Points upgrade for family members

[Ric]

Upgrades are allocated according to your membership level: Platinum Frequent Flyers first, followed by Gold, Silver and then Bronze. When using your points to upgrade an eligible family member, the upgrade will be awarded according to the eligible family member's priority not the status of the Qantas Frequent Flyer whose points are being used.

Any one noticed this in the upgrade conditions/qualifications? How long has this been there? Just saw this when trying to upgrade a flight for my daughter.

There goes the practice of using a WP or SG family member to upgrade to get priority.

Ric

[oz_mark]

I seem to remember it being there late last year.

[Mal]

I also remember a tightening up (or rather a 'clarification' of the rules) happening late last year. There was a thread here about it, which I'm currently trying to track down.

aah! here it is: http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/comm...ces-11545.html (QF Y > J Upgrade Chances)

[Ric]

Arrrgghh!! I missed that thread!!

Thanks!
Ric

[oz_mark]

Mal found it first, but I noticed that the QFF terms and condions are now dated 27 August, 2008. Haven't found what changed yet (haven't got a copy of the July 1 version of the rules with me)

[NM]

My experiences indicate variation from what is written in the Terms and Conditions .

[equus]

There is also a scenario that may be helping contribute to the confusion regarding "upgrading family members" - when both are flying together on the same booking.

In this case, it is the status of the person requesting the upgrade (who is also flying) that still applies - for both seats (in an all-or-nothing scenario, where either both get upgraded, or neither do). Where statuses differ, you would always want to make sure the request is made from the higher status member!

The T&Cs sort of cover this in reverse - by mentioning what happens if you are on separate bookings, but don't actually mention the situation explicitly about the same booking (I had to speak to the Service centre to confirm what is implied).

From the Qantas FF T&C

16.3.6 When passengers are travelling together but have separate bookings, the awarding of the Flight Upgrade is processed for each booking separately. Qantas cannot guarantee that both requests will be Awarded.

To give credit to Qantas, I am now 4 from 4 in upgrade requests Y->J SYD/HKG, HKG/SYD, BNE/HKG, HKG/BNE, the first pair just before Xmas last year, and the last two last month (but we do get the requests in early). Thought we might have been in trouble on the last leg, with all flights the day before to and from HKG cancelled due to the Typhoon, but J was almost half empty - even after we were upgraded in. Both requested by partner who is PS (I am only NB, having fallen back from SG).

[Lord Mud]

A brief and possbliy pointless question,
If my family member and I have no status (both bronze) does that mean we have very little chance of an upgrade.
I will AA plat early next year and will be travelling QF LHR-MEL and my mother is going to "donate" me some points for an upgrade to Y+. I am QF bronze also.
I have put my AA number on the flight though! How will the lottery be likely to go?

[v8Statesman]

Originally Posted by Lord Mud

A brief and possbliy pointless question,
If my family member and I have no status (both bronze) does that mean we have very little chance of an upgrade.
I will AA plat early next year and will be travelling QF LHR-MEL and my mother is going to "donate" me some points for an upgrade to Y+. I am QF bronze also.
I have put my AA number on the flight though! How will the lottery be likely to go?

AFAIK, it goes on QF status. So one would assume you will be at the bottom of the pile (Below NB) as Qantas see you as an "Outsider with no status. I assume you will have no AA status at the time of the flight as you mention you are not yet AA Plt.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by v8Statesman

AFAIK, it goes on QF status. So one would assume you will be at the bottom of the pile (Below NB) as Qantas see you as an "Outsider with no status. I assume you will have no AA status at the time of the flight as you mention you are not yet AA Plt.

Indeed. Actually, I believe Qantas sees you as being sponsored by a Qantas Bronze (ie yourself!) regardless of what AA status you are. You've also got to watch that Qantas doesn't "be nice" to you and wipe your AA status and replace with your QF ff number.

NM's one of the experts in this particular field!