serfty

Qantas are currently not selling Premium Economy between SYD and SFO, so it was, in fact, a single Upgrade. (Y+ starts from early July)

It appears they may have subbed a 4 class 744 for a 2 class for your flight - still only selling Y and J. Row 26 is the first row of Coach on a 2-class configuration.

Quite, although op-ups on Qantas for status PAX seem to have become more common less rare this year:

mvoight

How do you know it is booked "to or above authorization"?
Since Y+ is not yet available on the route, then I put the odds at above 0, but a lot less than 1 percent, IF the flight really checks in oversold.
Now, if AA would start flying to Australia, you odds would be much better.
I remember years ago when I had to change the dates of a business class award on CO as they were stopping flights to Cairns. Your best bet for getting an op-up is to be an elite member of the carrier you are flying.

Seriously speaking, my biggest concern at this point wouldn't be the op-up, it would be a middle seat in the back row, since you mentioned you don't have an assigned seat.

magic111

As I said when we met in Cairns I enjoy your very informative posts.

I was wondering why expert flyer was not showing W0 or WC. You have answered my question before it can be asked ^

AlwaysOnTheRoad

Slight OT. Is there any difference in OP Ups for OW Emeralds depending on who you hold status with: for example BA Gold vice AA EXP?

mvoight

Not when flying QF

briank1973

I've done the US-AUS route on Qantas a few times as an AA PLT, as well as other QF longhauls (MEL-SIN, SIN-LHR). I never once was OP-UP'd on any of them. I have been treated quite nicely by Qantas though with them coming to my seat and welcoming me (which was awkward as well with other non-OW-sapphire/emeralds sitting around me).

Similarly, I've flown some longhauls on BA and Cathay and never got OP-UP'd. Doesn't seem to happen on OW from my limited experience (was Gold for one year and PLT for 2 years). In total, 0 for 10 on OW partners as AA PLT.

I was twice OP-UP'd on AA longhauls. My OP-UP % on AA longhauls as PLT was quite high (50%), but is from a small sample set (2 OP-UPs out of 4), and both times were at very peak times (early Jan, and July).

Since I switched to *A as a United MP member and become 1P, and I've been OP-UP'd to business 3 times (once on Lufthansa once and SingAir twice) out of 24 longhaul segments (12.5%). I've had the exact same % on UA longhauls, going 2 for 16, all on AUS-US legs.

The reason I switched was simply because AA's change in mileage earning policy in 2004 for discount economy class fares. It was pitiful!

mvoight

What change was this? I always get full miles on my TATL trips and some of them have been quite cheap.

ktakahashi

I think briank1973 is referring to Transpac routes on QF/CX in discounted economy that generates next to zero miles accural (EQM and RDM).

briank1973

Yes. QF and BA flights were getting very few EQM and RDM. After the change in 2003, I was getting (I think) 50% EQM and RDM for QF, and 25% for BA. It was appalling!

Check out: http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...ishAirways.jsp for BA

and http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...tasAirways.jsp for Qantas. You'll see exactly what I mean.

Before the change, I was getting 75% on QF and 100% on BA, which was acceptable to me and I was able to get to PLT with this. My biggest mileage accruals are TPAC to AUS and AUS-Europe, neither of which are AA routes.

Also, I flew once Cathay from FRA-HKG-MEL and I got ZERO miles (yes, that's right... ZERO, because anything below H in Cathay gives you ZERO on AA). That was the last time I flew OW except for Qantas domestic in Australia.

AA is GREAT if you only fly AA!! In that case, I prefer it over UA, no doubt!! However, if you fly the OW partners a lot and in low-fare tickets, AA is really really bad.

tsuruke

Same here. My wife and I were upgraded from coach class to row 25 in business class on Monday (SYD-SFO) although we were not lucky enough to receive an upgrade on LAX-SYD.

ktakahashi

I would expect the low low fares from the US to OZ (http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn...t_cam=us:qf:15) is causing a surge in Y pax ... causing the opups for OW Emeralds.

Wow! If you are going to land on an opup, that is one of the best routes to land them on.

tom911

Looks like I'll be flying in business SYD-SFO in about 90 minutes due to coach being oversold. Was also upgraded to premium economy LAX-SYD on the way out here two weeks ago

Tom in the restaurant having lunch at the Qantas F lounge at SYD, enjoying the Qantas experience

ianridley

2 op-ups from Y to business with QF out of maybe 4 RTs between US and Australia. One was given in lounge, another at boarding. Only one op-up ever with CX, and never with BA.

Also been stung by zero miles on CX, when a mere $200 more on the fare would have netted them.

Hayden

Per expertflyer, that flight went out completely full in all classes. I was also lucky enough to get the op-up on it, as was my seatmate. My seatmate was apparently not a frequent flier, but had recently flown that route on a paid business ticket.

Randal AA Flyer

Lucky me. Was booked in Premium Economy with a bulkhead window seat on the new A380.

They called for elite boarding in Sydney and sitting on the counter was about 20 boarding passes all in Coach.

Mixed in with the others was my new business class boarding pass. I could not believe that I was upgraded!

Flying business on the new A380 was wonderful. Tons of room.

The Qantas team did an excellent job and you could tell they enjoyed their new airplane.

The A380 was very quiet.

Sometimes you get lucky!

BTW - being Executive Platinum allowed me to have access to the Qantas First Class Lounge. Can you say Wow! Before breakfast, I had a 60 min massage in the spa. All services in the lounge were free, including spa treatments! By far one of the best lounge experiences I've had. Definitely worth the visit before your flight.