serfty

...

Just to note that last wee long the ongoing AAdvantage "Platinum" and "Gold" challenges ceased being available. They suggestion is they will be replaced with another scheme in several months time.

Note this is different from the EXP challenge mentioned by BD1959 wich was supposed to be targeted and may still be running - I know not.

Dave Noble

It may appear to you to just be posing a short question at the end to you - it doesn't to me

you might think that, I do not agree. The mention of no upgrades seems written in a way that such things be expected - there would be no reason to even mention it otherwise

All 3 of those listed as published 'prices' . The person stated he offered money - it seems that he was trying to not pay the full published price since that would have been accepted

SuiteFlight

For the first two, does that mean people posting on FlyerTalk can expect you to chastise them if they don't happen to match your opinion/view/interpretation (even of their own comments)?

I don't proclaim to be an English professor but I think anyone doing a textual analysis (otherwise known as a read through) can find both the implied and explicit questions without twisting into knots (although it obviously does require reading the post in full, not just skimming before firing salvos over what you read in to the post).

On the last point, I think you'll find that splitting of hairs again leads into a dead end. Plenty of people and organisations don't pay the "published" fares, because they have private travel contracts with Qantas that have negotiated private fare rates or rebate schemes. I find your inferred snark that the OP was somehow trying to game fares here or derive an unethical benefit rather silly - it is as the OP wrote it, he offered money at check-in counter for an upgrade (where upon Qantas staff probably just looked at him blankly or told him they don't offer upgrades like that), and Qantas will fly with empty seats in the premium cabins (although, at least domestically, it'll certainly try and fill up those seats with Qantas Frequent Flyers willing to part with points) as he noted.

I don't blame the OP for not being aware Australian carriers (apart from Jetstar) don't really try to sell last minute upgrades at check-in, like American carriers are wont to do - especially since he's only been in this country a couple of months. Sheesh, there are people who have been living here in Oz for years that still don't get our security line procedure, I think we can cut the OP a little slack for not knowing the ins and outs of Qantas and the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme given his minimal time to date here.

jridge

I know. But AA is only one flight per day and expecting SWUs to clear for family on SYD-LAX is not that likely. That's why I don't understand the choice of going with AA if main objective is upgrades for family.

Dave Noble

You will believe what you want to believe

When someone states that he tried several times to get an upgrade using cash , that seems pretty implicit that he was not intending to pay the fare difference but was trying to get a business class seat without paying the appropriate fare

I doubt very much that the person has been regularly inhibited from booking business class when making a reservation

Mwenenzi

Agreed.
My question was not answered as to how the $$ was offered and by whom

NZbutterfly

Hey how much flying do you anticipate doing in a yr? Domestic and international? Which cabins - econ or business etc?

It might help people work out what status you might attain and roughly points. As you know there's a bunch of people here that fly various carriers that might be able to provide some insight into the FFPs and give you advice on how to reach your goals.

How many people are you wanting to fly back to the US? Do you have a time frame for it or just whenever you reach the necessary points etc?

QF has ways of earning on the ground I think more so than VA. Are you optimising these opportunities?

Then again VA could overall be cheaper to fly and you might save $$ then be able to pay for the next cabin up anyway.

Crediting AA may not be your best option. But providing more info might enable people to give you better advice?

I'm apparently with the the worlds crappiest FFP but you know what? It's perfect for me! So I wonder if even though AA is supposed to be pretty good, maybe it's not right for you at this point in time?

SuiteFlight

I just read the OP's post as written Dave, which requires no aspect of belief. More relevant to you I'd say, given you seem to continually inject your own beliefs into the OP's post. Nowhere in the OP's post does he say he has been "inhibited" from booking business class, either from not obtaining upgrade at check-in by offering money (even if he had offered the full J bucket fare difference in cash, he wouldn't be able to be handled at check-in - he have to be referred to the ticket sales desk/service desk to buy the new fare class as check-in desks do not handle cash/credit transactions) or any other aspect (that's entirely your injection). There is also nothing in the text to support your other injection that this is all part of the OP's villainous scheme to somehow intentionally travel hack Qantas fare pricing (rather that the OP clearly was unaware Qantas has quite different mechanisms here to the US carriers the OP has almost all of his experience with). I really find the demonising of the OP ridiculous (in addition to the idea that there is someone one fare/value for Business Class - airlines are the epitome of differential pricing for the same product, in any cabin you are going to find a wide spread of values paid in exchange for the seat/service), not to mention there was no such "illicit benefit" ever had.

Are you just a grumpy old man looking to howl at the moon over the silliest perceived slight? Guess if you are desperate to find offence where there is none, no reason will reach you. Personally though, I think you are tying yourself into an ever more complicated set of knots over nothing. Eh, it's your time to waste I guess.

Platy

Without more information it seems premature to question the motives of the OP or jump to premature conclusions. Did QF check in agent direct the OP to sales desk, provide the sales number, explain there is no system for cash upgrades at check in at QF? Did anyone at QF even bother to attempt to inform the cost of revising the ticket to an "appropriate fare"? In any case, what is an "appropriate fare"?

IMHO, the OP's expectations that there be a cash upgrade system in place to be eminently reasonable.

Empty seats are wastage - those seats are perishable goods.

Other airlines mitigate wastage with cash upgrades.

This concept is not entirely foreign to the QF Group since JQ does or did do just this - I have personally paid cash at check in to upgrade both legs of SYD-HNL return.

The OP's experiences do raise a significant issue - QF has a woeful record when it comes to flying with empty seats in premium, only recently addressed for FFers with the upgrade to the gate scheme launched in 2013 (assuming that does this actually work?!) and the bid for upgrade scheme launched earlier this year - the latter itself suggesting that QF realises it better to get something rather than nothing from an empty seat.

QF has a history of preferring to save money through restrictive catering practices than release seats for upgrade - I have known cases of 10 seats empty in 25 seat J class cabins. Note due to catering practices - not the output of some wonderfully efficient yield management model!

And the idea that cash upgrades might parasitise other revenue seats and thus better to fly with empty seats is undermined by the simple reality of the enormous rage of fares actually paid for revenue seats - likely between $1,000 to $4,000 each way on a BNE to SIN for example, depending on corporate deals, sale fares, full fare, etc - they are all just products with certain prices and certain features.

SuiteFlight

I do agree that I think things have got very much off any useful path. The OP had a mistaken (but given his background with US carriers, understandable) assumption that upgrades could be bought at Qantas Check-In desks (and he did clearly say that he didn't have much experience with Qantas and was something of a new user). Some posters here advised the OP, without rancour, that Qantas has a different way of doing upgrades - which really was all that was required - to put the OP on the right track. It seems like a great waste of energy to get one's back up over other assumed guff - after all, going over this seems like a fast track to a stroke (and a pointless one at that).

Let's not forget that the OP (rather graciously I thought) even offered an apology if he offended anyone's beliefs/sacred cow here with regards to any inference others read into his post (re: Qantas, with respect to this practice), before the latest round of boot sinking:
Blood sacrifice seems the only thing left, a bit OTT to demand no?

SeriouslyLost

Looking at loads on those AA flights in Dec/Jan there's reasonable odds on a SWU IMO. For someone that is flying to/from Oz/US regularly, AA probably makes more sense as a programme.

Supersonic Swinger

Please don't let a certain level of snark in the thread dissuade you from posting in the future.

SuiteFlight

Bit OT (my post here), but I think your point here is a good one. I think it generally makes sense to use the frequent flyer program of the carrier you are flying on (if you fly it enough to make status, otherwise you should indeed consider FFP arbitrage), just because airlines nearly always treat their own elites better than foreign program elites.

Plus that Air NZ OneUp bids increase and RUs do offer benefit.

DownUnderFlyer

[mod hat] Closed for moderator review. This looks like Snark Central to me. [/mod hat]