Hi all,

Looking to get the consensus picture on Elite upgrades, robot quirks, and options for when things don’t go to plan.

I’ve got a specific situation I want support for but also wanted to try consolidate the scattered info across the forum focussed on elite upgrades to help those in the future

Upgrades and robots – here’s a summary based on reading the various threads – please correct where I’m wrong and I’ll update (? Are where I’m uncertain)

• Upgrade class in advance is R for J and A for PE
• Elite upgrades can/should(?) clear in advance if relevant class is available
• Elite level confirmation is for Elite + travelling companion + any accompanying children aged up to 12 years old (https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/elite-benefits), any additional travelling companions are 'based on the giftees' own tier status'
• Upgrades submitted online should clear immediately, via other routes (e.g. contact centre) may take longer?
• The robot / automated tool is in charge of the upgrade process (until the airport takes over at T-24)
• The robot has issues with certain bookings and they will be skipped (so will not clear instantly and may fall into a black hole?)
  • More than 2 pax on PNR
  • Mixed RU and EAPD upgrades (for 2 pax)
  • Children / infants?
• If skipped you may miss the upgrade as others may instantly confirm before yours is sorted
• Call centre staff cannot manually intervene in the process and have varying (generally limited) understanding of the ways of the robot
• There may be a back-end manual review of skipped upgrades by loyalty team (TBC if automatic or just when prompted

Specific situation:

• Family of 4 (2x adult, 1x child under 5, 1x infant) – 1x GE, 1x Elite partner
• Relevant sector is AKL-SIN, there was sufficient R class available for all
• At direction of contact centre done as 2 bookings which were then linked (adult (EP) + child, adult (GE) + infant), to avoid mixed instrument issue
• Upgrades:
  • One booking 2x RU applied (online/call centre) for elite partner and child
  • EAPD (via call centre) for GE and infant
• None have cleared after 24 hours

Naturally, the call centre discussions have been variable – should all clear within a few hours (at time of applying upgrades) to oh just give it a while and hopefully it will happen and hopefully there will still be availability.

Update: Resolved via manual intervention from the call centre without any further contact by me (they were very proactive). Robot skipped upgrades, call centre team leader spoke with loyalty team who processed manually.