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Significant changes to Upgrades
As mooted in the WP1 lunch there are significant changes to upgrades coming.
For domestic, the introduction of waitlists; International the clearing of wait-lists at set times for WP1 WP SG etc.. and request of upgrades upon booking. About Flight Upgrade Awards http://www.qantas.com.au/img/_red08/...h2/generic.pngNew international upgrades experience coming soon
From early 2012, we'll be introducing a domestic registration process for Flight Upgrade Awards on Qantas operated flights (with a QF flight number on your ticket), where your upgrade request can not immediately be confirmed. Confirmation of a successful domestic Flight Upgrade Award from the point of booking, as well as the ability to request 'on departure' Flight Upgrade Awards will remain available. Once your Flight Upgrade Award has been confirmed, we'll notify you with an SMS so you can maximise the time to prepare for your upgraded Qantas journey.
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New benefits for Platinum Frequent Flyers
Originally Posted by Qantas
Hello Traveloguy,
As you are one of our most valuable customers and spend a great deal of time at airports and in the air, we want to make every part of your Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum experience the best it can be. We're pleased to let you know that we're introducing a new range of benefits for our most frequent flyers Our upgrades are getting even better As you may be aware, Qantas Frequent Flyers are able to request a Flight Upgrade Award on selected fares for Qantas operated domestic and international flights (with a QF flight number on your ticket), by registering online or via the contact centre+. We've also been taking your feedback into account in designing a new, even better points upgrades experience, and we're introducing some key changes later this year. In the past year, the success rate for Platinum members in obtaining a Flight Upgrade Award internationally has been on average 70%, and we expect the changes below to make success even more likely. The new upgrades experience • From December 2011, when you have registered for a Flight Upgrade Award, we'll notify you with an SMS when your Flight Upgrade Award is confirmed so you can maximise the time to prepare for your upgraded Qantas journey. On international services, we're also making the following changes from December 2011: • The ability to register for a Flight Upgrade Award at any time from booking up until 24 hours before your scheduled departure, • Where possible, Platinum members will receive successful Flight Upgrade Award confirmation from up to 48 hours prior to their departure time, • Whilst you may get a Flight Upgrade Award earlier than today as mentioned above, we will also be processing Flight Upgrade Awards closer to the time of departure. This means there will be fewer empty seats in First, Business and Premium Economy on many occasions. For example, if a customer changes their plans on the day of departure and decides not to travel, we will be able to upgrade another customer into their seat. And on domestic flights from early 2012: • We'll be introducing a domestic registration process for Flight Upgrade Awards on Qantas operated flights (with a QF flight number on your ticket), where your Flight Upgrade Award request can not immediately be confirmed. Confirmation of a successful domestic Flight Upgrade Award from the point of booking, as well as the ability to request 'on departure' Flight Upgrade Awards will remain available. <removed platinum one information and 'reminder of benefits'> |
I do wonder what special preparation is needed after an upgrade clears
The benefit for paid premium travel of "there will be fewer empty seats in First, Business and Premium Economy on many occasions" is an incentive to use other carriers |
:confused: now. Are these improvements for WPs only, or are they for everyone?
Originally Posted by Dave Noble
(Post 17291955)
I do wonder what special preparation is needed after an upgrade clears
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
(Post 17291955)
I do wonder what special preparation is needed after an upgrade clears
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Personally I don't see the changes are that positive (or negative). It's pretty much 'same same' and won't stop me from cashing out of QF next year.
To be brutally honest, I'm flying QF services less and less these days, and on my changed flying patterns it makes sense to look elsewhere regardless of any incentives QF throw my way. If I do in fact stick to OW, BA/IB or AA probably fit my needs a lot better moving forward. |
Originally Posted by Dave Noble
(Post 17291955)
The benefit for paid premium travel of "there will be fewer empty seats in First, Business and Premium Economy on many occasions" is an incentive to use other carriers
Don't forget that QF upgrade awards are still some of the most, if not the most expensive in the industry. It's almost always better value just redeeming a F or J award rather than trying to upgrade into those cabins. |
So if you are LTG and flying enough for WP but not P1, do you switch across to AA?
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Note this toward the end of the list of benefits (for all):
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in my extra special gold bulletin announcing the changes it said the upgrade clearance for golds has been 65 per cent.
interested to know what the figures were for platinums, silver and bronze? can anyone copy from their newsletter? |
WP letter indicates 70% ...
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Originally Posted by Traveloguy
(Post 17292181)
Personally I don't see the changes are that positive (or negative). It's pretty much 'same same'
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Originally Posted by Limewood
(Post 17303581)
why can't they be like many other airlines if you apply for upgrade if seat available you get it. Booking say 9 months out then finding as late as 24 hours before flight you missed out is rubbish.
My usual experience on another Big Airline that runs the other system has been that you simply find out 9 months earlier that you have no upgrade. On an admittedly small base (because I fly too many QF sectors on a BA code), I'm running at 100% on the QF system at the moment. If in the long term, if QF delivers 60-70% as its emails suggest, that's a pretty good rate. |
Originally Posted by Globaliser
(Post 17304941)
Be careful what you wish for.
My usual experience on another Big Airline that runs the other system has been that you simply find out 9 months earlier that you have no upgrade. On an admittedly small base (because I fly too many QF sectors on a BA code), I'm running at 100% on the QF system at the moment. If in the long term, if QF delivers 60-70% as its emails suggest, that's a pretty good rate. |
Originally Posted by Globaliser
(Post 17304941)
Be careful what you wish for.
My usual experience on another Big Airline that runs the other system has been that you simply find out 9 months earlier that you have no upgrade. On an admittedly small base (because I fly too many QF sectors on a BA code), I'm running at 100% on the QF system at the moment. If in the long term, if QF delivers 60-70% as its emails suggest, that's a pretty good rate. qf is quoted as saying that they wanted you to stay on their website and complete the sale... not go elsewhere. part of me thinks this whole standby upgrade is merely to keep your hopes up and buy the ticket... if you already knew 9 months in advance you had no chance of getting the upgrade then you may well fly someone else. most airlines have sophisticated seating programs... they know for example which flights are more likely to have no shows (they tell us this all the time in their overbooking policy). I reckon by the same count they also know exactly how many seats they will have open in higher classes for upgrade. why not be transparent and tell us? I can't remember the newsletter exactly... but were the upgrade per centages only in reference to international? or did it include domestic? |
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