Chance of Op-Up?
 

Hello,

Flying next Saturday (Sept 12) on EK 407 MEL-DXB, and then connecting onto EK 29 DXB-LHR next morning. I booked these as QF flight #s and is ticketed by QF in B class. I am Gold on QF as trying to maximise status points.

I had a look a few weeks ago at availability and all Y fare buckets were zeroed out. It appeared though that J and F classes also similarly zero-ed out. In such circumstances. Does anyone have access to Expertflyer who can check current loads on these two flights, and if they are zeroed out still what is the chance of someone like me being op-ed up? Seems like an extremely overbooked set of flights in any case.

EK 407 12 Sep: F4 A3 J7 C0 I0 O0 P0 Y9 E0 R0 W0 M0 B0 U0 K0 H0 Q0 L0 T0 V0 X0

EK 29 13 Sep: F4 A4 J7 C7 I7 O7 P0 Y9 E9 R9 W9 M9 B9 U9 K0 H0 Q0 L0 T0 V0 X0

EK 407 seems full in Y. EK29 not so.

Thanks, best strategy for EK407
 

Thanks for data from Expertflyer. So what would be my best strategy for being op upped on EK407. I see I have a couple things going for me:(1) being QF Gold and (2) being in higher economy fare class. But not sure if 407 typically has a lot of EK FFs who would trump me and also whether being booked on QF code share no is a disadvantage.

Best strategy would be to keep your expectations at virtually nil that you will be granted a op-up, that way when it doesn't happen you aren't disappointed :D
And then if it does happen you are pleasantly surprised.

^

OP, there is no "strategy" for being op-upped on a flight you have booked, because you have no control over the factors that would result in it happening. You can't control the passengers who book and their frequent flyer status, nor can you control whether a lot of passengers make it to the airport or not, nor staff travel, nor revenue management's overbooking strategy.

Therefore the only thing you can do is expectation management - have any expectations of it and the only outcomes are neutral (expectations met) or disappointment (no op-up but thought was going to get one). No expectations of an op-up and your outcomes are neutral (got what you paid for) or happy (op-up!).

The only positive outcome for you therefore is to have no expectations - simple!

Unless of course you are one of those people who is never satisfied with what they pay for, in which case one must live a life of risky strategies and decisions ;)

I'm also,not sure how they treat qf gold vs EK gold - I'd hope they treat EK gold better on EK metal but who knows...

As ET stated above just don't hold up too much hope and hope to be surprised!

EK golds first, then QF golds for upgrades - mostly!

As long as the OP doesn't turn into this DYWKIA character I had the misfortune of nearly encountering at a lounge reception recently, everything should be good:

QF pax, asking EK lounge staff directly what the criteria for a complimentary upgrade was - told, only when oversold, but the flight is not too full, so only a slim chance. He then proceeds into the lounge.

He then storms back to the reception, throws his card on the desk (QF Platinum) and demands that EK management "come and visit him at his office on Monday" - upon being asked if there was a problem with the lounge food or service, he replies, no they are both excellent, but he is angry at the way EK treats its "airline partners badly". When he travels with oneworld airlines he claims to always be offered complimentary upgrades, even if J class is empty. Because he's a Qantas platinum he is a "valued customer" and said that EK should offer complimentary upgrades to "high tier members like him" even if it isn't oversold.

-

Personally I think that kind of aggressive behaviour warrants an offload, not an upgrade, but then I suppose it's an argument against offering upgrades ;)

Also, I was a bit disappointed to miss the entire exchange because I don't think I could resist saying that QF Platinum is still "outranked" by QF Platinum One and QF CL ;) as well as take umbrage with his complimentary upgrades on oneworld bs - although I don't think he would have been happy...

Another reason why I dislike the partnership. Zero benefit to regular EK flyers in my view.

But I think likely to have rather more benefit to EK itself (and there are quite a few posts on AFF in which QF Gold and Plat customers are extremely happy to be given op-ups - then stating that they wil be flying EK in the future....)