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.

Generally your summary looks ‘on point’ in terms of FT reportage.

My sister (Elite) had a situation where R was available and the RU needed to be loaded manually, but took a few days to sort. After lodging eventually, it then didn’t clear after a few days. Follow-up calls over the period (to get it lodged, and then waiting) noted R class availability I decreasing (2, then 1), and then gone. Calls and emails resulted in AirNZ making consoling noises, but no rectification. The RU eventually cleared in the lounge 1 hours prior to flight.

Of course, no way to ‘prove’ there was R class available when you call unless you record the calls, although AirNZ can (and have done for me) reviewed a recordings of a phone conversation between myself and the call centre. Good luck.

My take on the robot-era as an Elite is that I feel very uncomfortable filing for anything other than straightforward upgrade requests for myself (plus 1 optional pax max, on same PNR), in terms of assessing any kind of likelihood of upgrades clearing before T-7, day of, gate, etc. It just doesn't seem to work reliably, and I personally don't like having to make calls to chase/push/clarify, other than a call to check on R class. Even when there is R class (including still available the day after you lodge), it doesn't always go through for 2x pax on same booking. Any variants on upgrade approach just feel too risky and uncertain for me these days.

Thanks TK and JayKiwi.

For future reference the answer to 'how do I escalate / fix' appears to be 'post about it on flyertalk'. As one booking cleared this morning, and the other this afternoon.

Got a call back this afternoon from an agent I spoke with so can add some more context:
- The upgrades had been skipped by the robot for whatever reason (child / infant / call centre upgrade? who knows)
- The team leader spoke with another team (presumably the loyalty team?) who said they would have to process manually - which they did very promptly

The agent was very diligent which I appreciate, I suspect if she had not escalated it would have stayed pending until T-7 or beyond (even though there were 5x R class).

As you say, trusting the robot seems high risk in anything but the most straightforward situations.

Thanks for reporting back on your specific situation and outcome. A useful data point that the issues reported earlier and that you summarised still remain….

My understanding is you would only get R class seats if yourself and elite partner are on the same booking? You can�t add another passenger and expect a R class seat or elite partner adding another member to their booking, you will have to wait to T7 to gate

The way they word it on their website is travelling together vs being on the same booking (for travelling companion plus children under 12) - hence why I followed this one up. I agree if it was 3 adults or not travelling together then by their terms there would be no expectation of the upgrade going through now.

From the Elite benefits page (https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/elite-benefits)
'When a member gifts an upgrade and is travelling with their giftee, the upgrade request will be considered at Elite tier status level for the member and travelling companion, as well as any accompanying children aged up to 12 years old. Any additional giftees either accompanying the member or travelling separately will have their upgrade request reviewed based on the giftees' own tier status.'

It does appear there may be some difference in handling / clearance dependent on how it's been lodged. Online seems to result in a quicker clearance vs being lodged via a call (all things being equal).

As mentioned above, seemingly when it's not a simple sunny day scenario logged online then it's a lottery

Great outcome to get it sorted none the less, but it's just such a shame so many calls and follow ups are needed far too often

Does time of day matter when it comes to calling and speaking to staff about these issues? Does it need to be during "normal NZ business hours"?

No, can call anytime. Might even get more experienced agents in the evening.

Side note - in reviewing my airpoints statements I noticed that I was charged a service fee of 25 APD for what I believe is related to lodging a RU. This may have been when I phoned to checked R class availability.

Should it cost $25 to check R class availability?

No. Never heard of such a thing.

Is it 25 APD for them to lodge an upgrade for you?

On a booking of 4 pax and you want to use 2 RU on 2 passengers and are able to gift 1RU and apply one to yourself - is there any way to self service this or does it have to be done manually by call centre?

No. It is free to lodge an RU.

You should be able to lodge two RUs against the pax you wish. However, if there is R class it will be beneficial to split off the pax that are not being upgraded to another PNR, then submit the RUs online and they should clear immediately. If you don't, reports are that with 4 pax on the PNR, and 2 with pending upgrades, those pending will be skipped by the robot. Potentially meaning other Elite might get the jump on you.

Logon on to your account, go to bookings, and then from the list you'll note the PNR that has the relevant flights and will have a 'button' to select upgrades. Click that then apply away.

If that doesn't work, then you will have to call. And of course you may wish to split the PNR before lodging. Your call!

Didn�t want to start a new thread. With all the new RU being thrown around Koru Blacks we know that the biggest problem is actually having them successfully used.

Like others I�ve had wasted upgrades expire as they aren�t succsssful or can�t be lodged as not on Air NZ equipment.

Is there anywhere I can explore what flights air NZ actually operate such that I can browse and see whether or not I want to fly any of those routes in the hope of using an upgrade? Does seem like spending money to �save� money though.