Upgrading part of a booking problems

[henrus]

So I've booked a trip to NZ but as a multi-city flying out of Brisbane and back into the Gold Coast. This was done all in economy and is all ticketed however when booking I noticed (and should have thought about it some more) that upgrades were offered in just one direction.

Right now I've got both directions in economy but if possible I'm looking to upgrade just the way back. This is possible when booking as you get a message like this (which I'm sure many have seen before):




So because my booking is a multi-city it's not possible to manage online and I decided to call (waited 2 hours) and then spoke to someone who said if I wanted to upgrade it would have to be both directions for a total of ~$1050. I asked how come it's possible to just upgrade one direction when booking but not after and they said that it's impossible to have a booking with multiple cabins in it (lies given the booking process allows this). I followed up with the social media team who were much more helpful but said sadly after ticketing all flights have to be upgraded.

Now I've had an idea but I'm not sure it'll work, that is cancel the booking into a credit and then use the credit to book the flights I actually want. I asked the social media team if canceling my booking into a credit would attract any fees and they said no but I'm a little hesitant.

It's an Economy sale fare which as the following in the terms and conditions:

This fare may be used as a credit towards the payment of any higher fare from the point of origin, provided the new fare conditions are met. A reissue fee of AUD 125 per person applies. If the new fare is cancelled, the original cancellation fee will apply. This credit must be used within 12 months of the original tickets date of issue.

I'm also a little concerned the upgrade thing may not come up when using a credit, from memory when using a credit you have to book via a different page, does the add an upgrade come up in this process?

I'm quite keen to upgrade and would even cop the $125 fee given the CHC-SYD flight is apparently an A330 and these flights should give me enough status credits to retain gold.

 

[TheInsider]

Those upgrades are literally just the business fare when selecting the flight options, it's not a discounted rate or anything especially for you.
So when booking using your voucher, book economy on the way out and then business on the way back.

For existing bookings then normal fare rules would apply. And quite possibly multi-cabin bookings can't be processed. If you already have booked, then maybe cancel, get a voucher and then rebook?

 

[henrus]

Those upgrades are literally just the business fare when selecting the flight options, it's not a discounted rate or anything especially for you.
So when booking using your voucher, book economy on the way out and then business on the way back.

For existing bookings then normal fare rules would apply. And quite possibly multi-cabin bookings can't be processed.

Cheers, thanks. I knew it was just the business saver fare difference however it seems multi-city bookings with credits aren't possible unless the credit is issued as a TravelPass which I don't think it would be?

The whole process seems rather odd to me... Not my situation but they must have situations with people wanting to do a similar thing like their employer pays for economy and then the employee pays for the upgrade themself. They can select multiple cabin fares during booking but once ticketed it's issued you can't (although the person on the phone said multiple cabin fares are impossible full stop).

 

[henrus]

So after trying to make the change for a couple of days, I finally got a result!

I made a BPAY reservation (which holds a new booking for the day) and sent it off to Qantas saying this is what I'd like my booking to look like. Perhaps I wasn't being clear enough in the first place because in doing so they were magically able to make the change I wanted to the original booking (and canceled the BPAY reservation on hold).

The social media team (who are in Auckland) was very apologetic and friendly with the same person who'd been messaging me also calling me to process the payment from the upgrade.

In the end, I'm very happy and now fingers crossed they stick with the plan to operate the A330 from CHC-SYD.