Upgrade for family of 4 SYD - LAX

[Kazda]

Hi
Read a few posts regarding the likelyhood of upgrades SYD-LAX and have a few questions that hopefully someone can answer.

Can I, being the QFF member, upgrade myself, wife & 2 kids or can only the person thats the QFF member be eligible for an upgrade from economy to business.

Also, if I can upgrade whole family, we want 4 upgrades or none at all, rather than only getting say 1 or 2 upgrades and then leaving the kids (13&14yrs) back in economy for the 14 hour flight by themselves or with my wife if only 1 upgrade is secured.

I read on the QFF site, that if you are allocated the upgrade but then not take it, your original seat may no longer be available. This may be a problem if I'm only allocated 1 seat upgrade and not the full 4 upgrades required as obviously I would be not real popular with the rest of the family if I took the upgrade, but I may not be able to then say it's all 4 or nothing.

I know it will be a real long shot that we get upgraded in the first place, but can someone advise if the upgrades are allocated only in the number requested EG 4 upgrades or do they then say we'll give you 1 only upgrade out of the 4 requestedin which case I may have to take it or lose my original seat.

Any information on how the upgrades are given out and also if anybody has ever tried to get 4 on one flight - what's my likelyhood on that happening.
thanks

[Dave Noble]

What QF status do you have? The higher your status the better the chance

Getting 4 upgrades on SYD-LAX is pretty hopeful but if you are all in a single booking, iirc, either you will all get upgraded or none of you will.

Would kids actually mind being on their own if you were only able to get 2 ? It isn't that uncommon for cabin splitting to occur.

You can use your miles to upgrade all and it is your status and not the status of the passenger which witll determine priority

Dave

[odoherty]

Getting 4 upgrades on SYD-LAX is pretty hopeful but if you are all in a single booking, iirc, either you will all get upgraded or none of you will.

Yes, if everyone is in the same booking (ie. everyone has the same booking reference), QF will upgrade eveyone or none at all. To the best of my knowledge, there is no risk of being split up.

[Kazda]

thanks for info.
I'm only a bronze so do you think my chances of 4 x upgrades are very slim and therefore should I use the points for award flights rather than saving them for an upgrade I may never get.

I've also read in other upgrade posts, something about business class buckets - What does 'business class buckets' mean and would the information be usefull in regard to determining if an upgrade would be available.

Eg this is what I found in another post in regard to fare buckets
"QF93 J4 C4 D0 I0 U0" and have no idea what it means

thanks heaps

[Dave Noble]

thanks for info.
I'm only a bronze so do you think my chances of 4 x upgrades are very slim and therefore should I use the points for award flights rather than saving them for an upgrade I may never get.

If you have booked the trip, then you might as well request the upgrades, if you don't get them then you have lost nothing.

Dave

[bigjobs]

also remember that most syd - lax flights are pretty full in j class

[Kiwi Flyer]

Eg this is what I found in another post in regard to fare buckets
"QF93 J4 C4 D0 I0 U0" and have no idea what it means

thanks heaps

That is what QF is willing to sell at the moment. At least 4 "J" fare class, at least 4 "C" fare class (these are both high business fares) - note you don't add the numbers to get 8 available seats, the way to interpret it is at least 4 seats at a minimum fare level of "C" (in practice even this is a simplification ignoring such technicalities as married segments and the like).

When looking for awards and upgrades you need availability in those specific "fare" classes, although paid availability & experience gives a guide as to how likely it is or isnt that additional award/upgrade seats may be freed up, or even op-up chances.

[Kazda]

If you have booked the trip, then you might as well request the upgrades, if you don't get them then you have lost nothing.

Dave

True, however I don't want to tie up points for 5 months to find that I didn't get the upgrade and that I really had no chance of ever getting it under Bronze status, when I could use the points avail now and book an award flight for 4 to SIN for early next year.
Something to ponder about.....

[NM]

True, however I don't want to tie up points for 5 months to find that I didn't get the upgrade and that I really had no chance of ever getting it under Bronze status, when I could use the points avail now and book an award flight for 4 to SIN for early next year.
Something to ponder about.....

The points are not tied up when you request an upgrade. If you find a better use for them in the meantime you can use the points and cancel your upgarde request.

[NM]

When looking for awards and upgrades you need availability in those specific "fare" classes, although paid availability & experience gives a guide as to how likely it is or isnt that additional award/upgrade seats may be freed up, or even op-up chances.

As an example, I am reasonably confident my waitlisted upgrade later this week will be successful. I joined the waitlist about 6 weeks out as a Platinum member, and class availability shows F9A9 for the flight less than 48 hour out.

But if I was Bronze and availability showed F1A1 then I would not be holding much hope.