Computer Upgrading - A New Practice"

On a recent trip my wife and I booked to NZ on an H-fare I made upgrade requests 7 days in advance for both outgoing and return flights. AC was unable to upgrade my wife either outgoing or returning (she is E and I am SE). When I had booked the flights the agent told me my wife would have an "SE chance" of being upgraded if her booking was made along with my own rather than having two separate locators.

On the return flight I observed 3 E's obtaining upgrades at the gate while my wife's was turned down. I questioned both the SYD concierge and the in-charge after we boarded. Both told me that the computer does all upgrades and that the E's who were upgraded ahead of my wife were probably flying at a higher fare level.

I would be most interested in hearing from Andrew (plus others of course) on their interpretation of the above action.

The agent who told you your wife would have an SE chance of upgrading was wrong (big surprise). That was the case before this year, now the companion gets their own priority for upgrading, even if you're using your cert to do it (which would be the case if your wife were a Basic member, for example). One of the less logical moves by AC IMO, in a time of many illogical moves.

=aw

Thanks for that ALW but do you happen to know if upgrades are also fare-related?

They most certainly are:

a) Status; ties broken by
b) Fare class; ties broken by
c) Check-in time

Simon

Aren't Basic members not able to use upgrade certificates in the first place, though status members are able to upgrade one companion? Or have I misinterpreted your post?

There are some certs that are not tied to Frequent flier status, but a basic can also be the companion of a super elite, as mentioned in ALWs example.

I would be most interested to know if you left your wife in the back and if there was any fallout from doing so

Cattle,

I was waiting for that question Yes, I left my wife in the back - in both directions! I offered to switch seats with her at the Honolulu mid-point but she ended up with three free seats across the middle and claimed to have got more sleep than I. Plus she had 15 hours alone of peace - in both directions! ^

Actually, I understood that when upgrades cleared before the flight the accompaying passenger had the same status as the primary passenger but that this was not the case in the case of upgrades made at the gate.

In actual fact I had sent the SYD concierge an email 7 days in advance of the flight requesting the upgrade for both of us though I could not download boarding passes 24 hours in advance since our flights were originating in Auckland. The NZ flight was late arriving in SYD and were were unable to get to the gate until 30 minutes before the AC departure. So in a sense we were victims of circumstances.

I didn't explain it well, I meant that if the wife were a Basic member, and SE is using a cert to upgrade the wife, the wife gets no priority at all. In previous years the companion got SE priority in this case, since it was the SE exercising his status benefits.

What makes it particularly ridiculous this year it's happened at the same time as making certs non-transferrable. I wouldn't support it in the first place, but it's crazy to say the very frequent flying SE, presumably generating lots of revenue, has to split up from his/her spouse on the occasional trip together (by "has to" I mean the spouse gets no priority and thus little likelihood of an upgrade). It's an SE's benefit and should be given SE priority.

=aw

On a recent trip from YYZ to Frankfurt I was able to upgrade Mrs. Daylily(who is a basic member) as well as myself at time of booking. I believe it was an M class fare.