YASA LAX-MEL upgradable?

[TimB]

Hi,

I just booked an ASA in Y LAX-MEL for June; actually it was points+pay, but I don't believe that makes a difference.

Before confirming and paying, I made sure to check the conditions that it was upgradable:



I also viewed the page source, which indicated that it would book into X class, which is excluded from being upgradable, I believe. So, already I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to upgrade.

Then, after confirming, paying, entering APIS info, and allocating my seat (71D), I went to manage your booking and tried the upgrade button, and got the response "Upgrade - not available", with a list of reasons that included "does not have an upgradeable class".

So, where do I stand on this? I booked the fare knowing that 71D was available, and that if upgrading wasn't possible or didn't happen, at least I'd have some legroom. However, the fare conditions page clearly said that "Flight Upgrade Awards are eligible on this fare". Has anyone been in this situation and had success in requesting and getting an upgrade?

 

[AnonymousCoward]

I haven't been in this situation. Reading qantas.com.au:

Frequent Flyer - About the Program - Terms & Conditions says that only ASAs booked in Z (PE) and U (J) are upgradeable

Frequent Flyer - Using Points - Qantas & Jetstar Any Seat Awards also says that Any Seat awards in X are not upgradeable.

You could ring the call center and argue the point that your misled by the booking engine. They might let you cancel the ticket and get your money back

 

[Oneworldplus2]

International Fares
"Generally speaking", l have found that when there is a SALE fare on, the Red eDeal fares are upgradeable and are usually about $200-$400 more expensive than the SALE fare.


Call QF tomorrow!

If you don't get the right answer, hang up and try again. I had an issue with a QF booking and called within 24hours, spoke to 3 different QF reps and the 3rd one sorted me out. Don't feel rejected if you get denied first time round, try again. The QF lady that helped me out said that the Platinum desk has more "authority" than other desks, she was very, very helpful. If l would have remembered her name l would have sent her chocolates and flowers, seriously.

Good luck and happy travels

 

[MarcB]

It could also be that your booking had not been ticketed. If you attempted to upgrade your booking as soon as you had made it, it is possible the ticketing had not occurred. Until such time as the ticketing occurs, you can not request an upgrade online - it is considered 'unpaid'. Put your booking reference into checkmytrip.com and see if it returns e-ticket numbers. If it does and you still can't request online, then you should call QF.

 

[TonyHancock]

I went to manage your booking and tried the upgrade button, and got the response "Upgrade - not available", with a list of reasons that included "does not have an upgradeable class".

I'm getting the same message on my UK JASA's for later in the year. (I'm also getting it for a paid J flight to the UK in July but that is another story.)

I called up the premium desk and got nowhere, but will continue to follow up until I get to speak to someone at QF that understands the rules.

(I don't mean that in a nasty way, it is just that there seem to be a heap of QF CSA's that are perhaps not as well trained as they might be.)

 

[oz_mark]

I'm getting the same message on my UK JASA's for later in the year. (I'm also getting it for a paid J flight to the UK in July but that is another story.)

I called up the premium desk and got nowhere, but will continue to follow up until I get to speak to someone at QF that understands the rules.

(I don't mean that in a nasty way, it is just that there seem to be a heap of QF CSA's that are perhaps not as well trained as they might be.)

JASA's are generally upgradeable (U is ok for upgrade when booked as an ASA), while the same is not the case for a YASA (X is not valid for upgrade).

 

[TimB]

International Fares
"Generally speaking", l have found that when there is a SALE fare on, the Red eDeal fares are upgradeable and are usually about $200-$400 more expensive than the SALE fare.

Call QF tomorrow!

If you don't get the right answer, hang up and try again. I had an issue with a QF booking and called within 24hours, spoke to 3 different QF reps and the 3rd one sorted me out. Don't feel rejected if you get denied first time round, try again. The QF lady that helped me out said that the Platinum desk has more "authority" than other desks, she was very, very helpful.

One complicating factor is that the upgrade window for my flight hasn't opened yet. (In fact, I only tried clicking the "upgrade" button to find out when the upgrade window would open, so I could make a note to apply when it did.) I'm a bit hesitant to try calling in case they fob me off with "well, the upgrade window hasn't opened yet", which of course is true, but I think irrelevant.

Another factor is that I'm not sure I'll actually have the points for the upgrade when it comes time. But to request the upgrade I only need the points now, so it shouldn't matter at this point.

The place where Qantas are opening themselves up for problems in situations like this is that they don't prominently display the fare class before booking. (In fact, is it displayed at all? I don't count having to read the HTML source of the web page as "displaying" it.) It's all very well listing what fare classes are eligible for upgrades and which aren't, but if they then list in the fare conditions prior to booking confirmation that the fare is upgradable, but it books into a non-upgradable class, I don't think they have a leg to stand on. Thoughts?

 

[oz_mark]

The place where Qantas are opening themselves up for problems in situations like this is that they don't prominently display the fare class before booking. (In fact, is it displayed at all? I don't count having to read the HTML source of the web page as "displaying" it.) It's all very well listing what fare classes are eligible for upgrades and which aren't, but if they then list in the fare conditions prior to booking confirmation that the fare is upgradable, but it books into a non-upgradable class, I don't think they have a leg to stand on. Thoughts?

My view is that as Qantas go to great lengths to hide the actual booking class, you can only rely on the on-screen descriptions of the fare. You have no other way of verifying whether what they are saying is correct or not - you have to rely on it.

If the description says it is upgradeable, then they should accept your upgrade request. Either that, or make ot clear up front what your booking class is.

 

[serfty]

I'm getting the same message on my UK JASA's for later in the year. (I'm also getting it for a paid J flight to the UK in July but that is another story.)

I called up the premium desk and got nowhere, but will continue to follow up until I get to speak to someone at QF that understands the rules.

(I don't mean that in a nasty way, it is just that there seem to be a heap of QF CSA's that are perhaps not as well trained as they might be.)

JASA's are indeed upgradeable, however the online utility will not allow a request to be waitlisted.

You do need to call Qantas premium to request this.

I do not think they get many such requests. Make sure you advise the agent that you are requesting to upgrade an "ANY SEAT AWARD" - this should prompt some training memory (from last year?). Otherwise they may look at your booking, see U class and simply state it's not upgradeable.

 

[TonyHancock]

JASA's are indeed upgradeable, however the online utility will not allow a request to be waitlisted.

You do need to call Qantas premium to request this.

I do not think they get many such requests. Make sure you advise the agent that you are requesting to upgrade an "ANY SEAT AWARD" - this should prompt some training memory (from last year?). Otherwise they may look at your booking, see U class and simply state it's not upgradeable.

Thanks for that serfty. I'll give them a call.

 

[pshepvic]

I just booked an ASA in Y LAX-MEL for June; actually it was points+pay, but I don't believe that makes a difference.

Be aware that ASA's and Points+Pay are the same but different! ASAs have a minimum number of points (generally equal to the Classic Award redemption rate for the same flight, but goes up as availability reduces). Whereas Points+Pay you can use as little as 5000 points. However once Points+Pay reaches the same number of points as the ASA, the Points+Cost becomes equal to the same ASA.

Here is a comparison I just did for QF412 on June 1 this year:

- Pay: $79 (+ credit card fee)
- Classic Award: 8000 points + $10.84 in taxes or 11,000 points (but no SC or points earn of course)
- ASA: Min 8000 points + $19.72 through to 10,074 points + $0
- Points+Pay: Min 5000 points + $41.95 through to 10,074 points + $0

Remember of course that ASA's and Points plus Pay earn Points and SCs as well, so you'd get back 1000 points plus 10 SCs, whereas on the Classic you wouldn't.

Also - and I may need someone to confirm this as I'm not 100% sure - Points+Pay are treated as if the whole booking was paid for using "cash". If you cancel, and it is refundable, you would get back the value of the fare that Qantas allocates to it (or get a credit voucher). Whereas with refundable ASAs, you can call the call centre and get a refund of points (plus any amount in $), rather than just a "Cash value" as allocated by Qantas.

 

[TimB]

Now that the upgrade window has opened for my flight, I've called QF (WP desk) to ask about the upgrade.

The first person I spoke to said she thought she could put the request in, and then quoted 18,000 points to upgrade to PE (which should have been 45,000, since I wasn't on a full economy fare). I mentioned that (which perhaps was the stupidest thing I've done), and she went off to check with a supervisor. At this point, I checked online and saw that the request had been entered, but for 45,000.

When she came back, she then said she'd need to transfer me to the Platinum desk (which is strange, since I'd called that number), and before she did, she'd undo what she'd done. I checked online again, and the upgrade request had been removed.

When I spoke to the Platinum guy, he insisted that since it was an ASA, it wasn't eligible for Upgrade Awards -- even though I protested that the fare conditions said explicitly that it was. He ended up quoting me $2,385 for a cash upgrade to PE, which I declined.

I asked about cancelling the fare, and he quoted me a cash amount credit (rather than cash plus points), along with the change fee and service fee.

I haven't decided where to go from here. There's no harm in calling back as others have done and trying to get a different answer. But if I can't get the upgrade request, I think I'll just accept seat 71D, and entertain the miniscule hope that I get an op-up on the day.

 

[samh004]

I haven't decided where to go from here. There's no harm in calling back as others have done and trying to get a different answer. But if I can't get the upgrade request, I think I'll just accept seat 71D, and entertain the miniscule hope that I get an op-up on the day.

It’s a nice seat

Just pray the person in 71E doesn’t feel the need to climb over you for the whole flight!

 

[dfcatch]

Now that the upgrade window has opened for my flight, I've called QF (WP desk) to ask about the upgrade.

The first person I spoke to said she thought she could put the request in, and then quoted 18,000 points to upgrade to PE (which should have been 45,000, since I wasn't on a full economy fare). I mentioned that (which perhaps was the stupidest thing I've done), and she went off to check with a supervisor. At this point, I checked online and saw that the request had been entered, but for 45,000.

When she came back, she then said she'd need to transfer me to the Platinum desk (which is strange, since I'd called that number), and before she did, she'd undo what she'd done. I checked online again, and the upgrade request had been removed.

When I spoke to the Platinum guy, he insisted that since it was an ASA, it wasn't eligible for Upgrade Awards -- even though I protested that the fare conditions said explicitly that it was. He ended up quoting me $2,385 for a cash upgrade to PE, which I declined.

I asked about cancelling the fare, and he quoted me a cash amount credit (rather than cash plus points), along with the change fee and service fee.

I haven't decided where to go from here. There's no harm in calling back as others have done and trying to get a different answer. But if I can't get the upgrade request, I think I'll just accept seat 71D, and entertain the miniscule hope that I get an op-up on the day.

Call back, quote the fare conditions, get the upgrade request

(if you do want the upgrade that is..??)

 

[Will]

This happened to me last year. I had a classic award SYD-JNB but cancelled it when I found a YASA that was advertised as upgradeable. Same result - couldn't waitlist for the upgrade

I called them and their solution was to give me a full refund, refund the 5,000 point cancellation fee for the classic award, and rebook the classic. AND they promised to fix their IT error.

Obviously they haven't fixed the system. I'm sorry it happened to you too. I think you should be able to demand they alter it to a classic seat rate given they sold it to you under false pretences (sale of item not as described is pretty clear cut when it comes to consumer protection).

 

[serfty]

Note that YASA are generally NOT upgradeable.

FWIW, the upgrade promotion that finished yesterday indeed excluded X class YASAs.

 

[Will]

Note that YASA are generally NOT upgradeable.

Indeed, which is what I expected to find. I was however extremely careful to take screenshots at each stage.

Very disappointing they still haven't updated the fare conditions.