so, with the exception of PJ's and arrival champagne, what's the difference between J, and PE in a J seat?

PE also gets choice of champagne, juice or water pre-take-off. They also get the same noise cancelling headphones.

Another difference is that PE passengers are supposed to use the economy toilets in the cabin behind PE.

 

[cmon0005]

OK, I was beginning to doubt if international op-up's really existed. I have been flying not infrequently internationally for the last 10 years or so and never ever had an op-up from Y to J cabin on an international flight. I've had a small number on short hop domestic upgrades (MEL-SYD and MEL-BNE). However, in the last 11 days I've now had 3 Y->J op-ups on 3 different airlines (EK MEL-SIN, QF SIN-BOM and SQ CGK-SIN). Can't figure out why the op-up gods have suddenly been smiling on me, but I'm not going to complain!

wow thats not bad at all! Can you give us some details, eg. what type of fare were you on? what status frequent flyer are you? .etc.etc

 

[drewbles]

wow thats not bad at all! Can you give us some details, eg. what type of fare were you on? what status frequent flyer are you? .etc.etc

See on the left hand side of his post:

Member of: QF-WP SQ-PPS Gold-NZ/HH/comp DJ

He's a WP

 

[mickyluv]

Hi all, thought I'd share my recent experiences with op-up's on QF, having received two from my last two flights.

I've had Gold status for the past 2 years or so and was Silver for a year before that. Before that I was a Bronze member since '96.

I travel mostly international (SYD to SIN or HKG) and on average have been travelling every 2-3months for the past year. This has been all Econ class (thanks to the GFC). In Oct this year, QF were kind enough to extend my Gold status for another year as I was about 100 SC's short of retaining. No email asking for upcoming flights, just a letter in the mail saying that they had extended it.

I've also received op-up's from Econ to PE on my last two flights. One from HKG to SYD in Sept this year and the other from SYD to SIN last Thursday on the A380.

Both flights were very full and the SYD-SIN flight, according to seatcounter, Econ was full but there were still 9+ seats in PE & J classes the day before. When I checked seatcounter a few hours before the flight, these had all gone so I suspected there had been some upgrades (i'm not sure if this would show on seatcounter though). At check-in I was given the same seat that was in my booking (Row 56) so I was a little disappointed that I was not lucky enough to get upgraded, until I went to board and my boarding pass beeped. On the table in front of the girl was at least 10-15 new boarding passes so it looked like they had a few seat re-assignments (although I don't know if they were all upgrades).

So to back up what others have said, it definitely seems to me that the best way to maximise your chances is to pick a flight where Econ is full and J and/or PE still have plenty of seats. Flying at a quieter business travel time (i.e. mid-week) you would have more chance of finding flights that meet that requirement.

It is also pretty clear that status does matter, although it is possible to get op-up's without being a Platinum.

 

[dajop]

See on the left hand side of his post:

Member of: QF-WP SQ-PPS Gold-NZ/HH/comp DJ

He's a WP

Yes indeed, WP on QF helped, and PPS on SQ helped - mind you before this week these haven't helped at all! And on Emirates, which had the longest flight upgraded - I'm almost a nobody (the only thing stopping me from being a complete nobody is that I do have a skywards account with a small 20K points balance - but not tier whatsoever).

The other thing that really helped was travelling solo on flights overbooked in Y.

 

[JohnK]

Was on a 767-336 SYD-BNE flight last night with business class full and ~3 vacant seats in WHY.

Was business class full due to op-ups? I only heard one person paged in the lounge. Qantas must be doing extremely well with loads recently as most fliihts appear to be full. Any thoughts?