ottiehund

My wife made silver some time ago and lodged her RU this week on NZ125 AKL-MEL being here first int trip since gaining it and before it expires.

Her status points pretty much all came from regional domestic flights, no credit card contribution at all. Not sure if NZ consider this or not.

She was upgraded from economy to Premium Economy.

She seemed happy enough but I feel she received a raw deal as in my personal experience, and also from friends and work colleagues, on a short haul like TT such an RU would normally be expected to clear straight to business.

Is this correct?

My son and I were on the same flight and 'one-upped' to PE. I checked when we were in the lounge about her upgrade thinking she may have been 'held back' as we were on the same flight in PE but they didn't think so, and added there were 16 free seats in Business and 'well see what we can do'. I thought maybe a change for her at the gate, but no.

What are peoples experiences? Was I expecting a bit much for her or was my expectation reasonable (especially with a pretty much wide open business cabin)?

drajknox

Did she specifically request Business when she lodged the RU?

I had an issue with many NZ staff not being aware of the 2 class short haul upgrade when the rules first changed to allow this but now most seem to be aware of the rules.

People can however choose whether they try for a J upgrade or PE Upgrade and as I understand it the choice is either accepted or declined but the request isn’t altered if the requested class isn’t available.

sbiddle

When you lodge the RU your select the class and can choose BP or PE for a RU on a TT flight. What did she select?

buriburi123

As above, you need to select the business class upgrade, but you will also be given PE if J is full.

ottiehund

Thanks, She said there was no options given to choose from and I never thought to check with her as I hadn't realised the process had changed as it is 2 years since I last used one and haven't had any since as I have lost status and back then there were no options to chose from and I have had 2 business upgrades so I hadn't thought to ask her. We did ask in the lounge however and they said they couldn't see why it wasn't J, noted that cabin was wide open, and said they would check into it.

Puzzling ... I would expect if she missed out electing an option the website would send back a error, but thinking aloud I wonder if the website may pre populate with one class higher and this she didn't pick it up?

dadig

If I recall, the default (or first) selection is PE which means you have to consciously select BP for TT and short haul when applying the upgrade

ottiehund

That will be what happened then I guess. Still disappointed the lounge staff didn't do anything though. In the end she was happy enough.

KiwiJC

Possibly there may not have been anything they could do at that point, the upgrade had already posted so it may not be possible to change anything from the lounge?

I’ve definitely noticed before that it defaults to one class on TT routes, so unless you consciously choose to go for BP then you’ll get PE - not ideal, but the RU system is pretty clunky at the best of times so I guess it’s just another ‘gotcha’ to watch out for next time.

dadig

Not entirely true. It is true that once posted (or cleared) there is nothing ground staff can do, however back when Air NZ waived fees for applying my Elite RU upgrades over the phone, the call centre staff also made a similar mistake.

It was not until at the gate I found it was overwritten and was issued a J seat.

Markhm

Mine were both confirmed yesterday (Christmas gift and usual short haul upgrade) from Works to J on ADL run. Thank you.

could I have purchased Seat fare and upgraded?

WLG Base

Yes.

sbiddle

Purchasing seat only is always the best option on a S2S route. You can change the product type right up until check-in if it hasn't cleared by then if you have a bag or really want to blow $25 on a meal.

brenrox

NZ fly to ADL with J?

sbiddle

They introduced the Dreamliner earlier in the year.

Markhm

bugger!