Qantas will streamline the upgrade process for its frequent flyers from December with up to 48 hours' advance notice of international upgrades, last-minute upgrades due to 'no show' bookings, and SMS alerts to notify of a successful upgrade on both domestic and international flights.

“At the moment you might be confirmed for an upgrade but unless you go online before the flight, you might not know until you get to the airport” says Stephanie Tully, Head of Airline Loyalty for Qantas.

“But customers shouldn’t have to do that. We want to be proactive in letting customers know, so we're going to let everyone from Bronze to Platinum One know by SMS prior.”

“It means you can think about your baggage allowance, your time in the lounge and the whole experience, rather than just finding out at check-in after you’ve stood in the economy queue” Tully tells Australian Business Traveller.

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New technology will see Qantas Frequent Flyer members of any status level sent an SMS alert well before their flight advising that their upgrade has come through, rather than when they arrive at the airport to check in for their flight.

Travellers with top-tier Platinum and Platinum One status will get the best deal of all. The new upgrades system will provide up to 48 hours' advance notice of upgrades.

Last-minute upgrades

Requests for upgrades using points will also be processed closer to the time of departure, meaning fewer empty first, business and premium economy seats due to ‘no-shows’ at the airport and missed inbound domestic connections.

Platinum One and Platinum members perched at the top of the frequent flyer food chain will be first in line to snare these seats, of course.

However, Tully claims this will not be at the expense of free upgrades. “We still like to surprise and delight customers occasionally. There's no reduced focus on that, we still give them out."

"Of course you have to be really careful how you manage that" she cautions. "You don't want to give an upgrade to someone who might otherwise buy a business class ticket, but we want to give our loyal customers a surprise occasionally."

All travellers will also be able to register for an upgrade through to 24 hours before a scheduled departure.

The changes to international services kick in as of December this year, and will be followed "from early 2012" to tweaks to the domestic upgrade system, including the same ability to register for domestic upgrades and SMS notification of a successful upgrade.

... but no lock-in for international upgrades

One thing that certainly won’t change will be the request-only status of international upgrade. Unlike some other airlines which let you lock in an upgrade on an overseas flight,  Qantas will not be budging from its current system where confirmations are issued only close to the date of travel.

“You can (lock in an upgrade) domestically, from the point of booking the ticket” Tully says. “Internationally, it's harder, because they are obviously a less-available asset.”