I have not offical info from QF, but my research and experience leads me to believe that award inventory (including upgrades) are reviewed about 7 days, 3 days and 1 day out from flight. So best chance for a WP to get an upgrade is to be on the list prior to the 7 day review. If course, SG's and below need to be on the waitlist way before that.

I recently waitlisted for Z (from D) on MEL-LAX - 4 weeks before flight date.

a week later my Z (2 actually) cleared. At no stage before or after did I see (at least when I checked) any Z availbility on that flight. I think they review it periodically, and being WP clearly helps. I have a sneaking suspicion that to get Z from J they never have to make any Z available (at least to the world at large) but selectively can clear individuals. Again WP helps.

F on my flight was full. Ofcourse I don't know how all those F pax got into F (paid, award, upgrade??). All I know is at the time of waitlisting for Z the CSR told me I was the first to waitlist for Z.

So the lesson there is to get waitlisted ASAP - and you may not need to wait till the 7/5/3 day period before flight date.

No Z
 

I thought that in First Class you should get lots of ZZZs with the flat beds? :)

Now if there is never any availability in Z, does anyone wonder why it is hard to redeem miles on QF? Still not managed a QF redemption flight yet. Several combinations of BA and CX have worked. I was offered economy LAX to SYD and WTP on BA from LHR to LAX when after a F/J seat.

I would suggest that the previous posters are correct, why have any available when you can just pick off the waitlist? Makes mile only bookings very risky. You might go for J from LHR to SYD and not get any J sectors at all but still get the full J miles deducted from your account!

Too true. Last week was confirmed on QF 320 in D for LHR-BKK but W/L on QF 2 for D (no upgrades, just a paid ticket for the requested class). The W/L cleared at about 30 hrs before flight time. Seems everyone wants the QF SkyBeds rather than the BA SFBs (short flat beds).

QF 2 was reported as completely full but one seat in J stayed empty. Seems one J passenger declined to travel after check-in and his/her bags were then removed. Too bad for QF that it was too late for the seat to be sold / given to someone else.

Do you think this (7,3,1 review) applies to domestic flights as well?
I am trying to get a U seat on a Mel-Syd flight next week, showing J9 D9 I8 U0 on the flight (767-300).

The thing with domestic flights is that those with QP access can burn points in the the last 3 hours before a flight if there is J or D availability.

Sorry, I don't know about domestic reviews. Maybe the same, may be completely different. But as deeruck has pointed out, On-Departure Upgrades make it a little different for domestics as you have another option. And my experience has been very good in securing ODU's for domestic ops.

Just want to know can I use my partners points to Upgrade at the QP (On-Dept Upgrade) for Domestic.

I can access the QP because of my CX MPO Status.

i heard you can't WL for domestics

It's a similar thing in reverse for me. I want to use my soon to expire UC to upgrade my eligible family member's (see 10.1.4) flight... who don't have access to the QP. I wonder if I can book the ODU from the PER QP for my family members at Mel???!?

No, can't waitlist for domestic upgrades. To upgrade using points at the QP (ODU) you will need to have the FF membership number (preferably the card) and know the PIN for the account. Theoretically, I believe the member needs to be present. However, I have read here of people being able to use an absent partner's points so long as you know their FF number and PIN. But it probably depends on whether the CSA believes you really have the member's permission to do so!

You cannot do this - as I discovered, the hard way.