Recently booked an international flight from Sydney to Manila return.
I used an online booking agency and got a really good deal. My ticket class was O class.
Looking at the website - I knew that O class was not an eligible ticket for upgrades and when I went on the Qantas website and viewed my booking - sure enough the Upgrade option went to a page that said "Your booking is not eligible".
Last night (18/06/13) I hop on the Qantas website because I had an unrelated domestic flight that I wanted to have a look at. While logged in - I randomly decide to click the Upgrade on my Manila flight again.
"Upgrade to business for 80000 FF points" - "Request Upgrade" button becomes available.
I do a double take - log out - log in again and the button is still there. I thought there must be some kind of mistake. I log in with my partner's QFF login (also on the same booking and same flight) and find that she also can do an upgrade for 80000 QFF points.
I think - wow this is quite nice - maybe it just took time for our booking to register? Maybe there's a glitch?
I didn't know what to make of it - and the thought of upgrading wasn't even on my mind until the option came up.
So now - I'm thinking, "Great!" maybe I will actually do an upgrade. I sleep on it and figure I will decide tomorrow.
The next evening, after talking it over with my partner, I decide to hop on the website to book the upgrades.
Log in -> My Bookings -> Upgrade
"This booking is not eligible for upgrades"
Now I guess there may well have been some glitch and I was probably just lucky to even have the option pop up in the first place and maybe I should just take it as it is and be done with it.
I ring Qantas anyway.
25 minutes on hold - I get an operator.
I explain the situation to the operator who tells me that I may well have been allowed to upgrade by the system but that these things are random and if you get it you get it and if you don't you don't.
I was a bit cheesed by this - but I asked "So how can I know when the deal is on and how long it is on for in the future?"
The reply was "There's no way to know."
Not happy with the answer - I ask to speak to a supervisor. The girl tries to argue with me over whether I should speak to a supervisor or not, but with some persistence, eventually connects me.
The supervisor was very helpful and tells me a different story. She says that there was a brief sent out to selected QFF members regarding a particular special that was created specifically for people travelling internationally in classes that weren't normally eligible. The deal was - upgrades were available for international flyers even if they were in O class, however only for 24 hours.
I ask how I can be informed of such deals in the future - and she says that the deals should have been emailed to me. I check my email and find a bunch of QFF emails but none mentioning the offer she described.
I check my spam settings and double check all the emails and nothing.
I ask if there is any way I can still take the offer that was on and she says the system can't put it through anymore.
I felt a little hard done by - not ever being informed about a promotion, having an offer on the table taken right off it the next day!
If I knew there was a time limit I would have made my decision accordingly.
Either way it's going to be an awesome holiday =)
Anyone else experienced any QFF issues? Wouldn't mind any other tips from expert flyers out there =)
I booked a round-the-world leaving in August, and was hoping to use some of my points to upgrade us on the Qantas leg, which is mel-syd then syd-tokyo.
I have plenty of points to upgrade to business class, but according the qantas website we can only upgrade mel-syd (why would I bother for a 50 minute flight?) and not sydney-tokyo :(
Dont count of Qantas or any other FF program wanting you to use the points in any meaningful way, every few years they revalue and degrade the "worth" of points such that it's barely worth the effort.
We travel quite frequently and for the last 7-8 years we've actively been avoiding Qantas in preference for other airlines with better service and support, not that they care anyway.