Long waiting time for upgrade tickets
 

I would like to use up my soon expiring PUPs and have purchased 2 cattle class tickets (Q) from BKK to europe and let them upgrade to J
upgrade is confirmed, also our seats
But I am told that due to lack of staff, TG will issue ticket late, but latest 5 days before departure...
in the past, such tickets were issued ASAP...
Do I need to be worried?

I have not had a ‘fresh’ ticket issued recently, but my resuscitated GUP arrived within 2 days (on 01 Apr). There was comment that the ticket issue was queued, but it all happened quickly. Flights are in late Oct.

A few weeks ago my Q class purchase, and GUP was all done in a couple of days by the local TG office, all by email.

I go through the main office in Bangkok as I am living in Thailand

Please be aware of the following problem:
I requested GUP2 through BKK office in February for a flight in October 2022. Flight was upgraded and seats reserved. Nevertheless I noticed after 2 month that YQ had not been charged to CC and no ticket number has been issued. Called in at FRA office (took ages, horrible!) and they told me that not issuing the ticket was a mistake by BKK agent. So far so good, but since February the QY has gone up significantly and therefore I ended up in paying almost 650 USD in surcharge compared to the initialy quoted 350 USD in February. For the price of a Q-class ticket and on top the enormous YQ I could have bought almost a full revenue ticket in C.
End of story: the initialy booked TG927 got canceled and I am rebooked via TG923 and BKK transfer.
I am TG Gold for almost 17 years, but after my recent experiences I will no longer be loyal to this airline. Flights in February 2023 are now with SQ.

I have just looked through my e-tix. YQ has only ever been charged on an award tix, and never on a paid tix with GUP applied.

Something is very wrong, or the rules have changed!

YQ difference for GUP ex Europe have been charged in the past for quiet a while. They introduced this fee roughly 8 years ago. I briefly checked old EMD and found a RT FRA-BKK in early 2019. Here I paid only 84 Euros YQ and no service fee. Service fee according to EMD is now 120 US Dollars and YQ for my itinerary is a whopping 396 Euro, so a total of 510 Euros on top of the Q-class ticket. The initial stated 650 USD are not correct. Sorry about that. Nevertheless it remains that when I initially booked and confirmed GUP in February 2022 Euro was stronger compared to USD and YQ difference was much lower. Also it took several attempts and time to contact TG in Thailand and in Frankfurt to book GUP and than again to get the tickets issued. In total my ticket costed 1590 Euros, whereas +1 was booked directly in J as revenue ticket for 2130 Euros. Also it remains a mystery what has happened if I did not notice that the ticket has not been issued. How many people know the difference between a PNR and an e-ticket number?

Oh dear, that is bad news.

actually my two cattle class tickets at Q fare got already charged on my CC by the travel agent in Bangkok...is that what you mean?

No. To be eligible for a GUP a paid economy class ticket in a certain booking class is mandatory. So beeing charged for the Q-class ticket is a basic requirement. But if you upgrade the Q-class with a GUP or by mileage redemption you will be charged a service fee and a fuell surcharge difference (so called YQ) between the economy class fare and the business class fare. Depending on the route this could be some 100 USD. Also a new e-ticket will be issued and you will get an EMD receipt stating what you paid more. What happened to me (and obviously to others) is, that TG only reserverd the upgrade but did not issue the ticket. Since currency fluctuates and fuell surcharges may go up, this could mean that you loose money, especially (like in my case) the upgrade was confirmed in February but ticket was issued late May.

thanks!
that's what I was told will take some time as there is a long queue (new upgraded ticket "will be issued latest 5 days before the flight"...and even as Platinum you do not get any priority...this service fee and fuel surcharge will be charged by TG office in Bangkok directly to my credit card...

I finally got my two upgraded tickets (with PUP) within less than one week before departure...
I purchased the according economy class tickets back in June and got reservation confirmed but had to queue for ticket issue...no preference for status (I am still Platinum)

That really is terrible. I have TG GUP flights late Oct and I will be interested int he overall experience. less wok travel for me so I am transitioning from TG ROP to NZ Airpoints. It is a lousy system, but if mainly in New Zealand I’ll be kind of stuck. May need to become a status-less value traveller!

On queued tickets, my wife had a two week delay to her Qantas flights Australia->New Zealand. It was rebooked but an updated e-tix was not issued until 2 days prior. And it seems only after I called…..

the Thai lady in the travel agency, which organize my trips for 20 years now told me, that some clients got their tickets just 3 days before the flight...

my Platinum status will also expire and in the long run no chance to keep status in two programs

I got the infamous "ticket booked by CC not charged" story.
Booked a Q class last July, upgraded to J with my GUP1 with a second fee. Second fee wasn't apparently charged and upgrade wasn't ticketed, despite electronic ticket showing CONFIRMED / J on the segments I had upgraded.
I received a reconciliation email today to pay. Trying to battle with the call center to understand what happened, but now, I'm scared with seat availability...