Check in using one program...change to Marco Polo club in lounge
 

I have Qantas Gold status (OW Sapphire), but am currently shifting my alliance to Marco Polo Club. I am only an entry level Green marco polo member at the moment.

I am booked on a trip to San Fran from HKG at Chinese New Year and I expect economy to be very full and would like to maximise my Op-Up chances. Do you think I will have any problems with checking in using my QFF status, and then changing my recorded program to Marco Polo Club when I'm in the lounge at HKG? Anyone else had any experience on this?

Change your FF number over to MPC only at the boarding gate to maximise op-up chances. Or do it after you get your op-up!

There will be no problem doing this - I've done it between CX and AA before. But to maximise your chances of an op-up your OW Sapphire number needs to be in your reservation record 2 days or so before the flight. Many Op-Ups are picked well before you actually check-in.

Thanks for the info.

Do you think it's too risky to wait to change the FF number to MPC at the boarding gate? I would be worried that they don't record it properly and then my miles get recorded in the wrong program....I will be on MPC silver after this flight.

Also, for my return flight from SFO to HKG, do you think once I get to SFO, I can ring up to change my FF number back to QF, and then change it to MPC at SFO airport?

New to all this....and quickly becoming a points whore (and loving it)!

It is perfectly possible to have different FF numbers associated in advance with different segments within the reservation record. I would have absolute confidence in the HKG CX lounge staff being able competently to change the ex-HKG (only) to MPC. Just make it clear to them that you want to change for this segment only, and the QF number should remain on the later segment.

I would have marginally less confidence in US lounge staff changing over to the CX number, but so long as you make sure that the boarding pass you use to board the plane has the correct FF number printed on it then you should be OK getting it changed later even if they have messed up in some other way.

It is BA staff who are particularly bad in my experience at inputting other airlines' FF numbers in the correct way, but I have to say that I haven't tried it since BA completely changed out their reservation system a few months back so maybe that is sorted now.

So should I expect them to print out a new boarding pass for me when they re-input a different FF number? If they don't does that mean it hasn't been changed properly?

Sorry for the newbie questions....

Yes - you must insist on it (I would expect them to offer it). And then keep the BP until you are sure the miles are where you want them.

Mate, i guess you are just another QF deserter... well done...

anyways, just a note. i would definitely say cx silver has higher chance of op-up than qf gold (sapphire). silver may be a mere ruby, but when it comes to op-up, it helps HEAPS...

also, its hard to check your op-up status. in my previous 2 flights, the flights were well overbooked long in advance, and i was upgraded. but unlike past, it was done at the gate, not at online-checkin or airport checkin.

i even checked by "refreshing" the online-checkin website, but it said Y. at the gate, about 25 boarding passes were faced down, and mine was one of them. i"m kind of guessing CX doesn:t want to give out Blue (or red...) boarding passes at check-in anymore, but only at the gate. i:ll see, ive got few more trips planned ahead.

Yes. Please change the FF number at the service desk at the gate BEFORE you go through the BP machine. If you insist on doing it there, you will be HOLDING up the line behind you and the gate agents will be very busy as it is and mistakes can happen.

So, please go to the gate before boarding has commenced. The extra few minutes will save you a lot of embarrassing moments..

Personally, I reckon if you haven't got an op-up at the point you leave the lounge the chances of you being selected in the time it takes you to walk to the gate are so infinitessimally small that I would just do it as I left the lounge.

At SFO, I would hestate to change the FFP # at the gate. It's often very crowded before boarding.

At Sakura lounge in SFO, I have been given a new boarding pass. I would thus think CX has some printing facility in the lounge. I think you can change it there.

SFO staff are usually very nice. It isn't like JFK.

Yes...you guessed right. A QF deserter here. Had enough of not being able to book on award flights and the increase in the number of required points was the last straw for me...

I was about to hit QF Platinum with an upcoming HKG-LAX J flight, and then the QF changes came. So I sacrificed that and instead directed my points to MPC...harder to get status on MPC, but as you say they do seem to treat their Silver members very well.

yes, as a Silver, on the heavily booked SIN-HKG; SIN-BKK flights, op-up chances were maybe 3 in 5 flights

my last cx op up was at check in in september i have ow emerald status and got a bp for upstairs on the 747 from lax to hkg

Got an op-up from Y to J at check-in on my LHR-HKG flight on boxing day. the flight was so overbooked that by the time I arrived for check-in (about 90 mins before departure) they were offering all Y incoming passengers cash compensation, hotel accom and a J ticket for tomorrow if willing to give up their seat on the flight.