JJSWLG

On the last three flights I've been on, my upgrades haven't cleared until after checkin. I'm Elite and booked the upgrades well in advance.

Have I had a run of busy flights or is this what Air NZ are doing now? Lucky I got the upgrades but it can be a bit stressful not knowing until the last minute.

IIRC there are two seats on PE and BP on each flight available for Elite upgrade instant confirmation?

Any tips out there for getting upgrades confirmed earlier?

brucelee

All depends if there is any R bucket fares when you apply for your upgrade. If not then they don't confirm till the gate at the latest.

You can always call the call centre before booking to see if there is any R fares.

dadig

Elite here. A seats are few and far in between. R is extremely rare.

Kamadan

My own experience for this year (2016) so far:

AKL-SFO, NZ8, March: Y->PE, Elite APD, cleared immediately upon booking
LAX-AKL, NZ1, March: Y->J, 2x Elite RUs, cleared immediately upon booking
MEL-AKL, NZ124, April: Y->J, Elite Shout-Haul RU, cleared T-7d
AKL-LAX, NZ2, May, Y->PE, Elite APD, cleared immediately upon booking
LAX-LHR, NZ2, May, Y->PE, Elite APD, failed to clear (completely full in PE & J)
LHR-LAX, NZ1, May, Y->PE, Elite APD, cleared upon check-in ~3hrs prior to flight
LAX-AKL, NZ5, May, PE->J, Elite APD, cleared T-7d
Upcoming:
AKL-SYD, NZ119, August, Y->PE, Elite APD, cleared immediately upon booking
SYD-AKL, NZ108, August, Y->J, gifted Elite Shout-Haul RU, cleared 1-day after booking when Premium Team's called to check on availability

So that's 8 out of 9 cleared (89%), with 5 out of 9 (56%) essentially clearing right away.

And most of my flights are booked ~2-4 months on average before flying out.

Last year (2015) all my Elite APDs and RUs cleared on all the flights I lodged an upgrade for.

Maybe the odds were in my favour so far? *shrugs*

Fast6

Book earlier

Y-PE seems far easier to clear than PE-BP. Remember that the flow of pax from PE-BP opens up seats in PE, so it's fairly fluid. BP, being the end of the line, is a bit more black and white.

If a PE-BP hasn't cleared at T-7d, I assume that if it's going to happen, it'll be within a few hours of departure or at the gate.

sbiddle

The only tip is to book flights with availability at the time of booking. You can see A class availabity yourself and the Premium team will look up R class availability if you ask.

I'm pretty sure A class is between 4 and 6 depending on the aircraft type. As this is also a paid booking class you need to get in early.

% wise the vast majority of RU's are cleared at some time between T-7 and the gate - I see anything before then as a bonus. Comments over the past few months would tend to indicate premium loadings to the US have been exceptionally heavy so in many ways you're just entering a lottery, and if you're not Elite your odds of winning are reduced even further.

I've had 100% success out of somewhere around 8 or 9 long haul flights in the last year or so, and have RU's and APD upgrades cleared already for flights to HKG and the US in coming months. I'm dreading the day my luck runs out though and I'm stuck in economy.

dadig

Last AKL-SIN trip there were 8 pax looking for an upgrade at the gate which staff told me. They did not want to be any more specific in terms of the tier status

flykiwifly

In Sept/Oct 2015 as GE (having booked 5 months out) of 4 sectors AKL/LAX/LHR and return - 2 cleared at the gate, the third one 5 days out and the other never cleared
This year booking 4-6 months out and a total of 6 sectors between AKL/LAX/LHR over various dates only 1 has cleared with R class availability
I definitely feel it is getting v hard
I phoned to enquire about R class availability for 2 of the sectors as I could be very flexible but the person I spoke was v offhand and wanted to know who said I could even ask for such information! Since they pulled R class avaialbilty from expert flyer they don't seem to like to give out this information
I was hoping by now that those who were given GE status and free RUs as part of the Westpac cc deals may be dropping off the scene or losing status - doesn't seem to be that way

sbiddle

Remember Airpoints is a soft landing - the beauty of their Elite offering was you only dropped back to Gold this year.

I've never encountered an issue asking for R class availability, but I guess like everything you get some helpful CSR's and some that are not so helpful.

Kamadan

I would hang up, wait 5-10 minutes and call again, and if you get the same person at the other end, hang up, rinse, repeat.

Yes, I realised you shouldn't have to do that but it seems the "quality" of the person at the other end seems to be hit-and-miss.

FYI never have a problem with calling and asking for R availability as an Elite for the past year or so, in fact all of the calls are friendly and helpful, with the agent even actively looking around the dates given for R inventory.

But be sure you are talking to an actual Premium Team member and not in the general call-centre pool... I noticed that when call demands are high and/or you call at an off time (per NZST/NZDT), you get routed back to the general pool anyways where the agents are... less friendly and helpful.

dadig

I've not had any problems enquiring for R - just the travel periods it was unavailable by weeks apart

NZ_Flyer

The Premium team and long-haul agents are direct NZ employees while domestic and short-haul agents are employed by a 3rd party contractor - which may explain why the premium and long-haul team's are much better versed in things like R class look-ups and entering FQTS/FQTV fields. I've also been told that if the wait for the Premium team is longer than 2min (and the wait for the regular call centre is less) then your call will be transferred there.

Beano

Two quick questions
1: For a person with no status is is better to "gift" a elite standby upgrade than to put in for a "oneup"
2: Is a "gift" upgrade done through the call centre or online (if online how as the booking is not listed on my bookings ?)

dadig

If I understand correctly OneUps are the last to be considered after RU. Although no one knows this for certain.

To gift the RU, it the recipient needs to be added into their account profile (household/non household). From experience it is the Elite pax that needs to apply the booking/RU on behalf