Rex may not yet have a frequent flyer program or competitive airport lounges, but its airfares on capital city routes are affordable and its on-board service is pretty good. Plus, on domestic flights operated by Boeing 737s, many Rex passengers have been lucky enough to get randomly upgraded for free to Business Class!
Since Rex began flying Boeing 737s on capital city routes in March 2021, many of its flights have departed with full Business Class cabins. Many of these seats are being given away to passengers booked in Economy as a free upgrade.
Rex has 8 Business Class seats on its ex-Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The physical seats have been re-upholstered but are otherwise the same as those found on Virgin Australia. Rex’s Saab 340s used on regional routes only have Economy seating.
Numerous AFF members have been among the beneficiaries of random free upgrades on Rex Boeing 737 flights. Here are just a few examples posted on our forum…
After having paid the extra $15 to upgrade to extra legroom, managed to jag an upgrade to J by approaching the gate agent as I’d misplaced my boarding pass! Her comment was “I was hoping I didn’t have to find someone to upgrade…” – makes me think that they’re trying to make J look full and hopefully jag some QF or VA types across in the meantime. Having said that, until they improve their lounge and FF products they’re not going to attract anyone except on price.
– BRIS_VA_HAWK, 4 May 2022
I would not have purchased a J ticket on Rex using cash. I got to to experience Rex J because of a free upgrade. Some pax (as always) started queuing on the business class check-in and I overheard the check-in agent talking to her supervisor, that there were no commercial J tickets on yesterday’s flight. All the 8 seats were complimentary upgrades offered to Y pax.
Now, on what grounds were the upgrades offered, I’m not sure. But bought the 2nd cheapest fare on Y and was upgraded.
– Ade, 4 March 2022
Tried my luck checking in at the normal counter in MEL when EF showed an empty J cabin. Instead forced to use the self serve kiosks, as were other passengers. Then before boarding commenced they randomly approached 8 people to “re-assign” their seats into Row 1 & 2.
– Harrison_133, 14 February 2022
I flew to ADL on Tuesday. An operational upgrade to business class was very nice.
– Fortunatecrow, 9 July 2021
The random free upgrades have been happening for quite some time – in fact, they date all the way back to the inaugural Rex Melbourne-Sydney flight on 1 March 2021! This isn’t just a one-off thing that happens occasionally when a flight is oversold in Economy – it seems to be unofficial Rex policy.
Why is Rex giving so many free upgrades?
It’s not exactly clear why Rex is upgrading Economy passengers on flights that aren’t full. Perhaps they’re hoping that by giving passengers an opportunity to try Business Class, they’ll like it enough that they’ll want to pay for it next time. This could work for some people as Rex’s on-board Business Class service is pretty good, although most people who regularly buy Business airfares would choose Qantas or Virgin for the ability to earn frequent flyer points, status credits and greater schedule flexibility.
Another theory, when Rex first launched Boeing 737 operations, was that it wanted to ensure at least half of the Business seats per flight were filled so that staff had the opportunity to practise working in the Business Class cabin. Alternatively, perhaps Rex just wants to give the impression its Business Class is selling well in order to make its expansion into domestic jet operations look more successful?
Who is getting upgraded?
It’s also not clear what criteria Rex uses to select which passengers to upgrade. By some accounts, it seems that staff have just randomly selected people who happened to be nearby when the upgrades needed to be allocated.
On most other airlines, free upgrades would only be given out if needed for operational reasons. In this case, upgrade priority would normally go to top-tier frequent flyers or those who’ve paid the most for their Economy tickets.
In the United States, the major airlines often fill empty Business or First Class seats by upgrading top-tier frequent flyers for free. But in the US, the upgrade priority is clearly defined and based on passengers’ status levels. Rex doesn’t have a loyalty program yet, so doesn’t really have an accurate way of knowing who its most valuable customers are.
A nice thing for lucky passengers, but not exactly profitable
Rex passengers on upgraded tickets have “catering not guaranteed” stamped on their boarding passes, although they do often get a meal and full drinks service anyway if there’s enough food loaded.
On one hand, this generous policy is a very nice thing for the lucky Economy passengers who get upgraded for free. On the other hand, some passengers could be a tad annoyed if they paid full-price for a Business Class ticket and then every other seat in the cabin was filled by people on free upgrades. This could result in less attentive service for the paying passenger/s and a lower chance of an empty neighbouring seat.
Clearly, it would be better financially for Rex if the airline filled its Business Class cabin with full-fare paying customers. Failing this, it’s surprising that Rex hasn’t tried filling empty Business seats by offering customers booked in Economy the opportunity to bid for an upgrade. Many other airlines, including Virgin Australia and Qantas, convert empty premium seats into incremental revenue using the “bid upgrade” platform provided by Plusgrade. This is much more profitable than just giving away empty seats for free!
Perhaps when the airline finally launches its Rex Flyer loyalty program, it might start offering upgrades in exchange for frequent flyer points or as an advertised benefit for top-tier members.
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.
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