AntonS

Flying 10 hour flight in a few days, XXX-DOH connection to a short flight DOH-YYY.

First 10 hour flight XXX-DOH is sold out in Y, J is wide open and it’s available for 1500$ for sale.

I am willing to pay 1500$ to upgrade first flight, which is basically a current walk up fare for this segment.

Second flight DOH-YYY is sold out in J, but it’s short so no big deal.

No online upgrade option is offered for XXX-DOH. Called QR and spent almost 1 hour with representative who was not able to refare my current ticket, because second segment is not available in J and for some reason she could not refare only first segment. I could probably push it more , but did not want to spend more time.

Any reason QR is not offering cash upgrades at walk up fare prices for each segment besides poor IT?

newEUer

Married segment availability is the issue rather than poor IT..

Your super secret route XXX-DOH-YYY is treated as it's own for availability (married).
​​​​​That is, there is different availability XXX-DOH-YYY than there is the constituent segments.

Hence, no J to YYY, no J from XXX.

If you get an upgrade offer or try at the airport it'll probably work. Currently they're trying to just refare you in J.

AntonS

it’s not a married segment issue. The 2nd flight is just sold out in J either as single flight or as connection.

I think it’s always beneficial for airline to offer upgrade options at current walk up prices. I think this is what Emirates does when there is no special upgrade offers for specific flight. Make it 2000$, 3000$, 5000$ etc and I will decide if it’s worth it, but no offer at all and 1 hour on hold with reservations - QR is definitely making it more difficult .

KingCanute

You bought a ticket from origin XXX to destination YYY. The sectors are not individually changeable, unless you orginally paid to book it as a more expensive multicity ticket or as separate tickets for each sector. Changing one sector on a ticket like yours requires availability to book a new ticket for the whole journey between origin and destination. That’s actually pretty normal ticketing policy at many airlines.

You may yet receive an offer for the one segment by email or at online check-in, or you can ask on departure at the airport. But because there is no availability in J XXX to YYY you cannot rebook your ticket into J at walk up fares.

AntonS

I understand software and re-fare limitations. I am only trying to say that per-segment upgrade offers can be done regardless of connection availability at VERY high price for people who are willing to pay it, which will benefit both QR and pax.

There is simply no reason not to offer per-segment upgrades to last seat availability. Just offer it for very high price.

Emirates almost always has per-segment upgrade offers , sometimes at absokutely redicilous prices, but I am sure some people are buying them.

KingCanute

QR do send out stupidly priced per segment upgrade offers, there's a thread on them somewhere here. Perhaps your ticket is not in an eligible fare bucket for the per sector offer or is disqualified from receiving an offer in some other way. Or you are down the list for some other reason and other pax have been targeted first. Or Y is overbooked so they aren’t sending out upgrade offers because they need the space for op-ups. Or they're planning to downsize the aircraft etc etc

florin

There was a (brief) period when you could buy a ticket with one segment in J and one segment in Y. That option hasn't been there in a while. 😔

scottishpoet

I think it is a married segement issue. You cannot upgrade your ticket because one of the married segments is not available now so the entire marriedcsegment cannot be repriced and upgraded.

you may get an upgrade offer for one segment sometime in the 14 days before the flight, but not always and not for each segment.

Yes if offered then a one segment upgrade becomes available but if not offered its not available to just call up and upgrade one segment.

Emirates may not have the same married segment rules QR has. Various reasons why an airline may want to leave money on the table rather than encouraging behaviours the do not want. For whatever reason QR does not want to encourage people to buy mixed classes. I would love to be able to book J on my long doh jnb segments but y on the shorter segment to eastern/central europe

FlyingScientist

Weren't they at some point displaying low J fares, and then you discovered that these referred to a mixed-class itinerary with one segment in Y?

KingCanute

I haven't seen one of those on an all QR itinerary for a while, but they're still hiding in plain sight on some where there are codeshares as part of the journey.

florin

I remember looking for an itin that I fly regularly, all QR metal (no codeshares), and for some time it was possible to buy only one segment in J with one segment in Y. The fare was definitely lower; I don't recall exactly how it was displayed... I vaguely recall seeing the regular options (Y on the left, J on the right) and when you clicked on the J one to select one of the fares, there was a non-default lower priced one that only had 1 segment in J and the other one in Y. I could be wrong; it's been a while.

AntonS

This part I understand, but my main point is that there is NO REASON not to offer segment upgrades at any time until last seat availability.

Just price these segment upgrades accordingly not to jeopardize J ticket sales (hint: you can even price these upgrades above current J fares if it’s hard to figure out upfare costs automatically, unless of course there is some special going on). I think this is what Emirates does and most US airlines do also.

I think most US airlines just treat them as seat purchase when you go to seat map and select exit row, premium or business class seat and pay, which makes it easier for customers and makes a lot of sense to me.

KingCanute

You write as though sector upgrade offers never happen. Several posters have pointed out that they do, and there's a long thread about them here:

Cash upgrades on QR

But for one or more of many possible reasons, it is not being offered to you for the flight sector you want to upgrade. Perhaps that’s bad luck this time, but certainly not an indication of policy.

Maybe you'll be lucky asking at the airport. Either way, enjoy your flight.

scottishpoet

QR perhaps looking rlto protect the J product on their shorter segments. They are discouraging people like me only buying J on the overnight segment.

Yes on one flight it may look unreasonable, but they will be looking at a bigger picture.

QR probably think they can sell married segment business class on that flight connecting from other flights and do not want to put that other revenue at risk. If those late bookings pcannot fly both sectors in J then they may choose to fly a different carrier completely

yes other airlines may choose different ways of working, like the US free upgrade if space avaiable....

zimstyles

YMMV -
But I have this problem constantly when doing avios upgrades.
For example I will be flying
MRS-MAD-DOH-AUH
MRS is IB Metal
When I call - they tell me the upgrade can not be done. So I ask them to remove the segments one by one and replace them with J.
I end up with
MRS-MAD -> Economy
MAD-DOH -> Business
DOH-AUH -> First

I do not know if you can ask them to remove and replace the segment as yours is a cash booking, but maybe worth a shot?