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5 minutes
Posted:
January 2, 2024
Updated:
March 18, 2025
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If you’ve ever had a passing interest in frequent flyer programs, then you’ve probably dreamt about swapping your points for a dreamy Business or First Class upgrade. The idea of getting upgraded can be exciting, but with so many other people also after the same upgrades, you do need to have an edge over them.
To help you get your head around it, here’s how to use Qantas Points to upgrade a Qantas-operated and marketed flight (and also what goes on behind the scenes).
From 20 May 2024 onwards, Qantas Classic Plus Business fares can be upgraded to First Class.
What are Qantas Classic Upgrade Rewards?
The most common way to upgrade your Qantas ticket using points is through Classic Upgrade Rewards. This involves putting in a request for an upgrade and paying the number of points relevant to your upgrade if it’s successful.
You can upgrade from most cash fares. Unusually, Qantas also lets you upgrade from Classic Reward fares and the new Classic Plus fares, both of which are booked with points in the first place.
However, not all requests will get approved. Whether or not you make the cut depends on a variety of factors. The way Qantas determines who gets an upgrade is not simple and is the source of much confusion and frustration
Upgrades are worth seeking out and are a great use of Qantas Points if you (or perhaps, your employer) have already bought a ticket with cash.
Important points to note with Qantas Classic Upgrade Rewards
- These rules only apply to Qantas-operated flights with a QF flight number on the ticket (not codeshares) and upgrades using Qantas Points only.
- If you buy a Discount Economy sale fare – called ‘Red e-Deal’ or ‘Economy Sale’ – then you can only upgrade that ticket using points on domestic flights, not international flights. Learn more in our guide on what Qantas fares to book for upgrades.
- You can upgrade both from commercial fares, as well as Classic Reward and Classic Plus seats (specific fares paid wholly with points). The upgrade rates vary depending on what ticket is purchased.
- Classic Upgrade Rewards are not the only way to upgrade your flight with points. Qantas also offers On-Departure Upgrades and Bid Now Upgrades with cash. Classic Upgrade Rewards are the most common method, though, and they take priority over the other methods.
Qantas American Express Ultimate
- Sign-up Bonus:
- Up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points¹
- Rewards Earn Rate:
- 1.25 Qantas Points earned per $1 on eligible everyday purchases. 2.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia. 0.5 Qantas Point per $1 at government bodies in Australia. After a total of 100,000 Qantas Points is earned in a calendar year, the everyday earn rate will change from 1.25 to 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent.
- Annual Fee:
- $450 p.a.
- Offer expires
- 5 May 2026
- Earn 70,000 bonus Qantas Points when you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months, plus an additional 30,000 Qantas Points when you spend a minimum of $1 on your Card within 90 days of paying your second year annual Card Fee¹. (Offer ends 5 May 2026. New Amex Card Members only. T&Cs apply.) This card includes an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit, two Qantas Club Complimentary Lounge Invitations each year, complimentary international travel insurance, and Qantas Wine Premium Membership (valued at $99). Earn 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 on everyday spend, 2.25 on Qantas purchases, and 0.5 on government payments. The annual fee is $450.
How much do Qantas Classic Upgrade Rewards cost?
Your upgrade cost depends on the type of ticket you have purchased, the distance, the cabin you want to upgrade to and whether it’s a domestic or international flight. There are far too many figures to list here. Instead, check the upgrade reward table or do a quick calculation for a specific route.
To give you an idea of how much you might need for an upgrade, here are two examples:
Perth to Sydney:
| Fare | To Business |
| From Economy Classic Reward | 28,300 pts |
| From Red e-Deal | 27,200 pts |
| From Economy Flex | 10,900 pts |
Sydney to London:
| Fare | To Premium Economy | To Business | To First |
| From Economy Sale | – | – | – |
| From Economy Classic Reward/Plus | 98,100 pts | 135,100 pts | – |
| From Economy | 81,700 pts | 130,800 pts | – |
| From Flexible Economy | 26,100 pts | 71,900 pts | – |
| From PE Classic Reward/Plus | – | 92,600 pts | – |
| From Discount Premium Economy | – | 71,900 pts | – |
| From Premium Economy | – | 65,400 pts | – |
| From Flexible Premium Economy | – | 58,800 pts | – |
| From Business Classic Plus Reward | – | – | 110,000 pts |
| From Discount Business | – | – | 81,700 pts |
| From Business | – | – | 73,500 pts |
| From Flexible Business | – | – | 65,400 pts |
You can upgrade a Discount Economy ticket (Red e-Deal) between Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane and Perth for 27,200 points one-way. For comparison, an outright Business Class reward booking on the same route costs 41,500 Qantas Points + taxes.
On the other hand, you can make the 17-hour trek between Perth and London more comfortable. Upgrading from a regular Economy Class ticket to Premium Economy costs 68,100 points. An outright redemption costs 94,900 points + taxes.
Finally, if your company (or deep pockets) has bought you a flexible Business Class ticket from the East Coast to Los Angeles and you want to upgrade to First Class, that will set you back just 49,100 points. An equivalent ticket would cost you 162,800 points + taxes from scratch.
Are Qantas Classic Upgrade Rewards worth it?
As a general rule of thumb, the answer is usually ‘yes’. Upgrades are considered one of the most efficient uses of points if you can snag one.
Other factors to consider include how much you’ve already paid for your current ticket, the length of the flight, the comfort of the upgraded seat, lounge access and your points balance.
In general, we still think you’ll get better value by booking a reward seat outright in the cabin you want to travel in. The cost isn’t too much higher than upgrading. But if there aren’t reward seats available, then upgrading is your next best shot for travelling in luxury.
Are Qantas domestic flight upgrades different to international upgrades?
Yes, there are some major differences between Qantas’ domestic and international upgrades.
- Domestic flight upgrades can be immediately confirmed by any Qantas Frequent Flyer member, regardless of fare or status, only if a reward seat in the higher cabin is available. (Otherwise, standard waitlist rules apply).
- Discount Economy (Red e-Deal) fares on domestic flights can be upgraded. However, international Economy Sale fares can’t be upgraded, including those to New Zealand.
When it comes to domestic flights, booking early and looking for Business reward availability is key to getting a confirmed upgrade.
So if you want to find out whether or not you will be able to secure an upgrade before you purchase a domestic flight, you can search for Classic Flight Rewards on that flight. If seats in the higher cabin are available, your upgrade request should be approved as soon as you put it in.
How does the Qantas upgrade waitlist work?
For all international flights and for domestic requests that cannot be approved immediately, the following rules will usually be applied in order when deciding who gets a flight upgrade.
1. Elite frequent flyer status
Your frequent flyer status is the most important factor. Regardless of when Platinum members put in their requests, all Platinum requests will always be approved ahead of Gold members. Similarly, all Gold members will be approved ahead of Silver members, and so on.
Here are the waitlist timelines that apply, depending on your status. Note that during peak periods, higher-tiered members may still not get confirmation until closer to the flight.
| Membership tier | Domestic Upgrades | International Upgrades |
| Platinum One | Within 3 days of flight departure | Within 7 days of flight departure |
| Platinum | Within 3 days of flight departure | Within 3 days of flight departure |
| Gold, Silver, Bronze | Within 24 hrs of flight departure | Within 24 hrs of flight departure |
2. Qantas Club Membership
If you are a Qantas Club member with Bronze or Silver status, you will enjoy priority over non-Qantas Club members in your class. For example, a normal Silver member will lose to another Silver member who is a Qantas Club member, all other factors being equal.
But holding a Qantas Club membership won’t trump someone in a higher frequent flyer tier. Bronze Qantas Club members won’t have priority over ordinary non-Club Silver members.
3. Fare bucket of your ticket
The higher the price of your ticket, the more likely you are to get upgraded compared to someone else of equal status or membership. A traveller holding a fully flexible Economy Class ticket will have higher priority over someone with a discounted Economy ticket.
Although you can request upgrades from Classic Flight Rewards (seats booked wholly with points), those are prioritised last after all cash fares, even Discount Economy.
The new Classic Plus fares enjoy higher upgrade priority over the standard Classic Reward fares.
4. Timing of your upgrade request
Finally, if there’s a tie with frequent flyer status, Qantas Club membership and fare buckets, the time you lodge your request will come into play. Of course, that means someone who lodges their request earlier will win over someone who booked last minute.
Tips for improving your chance of an upgrade
- Try to fly off-peak: mid-week, during the middle of the day, away from school and public holiday periods.
- Request your upgrade as early as possible: this will give you an advantage over some others
- Pick flights operated by bigger planes: you’ll have a better chance when there are more Business Class seats to go around. For example, prioritise an Airbus A330 flight over a Boeing 737 for domestic and short-range international routes.
Qantas also tends not to confirm all upgrades immediately and will leave several seats unsold in premium cabins for last-minute travel. You may find that you’ll get an upgrade at the airport or even at the gate. The flight might even go out with a few seats empty in that cabin. Qantas doesn’t have to fill every remaining seat with upgrades.
Summing up
If you want to guarantee a Business or First Class seat, you should search for reward seat availability. Booking an outright redemption in the cabin of your choice is much easier than playing the upgrade game!
But if that’s not an option, consider submitting a points upgrade request. You never know – it could clear, and you could be relaxing in Business or First Class with fewer points.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my Qantas Points to upgrade a flight on Emirates or another partner airline?
Generally, no. Qantas states that ‘from time to time Classic Upgrade Rewards may be requested on eligible paid and confirmed tickets on codeshare flights operated by another airline with a Qantas (QF) flight number on the ticket’. But these cases are rare.
If I am a Platinum One member and request an upgrade on my partner's behalf through family eligibility, how will they be prioritised?
If they are an eligible family member and they are travelling on a booking made by you as a higher tier member, their request will be given the priority belonging to your higher tier — whether you are travelling with them or not. This is a perk of Platinum One.
However, for all other status levels (Platinum and below), if that person is travelling by themself, then it will be their status tier that determines eligibility, not yours.
Can I upgrade to Qantas First Class?
Using Qantas Points, you can only upgrade to Qantas First Class from:
- Discount Business
- Business
- Flexible Business
- Classic Plus Business
How to upgrade Qantas flights with points was last modified: March 18th, 2025 by
Community Comments
Another thing to consider is the points you earn on your original booking. It can go a long way to covering the points you use to upgrade. I was successful upgrading both my mother and myself from PE to business on QF2 from London to Sydney. 75,000 points each. I think our PE fare earned us half that, so it worked out a bargain upgrade. Plus we booked on a double status points offer, which gave me enough to maintain good status, which of course means you earn more points for completed flights.
Would classic rewards be at bottom of the upgrade hierarchy? Like below discount economy?
I found a business classic rewards fare to Tokyo but waited a day to confirm travel details and it was taken. So I booked a Premium Economy classic rewards seat and have requested an upgrade.
Am I 2nd from the bottom just in front of classic rewards economy? Or would I be above all economy (including full fare) because I’m in Premium economy?
If I put in for an upgrade request, whilst I am platinum, but the flight commences after the expiration of my tier, is the upgrade based on my prior tier upon requesting the upgrade, or my tier at time of flying?
Thanks
Hi there! My sister and I are on the same flight Sydney to London but separate bookings. Both of us have submitted a request to upgrade (and we have different Qantas status). Is there anyway to try and get us both upgraded, if one of us does?
Just scored two Premium Economy to Business from SYD to LHR on QF1, AND, two Premium Economy to Business from LHR to SYD on QF2 on the way back.
Bronze Qantas Club – now Silver Qantas Club.
Great flights 🙂
Dont waste time using a boatload of Qantas points just to go on a waitlist, get a confirmed award seat using AA miles. That will cost less miles than the Qantas upgrade.
Your favourite deals article is way out of date with some deals expired end April….;)
If I have a booking with my wife and 4yo daughter where myself and my wife are both Platinum members. Then the fact that our daughter who is bronze is on the same booking reference number, when it time to be considered for upgrade request does that mean my wife and myself get pushed down in the priority list due to my daughter being bronze. Or does my daughter get treated at the same priority as my wife and myself ?
Great post, thanks!
I’m wondering if there is an issue with Qantas upgrades when bookings are done by corporate travel agents? I’ve had this issue before with Emirates, where a booking can’t be upgraded as it was made via a 3rd party corporate agent. My current W-class Qantas flight is saying that “upgrade requests are not available for this fare type” where it should be, being a full price flexible fare. It’s been booked by my company’s travel agent.
Hi Brandon, I’m sure in the past if you were a bronze member and you used your family member’s Platinum account to request your upgrade you would receive the Platinum member’s priority. But the above states that only works for Platinum One – which Martin from the Qantas HBA premium desk also advised by phone. Do you know if this is a recent change? Sadly I don’t know any Platinum One’s to try boosting my chances for a trip to the US in Feb and Chile in March!
Hi Greg, as far as I remember, that has always been the policy – that Platinum One family upgrades have the same priority as the member itself. I don’t recall Platinum or lower members ever having that perk, unfortunately.
No worries thanks for the quick reply Brandon – wish me luck with my Bronze status!!! Luckily I got a good PE sale fare so will still be in extra comfort if the upgrades don’t come thru 🙂
Brandon wondering if Platinum members still use their points to book classic rewards flights (not upgrades) for family and access the better availability offered to Platinum and above members whereupon you can request say Premium where there’s at least T fares showing available and Business where there’s at least I fares showing available?
TIA and Merry Christmas!
Hi Greg, yes it’s certainly possible for Platinum members and higher to book the extra reward seats they have access to for eligible family members – including requested seats.
Hi Point Hacks, I have booked a Classic Reward Flight and requested an upgrade to Business. If Business isn’t available, would I drop back to a Premium Economy upgrade if that was available?
Thanks!
Hi Tessa, did you also request a Premium Economy upgrade at the same time? If you didn’t choose it, then no, Qantas won’t consider you for Premium Economy either. It also helps if you allow upgrades at the gate/airport as well.
Brandon – I’ve found the analysis you’ve provided here works and have received several domestic upgrades by booking early at times where business classic point seats are available. This includes bookings done with COVID-induced credit vouchers. However today I booked with a voucher for times where there are clearly business classic reward seats available for all the people on my booking (and this is still the case at the time of writing) and the upgrade request is still sitting in “requested.” Has anything changed in the last two months – i.e the las time I used this technique successfully). Should I follow it up – and even if I do, won’t I just get a blank response from Qantas (since customer’s generally don’t know this trick)?
Well , I sit at Adelaide airport totally disgusted with Qantas and their rewards points upgrade. Yes I was aware of their poor policy but I rang two days ago and told over the phone on the Qantas call centre that our upgrade to business on QF1 was going to happen. Only to then not get any notification from Qantas. I booked the offer two upgrade seven weeks ahead. Qantas offered this. Then get to airport to find that the call centre got it wrong. Not happy. Qantas airport staff. No help at all. Qantas don’t even notify you if you are unsuccessful, cause then at least I could book a different lounge in Singapore. But no, they stuffed that. So, no more Qantas for me. Got a million points and stuffed if I can get to use them. No more.
got mel sfo using classic points.
Can I bid for upgrade for business or only for premium class.
You can upgrade to either! Chances are very low, though, unless you have status. More info here.
Hi Great summary.
I registered for an upgrade 7 months ago with points for all family members through my acount, at the time I didn’t have enough points for the whole trip but now its close to departure I do, Ive done this before and its been fine but there seems to be a difference of opinion now on whether you need all the points at time of booking or just when the upgrade is assessed ? Thanks
Thanks for the comprehensive article on upgrades. I have one additional question as to upgrades and processing. In relation to a flight like the new QF9 MEL -> PER -> LHR, are upgrade requests of passengers departing MEL processed before requests of passengers departing PER? (E.g. because T-80 or T-24 is earlier for the MEL departure than the PER departure). This would mean that a Bronze flyer requesting an upgrade on MEL->LHR would trump a P1 flyer requesting PER-LHR? (Or are all upgrade requests for a particular flight – in this example QF9 – considered/processed at the same time irrespective of whether the request is for MEL->LHR or PER->LHR). Thanks
I’m not 100% sure on this but I would imagine that they are processed at the same time. Great question! You may want to post it in our Questions section to see if you get any more responses.
Hi,
I have booked and paid cash for business class LHR to MEL via Singapore.
In the one booking is my wife (Platinum) me (Gold) and my infant son.
My question is does it matter who requests the upgrade to First? i.e. if i request the upgrade from my account (Gold) will the booking be treated as Gold for order purpose? Or will it be Platinum (because my wife is on the booking)?
That’s a really good question and I’m not 100% on the answer, so to give you the best chance of getting upgraded, I would recommend that your wife requests the upgrade and you transfer any necessary points to cover the upgrade to her account (if she doesn’t have enough). Hope that helps!
Just remember there is a waitlist of QF staff gunning for these seats as well. If you are on your QF long service leave ticket you get a firm upgraded seat for you and your partner. If you are a Captain, a Captains travelling partner and their kids (above a certain age) you will gazump commercials who are anticipating an upgrade to First. Exec level QF staff gazump commercials too to First. The majority of QF staff though are eligible for J/C upgrades. It is not uncommon to have a list of 50-70 waiting at Syd & Mel waitlist counters every night for the QF1 & QF9 to get up to DXB/LHR. There are often 75-100 staff trying to get out of LAX back to any Australian port at the end of school hols. Other airlines staff use non-upgradeable (generally speaking) tickets on QF. (except some JQ staff) QantasLink are upgradeable too.
To add to that, you have the employees and crew who are paxing around on company business who are mostly eligible for J/C seats if available. Some Tech crew can ONLY travel in F/C & J/C and I have seen on more than one occasion, a premium cabin commercial pax downgraded to accommodate a deadheading Captain.
In saying this, upgrades for QF staff have been impacted by the On-Departure Upgrades and Bid Now Upgrades. Gone are the days where the crew could upgrade their friends and family once on board with some likely story. This practice is heavily scrutinised by other crew and even passengers.
Great summary. Does the class of travel make any difference?
Passenger 1: Gold member in Premium Economy requests upgrade to Business
Passenger 2: Platinum member in Economy requests upgrade to Business
Which passenger would take priority?
HI Matt
Thanks for the article, very informative.
A question for the community out there please?
I am thinking of flying QF36 from Singapore to Melbourne.
As I have a travel credit courtesy of AMEX Qantas, I am probably purchasing a QF revenue ticket (probably Premium Economy – Discounted, if not Saver); and putting in a request for an upgrade.
Anyone out there had/or not success with such a strategy?
Thanks in advance.
Chris
Hi Chris, I would suggest posting this in our Questions section to increase your chances of a response.
Thanks Matt, will do.
Chris.
Hi
very informative article thanks. I am booking a Sydney – LHR flight on QF 1
Any tricks to find out what the upgrade availability is before I pay for the expensive flex ticket?
trying to decide between sale, saver or flex
thanks
Sadhu
That’s a really hard route to get upgraded on, so I would suggest either using your points for an outright redemption in Business Class on Qantas, Emirates or another partner airline like Cathay Pacific, or just buying the cheapest Economy Class ticket.
Hi, do upgrades from premium economy to business take priority over upgrades from economy to business regardless of status or is status more important that the class of ticket purchased?
Thanks
Thank you for the attention to detail in your article – all very useful info! I wondered if you’d written anything re routes ex Australia for the best chance of an upgrade? My next travels will be in June/July Brisbane to Europe (ultimately Spain but book to London with Qantas, and get a separate ticket to Spain). I noticed routes are BNE – PER – LON on the Dreamliner, or a BNE – SIN – LON; is one more likely to have business class seats available (I.e. a better chance of an upgrade)?
I did try to speak with Qantas Sales re the popularity of routes, but no indication could be given. Is there any general advice you could provide, or other articles I could use to help establish the route for the best chance of an upgrade to business class?
Also I’m assuming it would not make any difference if booking a ‘saver’ fare vs. ‘flexible evonomy’ in terms of priority of upgrades, other than it using a different amount of points to upgrade?
Thank you for any pointers you can offer 🙂
Hi Bronwyn,
However, if your points balance doesn’t allow for an outright redemption, then a more expensive Economy ticket will probably get priority over a discounted one.
I’d imagine that getting an upgrade via Singapore rather than the direct London flight from Perth would be easier as the direct flight is really popular.
Hope that helps!
Interesting write up! I am looking at purchasing 2 saver tickets from Perth to Singapore in March (18), then using my points upgrade roughly 60,000. I am platinum and my partner is bronze. Would we both get treated as platinum or individually for the upgrade? Tia
As far as I understand, if you are on the same booking under your name (Platinum), you’ll be treated together.
Hi thanks for the article. Wondering, I am silver and booked a premium economy ticket from melb to LA under my name and requested a points upgrade. My partner is gold status but not travelling on the flight. Can they request an upgrade for me and it be considered me as gold or will I still be treated as silver. Thanks.
You’ll still be treated according to your status tier, not your partner’s.
From Qantas’ upgrade page:
Thanks for the post. I have booked an economy flight (Brisbane to Perth) and requested an upgrade. I did not receive an immediate upgrade, and was automatically placed on a wait list. However, there are at least 2 business class seats available for purchase using classic rewards. When I spoke to customer service, they said I would find out if I get an upgrade 1 week before the flight. I am a bronze FF. Are you aware if the policy described above has been changed?
That sounds about right. They may be able to sell those award seats for cash, so that’s probably why they are waiting until a week before (or even right up to departure).
Hi
Love the website. I use it all the time
I am looking at booking Qantas from Melbourne to Japan (Narita) for about 2 weeks (around Feb 24th 2018 to mar 12th 2018).
Is it worth paying extra for a Saver fare, as opposed to a Sale fare, in order to try to get an upgrade to Business class? I know I can’t get an upgrade with the Sale fares, but just wondered whether paying extra for the Saver fare is a waste of money if there’s not much chance of an upgrade? or is there a good chance?
I have plenty of points available, but not a lot of $ to pay for the extra costs of a Flexible ticket!
Cheers
Tim
Glad to hear you’re enjoying the site!
If you have plenty of points, I’d recommend booking an outright redemption rather than running the risk of paying extra for a flexible Economy ticket and not getting an upgrade.
I did a quick search for you and found one Business Class seat direct to Tokyo on 21 and 27 February (other days go through Cairns with Jetstar and their Business Class product isn’t very good).
On the way back, there is one seat on 13 March, and one via Brisbane on 12 and 13 March.
Just one seat on all days, so I’d recommend booking ASAP! I don’t think more seats will open up as it gets closer to departure.
Learn more in our guide to Qantas flights from Australia to Japan.
Hi – great article thanks.
I am looking at booking Qantas from Melbourne to Denpasar Bali via Sydney for 2 adults and an infant.
Is it worth paying extra for a Saver fare, as opposed to a Sale fare, in order to try to get an upgrade to Business class? I know I can’t get an upgrade with the Sale fares, but just wondered whether paying extra for the Saver fare is a waste of money if there’s not much chance of an upgrade?
I have plenty of points available, but not a lot of $ to pay for the extra costs of a Flexible ticket!
Thanks Chris
I would say just go for the Sale fare as Business Class award availability is really tight on the Sydney – Denpasar route, so chances of being upgraded are low.
Thank you
Very interesting. Does a “life” status rank make any difference – ie does Silver For Life rank above Silver?
Interesting. However I am gold with a flex eco ticket and just got denied an upgrade on the DFW->SYD while a gentleman I chatted with who is bronze on a discount fare got upgraded. Sometimes I do wonder if they just upgrade you every now and then to string you along…
To reiterate comments above re fare class . . . For at least 10 years it has been the case that you cannot even request an upgrade through classic upgrades if you bought a sale fare. This has always annoyed me immensely. So basically if you want to ‘try your luck’ on an upgrade then you have to pay for the privilege! The extra fare cost is usually quiet considerable. A complete rort as far as I’m
concerned and the reason why I don’t bother anymore. Too much risk/cash involved for a somewhat unlikely outcome.
Yes it was a super surprise at the gate Peter!
Off topic a bit, my husband and I purchased business tickets via qantas for return flights to UK in December last year. We were booked out on QF9 and to return on Emirates 440/441 metal.
We ended up travelling home on Emirates at different times but we’re both up graded to First Class from Dubai to Adelaide
We are Silver Qantas members and didn’t have to ‘request’ any up grades with Emirates
Hi Geraldine, that sounds like an ‘on departure’ upgrade, did it happen at the gate? These are offered after all Classic Upgrade Rewards and Bid Now upgrades have been processed. It will also only happen if you are travelling alone!
My partner and I were travelling together ADL > LHR (via DXB) and got upgraded Econ to Business at the gate when boarding in DXB. I am a Gold QFF but my partner is Bronze. This happened to another couple we know a few days later (who I believe have no status whatsoever). I think the “you must be travelling solo to get an on departure upgrade” view is a myth.
Hi Daniel.
Not a myth with Qantas as that’s their ruling but Emirates allow upgrades at the gate to anyone and the upgrade is done by the computer randomly. If it picks someone with a travelling partner and the second seat is available than boom upgrade given. If second seat is not available than upgrade will be passed on to someone else. Love emirates and their upgrade rules.
Just wondering what the rules are if for example a Chairmans / Platinum One member requests an upgrade on your behalf through family and friends eligibility?
Hi JJ, yes if you are an eligible family member and you are travelling on a booking made by a higher tier member your request will be given the priority belonging to that higher tier. It’s the tier of the person booking and not of the person travelling that is important. So even if you’ve got your own points, if you transfer them to someone on a higher tier to book for you, you will get all the benefits of that tier (i.e. more availability and higher priority)
Yeah agree with Simon I was under the impression that it mattered what level of ticket you were upgrading on, but had no idea how it affected the other conditions can you confirm this Peter?
Hi Joel, yeah both Simon and Diana both seem to be reporting that that is the case, so it is probably correct. I can’t confidently say I know exactly how that would apply in relation to the rest of the criteria at the moment but I’ll update the article if I can find out and confirm. My guess would be that the rules described in the article would be applied to each class in descending order. So premium economy would all get assessed/upgraded in accordance with the rules in the article, before any flexible economy fares. That way more premium economy seats would open up and be available for flexible economy fares to be upgraded.
Great article! Although I recently wanted to upgrade a Sydney to Dubai paid economy QF flight with points. I was unsuccessful as it was not a physical Qantas aircraft. Qantas mentioned even though it was a QF ticket it was due to the fact that it was an emirates aircraft.
Hi thanks for the useful post. I also had a chat to a lady from Qantas reservations yesterday about using points to book economy and then registering for upgrade to business. She did mention that those using points to book base fare would be lower in the wait list than those that paid cash. Similarly the base fare determines where you are in the wait list as well. The higher the base fare the higher you are on the wait list. I.e. if I purchase a premium economy, I would be higher than one who bought economy. So outside of status and timing, there’s cash vs points as well as fare class that comes into play to add to that heirarchy.
Great article. I’ve previously been informed that the type of ticket originally purchased also plays a part in upgrades. For example, two platinum members, 1 purchases a red sale intentional fare and the other purchases a fully flexible to the same destination. Even if the sale or discounted ticket was purchased first and upgrade request made, the fully flex would get the upgrade.
Note the red-sale/red e-deal fare are not eligible for upgrade.
It has to be at least semi-flexi ticket.