Upgrade possibility of Bronze member having bought classic reward international flight

[airstriker]

Just wanted canvas people's thoughts of possibility of upgrade to Business.

I booked 4 classic reward flights on Qantas which leaves on 23 March - so in 2 days. When I booked this in August 2022, I also put in an upgrade request for all four of us - parents and two kids.

There is now less than 48 hours till departure and I can see 7 seats in business.

1. What do ppl think of my chances are of an upgrade? I understand that Gold and Silver will have priority over me, as well as ppl on higher economy fare. So is my chances close to zero or something like 10-20%?

2. I don't know if they will offer just one or fewer seats (instead of all 4), but if they just offer upgrade for 1 person, what will ppl do? I'm the dad in this scenario and my kids are 12 and 15.

 

[cjd600]

If you are all on the same booking it will be all 4 of you, or none. Not 1 or 2.
Would think 4 upgrades on International J would be unlikely.....but you never know.....

 

[defurax]

You don't mention the destination, but your chances are close to zero for most QF routes at the moment, but you could always be lucky. Ahead of you are CL P1, CL, P1, WP, SG and PS, so that's a lot of people!
As a group of 4, if booked together, you can only be upgraded together.

 

[airstriker]

If you are all on the same booking it will be all 4 of you, or none. Not 1 or 2.
Would think 4 upgrades on International J would be unlikely.....but you never know.....

That's good. It rules out the possibility of intra family knife fighting

 

[airstriker]

You don't mention the destination, but your chances are close to zero for most QF routes at the moment, but you could always be lucky. Ahead of you are CL P1, CL, P1, WP, SG and PS, so that's a lot of people!
As a group of 4, if booked together, you can only be upgraded together.

Yeah I agree it will be low, but since it's now less than 2 days left, wouldn't CL P1 WP already been upgraded? So I'm just waiting for Gold and Silver?

 

[DAC1]

Yeah I agree it will be low, but since it's now less than 2 days left, wouldn't CL P1 WP already been upgraded? So I'm just waiting for Gold and Silver?

Possibly but not always.

 

[defurax]

Yeah I agree it will be low, but since it's now less than 2 days left, wouldn't CL P1 WP already been upgraded? So I'm just waiting for Gold and Silver?

When you say 7 seats available in business, do you mean 7 empty seats on the seat map or the flight has at least 7 business seats for sale (e.g. J7C2D0I0)?

 

[airstriker]

When you say 7 seats available in business, do you mean 7 empty seats on the seat map or the flight has at least 7 business seats for sale (e.g. J7C2D0I0)?

7 empty seats on the seat map. So after seeing your reply, I then queried 7 adults for business on the flight and it also showed as being available. I'm not sure what J7C2D010 is..

 

[jpp42]

I'm not sure what J7C2D010 is..

They're referring to the fare class codes within the GDS or ExpertFlyer, a tool many people here use for gauging how full a flight is.

If you share the date and flight number, someone may be able to look up the "loads" for the flight and see how many tickets are still available for sale. Final upgrades aren't given out until the last minute to allow for possible last minute sales. So if there are still higher status people who have requested upgrades, they will still always be ahead of you in the queue.

I certainly would assume you won't be upgraded, but if it happens it's a nice surprise. No need to get too concerned with this I think, there's nothing you can do to change the situation.

 

[RichardMEL]

7 empty seats on the seat map. So after seeing your reply, I then queried 7 adults for business on the flight and it also showed as being available. I'm not sure what J7C2D010 is..

That is an availability display from a service like ExpertFlyer that many of us use as a guide to sales availability as seat maps can only be used as a guide and not a sure count of free seats.

4 seats for Bronze FF are going to be a stretch, but if you indicate the fligh we might have some more useful opinions to make.

And while the window for Platinums and above has been opened already, that doesn't mean they all have been processed (again depending on the route) and there's still silvers etc to go.

Not saying it's no chance, but you're down the bottom of the pile of requests unfortunately. I do wish you luck.

 

[airstriker]

It's QF87 Sydney to Seoul on 23 March.

 

[MelbFlyer]

I think as a Bronze QFF member, it'll be hard enough to get a points upgrade for yourself / 1 passenger, let alone 4.

 

[kookaburra75]

It's QF87 Sydney to Seoul on 23 March.

You might be lucky - althuogh I think four upgrades would be a stretch. It's showing as J9 C9 D9 I0 at the moment.

 

[airstriker]

Thanks for all the replies. I have now subscribed to expertflyer and have better understanding of the flight availability. What I'm gathering is that it's better than zero but don't get my hopes up as it's 4 bronze member..

 

[DAC1]

Y is also 0 so it is very full down the back

 

[UP4014]

I’d say remote, even as platinum I don’t always get the upgrades I want.

 

[ronlon]

Hi airstriker given your flight is in a few days what exactly are you trying to ascertain in relation to the chances of a four passenger upgrade ? Are you prepared to separate one or more passengers from the booking and only request an upgrade for them to maximise the chances ?

I agree with the others that chances are slim for the entire family upgrade but you could stay with the kids in economy and request an upgrade for Mrs airstriker who can saviour a chardonnay in business class. Next time it can be your turn for business upgrade and a bloody mary . If you do decide to split the booking make sure you call Qantas to link the bookings.

 

[airstriker]

Hi airstriker given your flight is in a few days what exactly are you trying to ascertain in relation to the chances of a four passenger upgrade ? Are you prepared to separate one or more passengers from the booking and only request an upgrade for them to maximise the chances ?

I agree with the others that chances are slim for the entire family upgrade but you could stay with the kids in economy and request an upgrade for Mrs airstriker who can saviour a chardonnay in business class. Next time it can be your turn for business upgrade and a bloody mary . If you do decide to split the booking make sure you call Qantas to link the bookings

Thanks Ronlon
I'm not really trying to do anything. All I wanted to know was the realistic chance of an upgrade for a bronze FF for this flight given that there seemed to be some J availability in the flight with only couple of days left.

Plenty of members have been helpful with their probing responses and I now have even better understanding of expertflyer and this whole points game.

 

[ZenFlyer]

Thanks Ronlon
I'm not really trying to do anything. All I wanted to know was the realistic chance of an upgrade for a bronze FF for this flight given that there seemed to be some J availability in the flight with only couple of days left.

Plenty of members have been helpful with their probing responses and I now have even better understanding of expertflyer and this whole points game.

I can't speak to your chances of success, but will say that one nice thing about Qantas in comparison to many other (US-based) carriers is that unsold premium seats are allocated first to those requesting classic reward upgrades rather than those seeking cash upgrades. You may be low in the pecking order as Bronze but at least there is a predictable process being followed. Wishing you luck with your request!

 

[RichardMEL]

QF87 is now showing J2 C2 D0 I0. while the seatmap still shows more unallocated seats, So if the upgrades have not been granted at this point, I think there's more chance of a lottery win.

Happy travels to Korea.