Upgrade with Q credit - waitlisting
 

Hi
I'm looking to book an economy flight between Doha and London and then to upgrade using q credits. I've been told that there isn't currently availability and that I'll have to be waitlisted.

I appreciate hat it depends on demand but how likely is a waitlist going to turn into an upgrade? If unlikely I'll pay for a cheaper economy ticket (I'd be paying extra for a saver as that is the cheapest fare class that can be upgraded).

Thanks in advance
Gareth

How far out are you from the travel date? How many seats are showing as being available in business class? Is it a flight that is normally full in business class? Not sure, but London can be a tough one.

I think wait listing on QR is a myth!

You're better off calling them every so often to check if availability has opened - although this is unlikely for the LHR route to be honest.

As you are Gold/Plat, you can call and they may open a seat for you in J if loads are low. Personally, I've had a 50% success rate with this.

You can also ask again at the airport prior to departure - this does not require award availability as they will use unsold seats for airport upgrades. I have previously had more luck upgrading this way for LHR - although you can only upgrade one sector at a time, which will be 25 qcredits for LHR (and if you are Gold leaves you with a fairly useless 15 qcredits remaining). For airport upgrades you still need an eligible fare code - ie not Promo fares (O, T, W or G).

If you go with the cheaper fare class, of the various QR wide bodies Y seating A380 > B777 9 across > A350 > A340 > A330 > B777 10 across > B787.

Let us know what you decide - and either way enjoy your flights :)

Speaking of upgrades...
 

Can I use qmiles to upgrade 1 segment of an entire trip?

I have a Man-PEK-Man trip coming up with my girlfriend on separate PNR.

I would like to up grade the final DOH-MAN segment from N to business class (have just enough qmiles for 2 people) does anyone know if that is possible?

Yes, absolutely - as long as there is award space available on that segment.

AGTG welcome to FlyerTalk and especially to the QR forum. You may find the dashboard a useful tool for this forum.

You can indeed upgrade one flight if you wish. This is done on your PC membership dashboard.

You can get an idea if seats are available by making a dummy booking and selectinq the "Book using Qmiles" button. But only an idea because this is for reward flights not upgrades. But the two very often follow each other closely so you can get an idea. I have found that you need to wait 24 hours after such an inquiry before making an upgrade request if you will avoid the more expensive 'Flexi awards' when trying to book upgrades.

Others have different , and probably more accurate, ways of checking availability and I am sure that they will hare them with you.

If you have Gold or Platinum status then you will have a number of Qcredits that can also be used for upgrades.

Thanks for the reply. The flight is early May. The flights that I've selected are relatively empty in business class - that's why I've chosen them.

Thanks for this - really helpful. I'll go for the non promo fare and cross my fingers, the flight I'm looking at leaves early hours of the morning - if nothing else 5hrs in the lounge at Doha before the flight (connecting from Abu Dhabi) will mean be bored silly and hopefully sleep!

dummy bookings for award seats
 

I recently managed to upgrade from an R class BKK DOH on a flight that was displaying X 2 mileage and was somewhat surprised to get a confirmation also I have always had upgrades eventually confirmed eventually

Are the discount economy fare class exclusions enforced? Can't upgrade O fares with Qcredits?

keitherson if you look at http://www.qatarairways.com/Privileg...alculator.page you will see that booking classes O, T, w and G do not appear in the ticket classes that can no longer be upgraded. It has been that way for at nearly two years.
Hint: If you want to see the cost in Qcredits you must login to your acount and use the calculator on the dashboard. Other ways do not usually show Qcredit costs.

You still can try to upgrade your ticket with Qcredit if you "upgrade" it first to an upgradable economy fare by paying fare difference (I wish in this case they don't charge rebooking fees but I can't tell you exactly as they quote me a more than 1000 EUR to "upgrade" from W to B, the cheapest available economy class at that time on my married segment flight AAA-DOH-BBB and I just said no thanx) but it can cost you a lot if there's not anymore seat available on your flight in the cheapest upgradable economy fares.

I have great respect for Matt4's suggestions. To be in the upgrade horizon, try for "N" sub class or above, in my experience. "N" sub class seems needed at minimum also, for qualification for QR STPC. If you can't secure "N" or its O/W equivalent on line ?, then book through an OTA - or, book directly at QR Office if that is convenient.

I am not aware of there being a "waitlist" for award upgrades in past experience you have to either keep submitting the request either via the PC dashboard or emailing them

Gelksy

I've called before - made an 'on hold' booking i.e. i didnt pay a penny. Agent requested Doha for award seat to be made available... and called me back before my 'on hold' booking fare expired to confirm my previously unavailable upgrade and allow me to pay and complete. Relatively painless...

Only single downside is you obviously have to pay the phone booking fee (I think it was around 30GBP) but a small price to pay for me for getting the upgrade confirmed before I paid any money! Im platinum so that certainly helped though. Cant guarantee it will work but certainly worth a shot!

Also - inability to upgrade promo fares is since Jul 16 (not quite 2 years remdk! ;) time isnt passing quite that fast, thank goodness! - i had to check the email they sent me about it as I was praying that that much time hadn't passed already!)