Cash upgrades?
 

Hey guys,

I'm flying LHR-DXB on Qantas next week. I'm on a business class award ticket (booking class U) - booked with Avios via BA.com. I'd like to upgrade to first either with cash or my avios. Firstly, is it possible with my booking class, and secondly how much can I expect to pay in cash / avios?

Thanks in advance.

Who knows what the DXB policy for cash upgrades might be. In the past no cash upgrades from U, and from J the cost was substantial but that is for a longer flight (to SIN or HKG). It will be over GBP 1000 though if offered, and not available for Avios except by canceling your award and getting a new one.

I only know of "cheap" upgrades offered on trans-tasman routes. Otherwise it is a fare difference, and I don't believe you will be able to.

QF has a very different upgrade policy to BA. QF Points upgrades are waitlisted until near the flight, unlike BA which can be done if there is redemption space available.

You cannot upgrade a Qantas flight (paid or redemption) with Avios points, you can only upgrade Qantas metal with Qantas points.

Via Avios points the only way would be:
If there is award availability in F you might be able to cancel your existing ticket and rebook a new Award in F.

Historically Qantas hasn't offered cash upgrades, mainly because they don't offer their own FFs confirmed upgrades and instead process in the days/hours before the flight - thus spare seats are used for these upgrades.

However Qantas has been testing some cash upgrades at some ports but this is far from common.

I have seen QF offer cash upgrades that were less than the fare difference ex-LHR, NRT, HKG and SIN but not always and maybe not often. It was always double or triple the price compared to other airlines offering such upgrades (e.g. BA) on similar routes. But times change and who knows what QF is doing this month :)

I've gotten cash upgrades out of SIN before on the way to SYD that were a lot less than the fare difference, but still not "cheap" by most definitions (substantially lower than actually purchasing a J ticket, though).

That said, I don't believe QF offer them ex-SYD, and even then it seems to depend on station to station (when I tried at PVG for example, it was a horrendous amount - likely the actual fare difference at the time).

Worth asking, I find.