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possible to upgrade to PY or J on an award ticket?

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Old Oct 23, 2016, 9:51 am
  #1  
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possible to upgrade to PY or J on an award ticket?

I was just wondering whether there's any way to upgrade from economy class to either premium economy or business class using cash on flights within the South Pacific if the ticket is an award ticket issued by a *A partner airline?

(If so, any experience would be much appreciated.)

Thanks in advance!
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Old Oct 23, 2016, 12:45 pm
  #2  
 
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No you can't.
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Old Oct 23, 2016, 3:31 pm
  #3  
 
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I'd say good luck finding an award seat in the first place on NZ

Last edited by dadig; Oct 23, 2016 at 3:37 pm
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Old Oct 23, 2016, 3:36 pm
  #4  
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Thanks for the responses!

Finding award seats on flights to the South Pacifc (and to a lesser degree OZ) isn't entirely impossible IMO (actually easier than int'l J or domestic Y flights IME); but that's not to say finding award space on NZ is easy.

I just thought I'd double-check since more and more airlines have started offering paid upgrades within a certain window or during OLCI or at the airport (and oftentimes it's even possible to upgrade award tickets).
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Old Oct 23, 2016, 3:40 pm
  #5  
 
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Air NZ can't meet the demands of upgrades for their own HVC's. I'd go as far as suggesting they couldn't care less about upgrades for those flying on *G award flights, and the minimal number of reward seats they make available really emphasises that.

If you want BP you'll need to find an award BP flight in I class.
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Old Oct 23, 2016, 3:53 pm
  #6  
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Originally Posted by sbiddle
Air NZ can't meet the demands of upgrades for their own HVC's. I'd go as far as suggesting they couldn't care less about upgrades for those flying on *G award flights, and the minimal number of reward seats they make available really emphasises that.

If you want BP you'll need to find an award BP flight in I class.
Fair enough. Some airlines have started to sell upgrades to anytime (incl. pax on award tickets) before clearing upgrade for elites (regardless of whether they're using some sort of upgrade instrument or get "free" upgrades as a benefit) in an attempt to generate marginally more revenue (which of course upsets elite members).

Since most airlines (incl. NZ) now have 3 or more different upgrade schemes, I just thought I'd double-check.
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Old Oct 23, 2016, 4:31 pm
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If you're an airline that can't fill premium seats then that makes sense. Air NZ on the other hand don't have a problem filling their premium cabins with fully paid pax on many routes.
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Old Oct 23, 2016, 4:35 pm
  #8  
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Originally Posted by sbiddle
If you're an airline that can't fill premium seats then that makes sense. Air NZ on the other hand don't have a problem filling their premium cabins with fully paid pax on many routes.
Oh sure. However, even NZ doesn't fill all its J seats on AKL-SYD/MEL/BNE/RAR (and probably a few other routes) with pax paying for J, so a combination of elite upgrades, allowing pax to bid for an upgrade, offering pax upgrades at a fixed cost (and possibly at different times) etc. wouldn't have been inconveivable.
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