Originally Posted by
Flysheep
Thanks, it sounds very difficult, last time saw 10+ BP seats left 24 hours before departure but near last 6 hours found all seats were gone. So if I only do my self, can I ask the check-in staff to use airpoints upgrade for the other three? or they only accept voucher upgrade at the airport? I remember once an airport guy asked me to pay crazy $1800 upgrade fee from E to PE.
Firstly in regards to Elite upgrades I've checked this morning with a source and been told nothing has changed. There have always been CSRs who can't be bothered checking availability and it's potentially just a case of this.
Every flights typically has 2x R class available and once that is gone it's gone. Upgrades will then not be reviewed until T-7 at the earliest for BP. For PE upgrades into A class things are different as A class can and does pop up regularly on routes if a sale is on, so even if there was no A at the time of booking A can become available but you will not be automatically cleared into this unless you call.
There is no way for you to know there are 10+ seats available 24 hours before departure as Air NZ don't show availability higher than 9 in GDS. I'm assuming you possibly just looked at the seat map which is a bit of a beginners mistake as this only shows the seats that have not been allocated, and plenty of people don't select seats at the time of booking. You can do a dummy booking which will give a slightly better idea of availability.
At the end of the day on many routes probably with the exception of S2S routes your chances of having 4 upgrades clear are very minimal due to the high demand for BP. You would need to be incredibly lucky to get this happen particularly to the US.
Any upgrades at the check-in are now fixed price, you can't lodge a RU or APD upgrade at check-in or at the gate.
For 4 people together my advice would always be to settle for PE if available.