Susiew237

my partner and i are now both silver (he has been silver for about 6 mths and I have just made it) We are flying to the UK later this year and he has already booked a recognition upgrade for our leg from AKL-HKG. I notice that because we are on the same booking reference it shows me as "upgrade requested" for that leg as well.

my question is, should I now ask for an upgrade on the HKG-LHR leg in the faint hope that we will get an upgrade both legs, or am I better to put in my upgrade request for AKL-HKG as well so that it is clear that 2 silvers are asking (this in the hope that we will be more likely to get an upgrade). I realise gold and gold elites are going to get first preference, but I am wondering if say 2 silver requests will usurp a gold request who is travelling with a non status partner.

We dont go until Sept so who knows what one up bidding puts into the mix.

samnz

My understanding based on the T&Cs and talking to the call centre is that under the current system (i.e. no OneUp), someone with status is entitled to bring one traveller with them on their priority when using APD to upgrade. So say someone with a gold recognition upgrade applied for that and used APD for their non-status partner, both would clear as a gold recognition upgrade. You could use this to your advantage if you are trying to upgrade two legs - in each case apply for one silver recog. upgrade and one APD upgrade.

Others may correct me if I have misunderstood, but I have done exactly this and had a silver recog. upgrade for me and APD upgrade for my partner clear together in the silver timeframe, so I think I've got it right.

As you point out though, who knows with OneUps in the mix...

Shazzadude

Well the Gold person's partner wouldn't be able put an upgrade through anyhow, so the most likely result (presuming there's two seats left) would be one of you two sitting next to the Gold person I would think.

Susiew237

Ok think I have it sussed now. We want to use our recognition upgrades for the two of us, not any APD (as we are travelling in sept, we wouldnt be able to do a standby request anyway). Also if we tried to do a confirmed upgrade now, we would need to change the booking class we are in.

So for now I am just going to apply for my silver recognition upgrade on the same sector as my partner. Of course, as I dont "officially" become silver until 1 June, I cant apply for it now. What a crock of sh*t that is seriously. Either I'm silver now or I'm not! The woman I spoke to at anz had a real attitude with me as if to say how dare you even think you can apply for an upgrade now, which was somewhat disappointing as nearly everybody I have dealt with on the air nz 0800 no has been exceedingly helpful. Dont suppose it matters too much, I'm applying for it several months ahead).

Shazzadude

She's correct on when you can use the upgrade, it's always from the effective start date of your tier year. She shouldn't have made you feel small about it though. I'd say try the silver e-mail address for stuff like that from now on, they're a lot more helpful-I had a silver upgrade confirmed on the spot with them (a couple of days out from my flight).

samnz

My father had a similar experience - overnight flight from Perth and the silver status ticked over at midnight (ie mid-flight) - they wouldn't let him use the upgrade as he was a couple of hours too early!

Apologies - misunderstood what you were applying for in your original post

Susiew237

No doubt when i get my pack I'll get that helpful silver email address! I just wanted to get in and get the upgrade booked asap and be head of the line so to speak .. I really went out of my way to get to silver status just in the hope that we would both be able to use the recognition upgrade on our flight to Hong kong (or London) - to the point of getting a gold card so that I could get those last 4 status points .... now if I can just spend thousands of dollars and get to gold, I'll be really happy

Shazzadude

I wouldn't worry too much, the odds of having a whole bunch of silvers queuing up against you that much in advance is very low.

Trumpkin

It can sometimes really be the luck of the draw as to if you get a great person at the end of the call to ANZ or not.

I and other people have requested upgrades early and been granted them, although it needs the premium team to be able to action this.