I'm hoping some of the more knowledgable members around here may be able to help me :-)
My partner and I are travelling LHR-FRA-SIN-SYD-SIN-LHR in February next year.
Flights are a mixture of Qantas and BA. Here's the catch though - I booked in Club/Business with Avois through BA; she booked in Econony with cash directly through Qantas.
In order for us to travel together either I need to downgrade or she needs to upgrade. I believe I can cancel my Avois redemption and get a refund but the equivalent economy tickets in cash are coming up at >£500 more than the taxes I paid for the Business tickets so not ideal to essentially downgrade at a cost. Her tickets are non-refundable - it seems she could get a Qantas credit for the value (don't know the specific T&C's but guessing it isn't that flexible) and then just pay for a new Business class ticket but again not exactly cost efficient. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem to be possible to pay for a cash (or Avois - which I have plenty) upgrade on Qantas?
Are these my only options? I am a BA Gold, partner has no status - if that makes any difference. Before I give up and decide we just have to slog it out on opposites ends of the plane I thought I'd just check I'm not missing anything obvious.
To clear up the 'why' ... the short story is we weren't partners when the bookings were made :-)
Clutching at straws here , but how about Scouring both your hotel loyalty and credit card programs and cobble together enough points to transfer to the qantas account for an upgrade ? Some programs might allow you to transfer to friends/family. (Big assumption ... That there are seats available for a points upgrade). Also , don't rule out an upgrade to premium economy instead of business on QF , better than nothing at all...
__________________ LATo BA or not to BA, that is the question...
Firstly, it's worth scouring the T&C's and speaking to QF to see if they will be flexible and provide any type of refund. If they are willing to issue a credit note / voucher, and during your time in Aus you plan on visiting some cities other than Syd, you could use the credit for domestic flights over there?
One other option worth pondering on the assumption you get some sort of credit from QF:
Cancel her QF booking and, because you are miles heavy, add her to your avios account - set up a household account which allows you to share avios between people at the same address - and take a chance that there will be avios availability for both of you on your chosen route or something similar - perhaps routing out of LHR as opposed to FRA. As a Gold FF, you (generally) have access to more availability in economy (if you can manage 24 hours in there?!). Additionally, as a Gold FF, you can also open up availability in the premium cabins if none is showing, albeit for double the redemption miles.
The obvious solution for me would be to offer the person in the seat next to your partner an upgrade to your business seat. They are unlikely to say no (I guess unless traveling with someone, but even then......), and you get bonus 'man points' for being such a gent to involuntary downgrade to sit with your partner.
Does anyone else want to know how the OP and his partner managed to book exactly the same intinerary, on the same date, albeit in different cabins, *before* they hooked up?
I suspect they either work together, or have joined meetpeopleonyourflight.com.
Location: In theory near BHD, but usually a hotel in another country
Programs: Gold with BA/A3/TK, Elite EI, EK Silver and other random stuff, but no Moroccan Gold
Posts: 2,703
Quote:
Originally Posted by cojeh
Haha, well correct assumption nonetheless.... that, needless to say, is what will happen as a last resort :-)
That assumption is possibly unusual around here ;-)
I had envisaged the response was going to be that the "partners" were of the civil kind! Whilst I would agree with pianoamit's thinking, I did wonder what the response would be.
__________________
Always willing to guest you into a lounge - see ba97.com
Incidentally, man or woman, in return you can certainly expect... Well, let's just say: "a lot!"
Ha ha ha! Well I was in a somewhat more extreme situation very recently with my husband and I did offer, probably without much sincerity, he turned it down, and well I'm not offering him anything. Well that's what happens when you've been married for over a decade
Does anyone else want to know how the OP and his partner managed to book exactly the same intinerary, on the same date, albeit in different cabins, *before* they hooked up?
I suspect they either work together, or have joined meetpeopleonyourflight.com.
Ha ha ha! Well I was in a somewhat more extreme situation very recently with my husband and I did offer, probably without much sincerity, he turned it down, and well I'm not offering him anything. Well that's what happens when you've been married for over a decade
Despite being married for over a decade, the odds are differently stacked for men and women... Had the tables been turned, had he offered you his F seat in trade for your Y seat by the lavatories, he would certainly be expecting some 'reward'...
To BA or not to BA, that is the question...
