Is this us?
Yeah.
It's good.
We got upgraded!
So this is a travel vlog.
If you're here for the pilot vlogs then just click on the link above and you'll go through
to some of the other videos on this channel.
This is a Qantas A330, we're travelling from Melbourne to Sydney it's just a short hop
it's about an hours flight time.
I do this flight quite a lot actually for my work but normally Qantas operate a Boeing
737 between Melbourne and Sydney instead.
But occasionally and I'm not entirely sure why, if you know the answer actually I'd love
to know in the comments but occasionally Qantas do operate an Airbus A330 between Melbourne
and Sydney instead.
It's always great when you get the A330 because if you're in Economy the configuration is
2-3-2 as opposed to the 3-3 configuration that you get on a 737.
And that means that if you're travelling as a couple you can sit there together, one of
you can have the window the other one can sit next to you and there's noone sitting
next to you like there is on the 737.
So when I booked this flight from Melbourne to Sydney and realised that it was an Airbus
A330 I was pretty happy with that and then I got the Qantas email that comes through
which you've probably seen before, the one that says would you like to offer an upgrade
to Business Class for this flight.
Which I ignored, I always ignore it.
And then I got a follow-up, this one, which said are you sure this is your last chance
to offer an upgrade for the flight and normally I would have ignored it but it kind of got
me thinking if I'm on the A330, I've never flown business on an A330 before, so I had
a look at what the options were to do the upgrade and it turns out you could put in
a pretty low points offer and a small amount of cash as well and then Qantas would consider
your upgrade.
So I clicked on the link in the email and then you see this page where you can put in
a points amount that you want to offer and an amount of cash as well, that gets submitted
to Qantas and then they'll tell you if you're successful or not.
Trouble was I did get an email that says that the points upgrade was unsuccessful, but then
at the same time I also saw that my points had been deducted from my account and then
when I was looking at the booking itself I could see the booking said it was Business
Class.
So I was a little bit confused so it wasn't until we actually turned up here at the airport
and got our boarding passes that we actually realised we were upgraded to Business Class.
Big question of course, is it worth it?
Now yes you have to pay extra money for it, it was $150 in our case that we had to pay
each, and there's points as well that you have to use.
So 3000 points plus the $150 got the upgrade.
And now that might actually seem like quite a lot especially for a flight which is basically
an hour in duration so you're not really making the use of the flat bed seat, but there are
a couple of key benefits that you get.
So obviously number one is the seat.
Well it has all the bells and whistles that you could really want from a Business Class
seat.
Flat bed, ooh massage.
There's a divider here which is quite good if you're flying on your own and you're still
in the two seats in the middle.
But it doesn't actually move you can't pull it down so if you are flying with someone
you have to kind of reach around to say hello to them.
Hello.
Headphones.
Light.
Remote control's here in the arm of the seat.
Mirror, hello.
It is a fully flat bed, great legroom lots of space, touchscreen...
I think it's touchscreen.
Plenty of channels so the entertainment service is really good, we are going to get an inflight
service in a minute, I'm not sure what that is.
But you get some other benefits as well.
One advantage, get to use the business lounge.
There's a shower in here, that's good.
So should you do it is the big question?
Well I actually think it's worth it because not only do you get all those benefits that
I've just talked about but you also get the additional points at least I think you do
get the additional points for flying in Business and if you're looking to build some status
cr...
When I was just reviewing that footage I noticed that I was going to say that you get your
business class status credits and points when you do an upgrade on Qantas.
That's wrong, I just noticed this morning when the points came through that if you do
a points upgrade from economy to business you still only get the economy status credits
and the economy frequent flyer points.
Ignore what I was saying on the plane, that was wrong, sorry.
Also, I could have done this bit in the hotel but I really wanted to get the Harbour Bridge
into this video.
Look at that view!
Ok, back to the plane.
Just on points I think I'll do a whole different video on this because I've been asked a few
times on ways to earn frequent flyer points.
Now obviously there's flying itself which is a good way to do it, but honestly my key
tip is credit cards.
If you've got an existing credit card and you're not earning frequent flyer points on
it, have a look around and see if there are any other options either with your bank or
with someone else where you could earn frequent flyer points just by spending the money you're
already spending.
For example Qantas have got an American Express offer at the moment where their new credit
card, if you're a new American Express customer, gives you 100,000 frequent flyer points as
a bonus.
So this trip was 3000 points, if you get 100,000 points from your credit card, that's like,
that's a million flights.
So definitely worth looking into seeing if you can get a credit card which earns you
frequent flyer points and then using that for upgrades like this.
One other cool thing is the
seat belt is just like the seat belt on a Warrior.
Look.
Just like a Warrior, little bit bigger though.