Originally Posted by
swindoro
Thanks for the reply. That's discouraging. What's the point of accumulating points (no pun intended) when they can barely be used for their intended marketing purpose? Those miles are intended to maintain customer loyalty. It's difficult and expensive to accumulate those miles to be usable, including buying many SQ tickets to get there. Are all airlines like this or SQ is trickier than others?
With Qantas international flights you don't find out if your request to upgrade was successful until some time after you submit a request. In the past one of my friends has only found out on the day of the flight that he managed to upgrade. I prefer to know as early as possible.
As you discovered, upgrading is less reliable especially if you have already set your travel dates into stone (@bent and I both shared the way to test whether upgrade availability is likely before you book). Outright redemptions you really have to be flexible about dates and even destinations (LAX vs SFO, MEL vs ADL etc.) to maximise your success. The newly announced Singapore to London Gatwick route had 974 J class Saver award tickets for the first five months, with many days having at least six J seats available for redemption at Saver rate.