rkkwan

I think the co-pay upfront will cut down of people casually putting themselves on the waitlist, and who'll just then decide later on if they really want to upgrade.

craz

100% the last thing a GA needs to do is to process a persons CC waiting for it clear and then issue the upgrade , all while trying to get the flight out on time. If its pay at the Gate , then we can forget about any flight getting off on time.

Till now if you cleared by T-24 everything would have been taken care of before the passenger even gets to the airport.

Either way there will be people who arent Happy,Unfortunately.

I think the new way will leave alot less Unhappy people then keeping what we have now.

flyer57

Can you explain the rev-up program? I makes the IAH-HNL trip 1 or 2 /year and don't know anything about it!

OPFlyer

It is explained in the CO FAQ thread.

sbm12

Look here. I'll fix the ToC entry for it in a bit as the TOC is pointing to the wrong place.

It is a refundable fee - they do not keep it if the upgrade doesn't clear. And the fee is applied to the upgrade. I'm not sure I follow the objection.

I get that floating CO the money is an issue, but I do not think that the total amount in question is really significant enough to get in a tizzy about. If your upgrade clears at any point you were going to pay the money anyways, and you were willing to pay it the minute you requested the upgrade, so the only people affected are those who have an upgrade not clear. Let's say that the average upgrade fee is ~$600 r/t (not everyone flies on X fares, after all) and that the average ticket is purchased 5 months in advance (I have no idea, but I think this is a very conservative number so reasonable to use for this exercise). I have no idea how many people are on the upgrade list who do not clear for any given flight, but I would guess that the number is actually pretty low since there are seats that go out empty all the time. Still, assuming you could invest that $600 and earn the float for 5 months and you're really, really, really good at investing you might be out an extra $20-30 in the end. And in reality the number for most people is likely much, much, much lower (i.e. ~$5-10).

While I'm not in favor of the airline taking more money from us than necessary - especially when the service isn't rendered - I think that it is a fair approach to their needs and ours.

ijgordon

Well, they've always required the miles to be deducted in order to get on the waitlist, correct? Would they charge you the re-deposit fee if you wanted to get off the waitlist and get the miles back?

Of course it's a fair trade. Some people just always have to complain about something.

rankourabu

ok so here is my situation
I used my miles when I was gold for mom for August flights DPS-GUM-HNL-EWR, so far she has cleared DPS-GUM (not BF, so no money charged)

Couple questions with the new rule,
I understand one BF flight clears, and its charged money+miles, fine.

now assuming only DPS-GUM clears as it stands now, its not really worth the miles to upgrade just that segment.

So now she stays on the upgrade list for GUM-HNL, and HNL-EWR until the last minute, and both fail to clear, but she has already flown DPS-GUM in F, am I gonna be entitled to get my miles back? partial miles?

Assuming only DPS-GUM-HNL clears, do I get 5000 miles back since its only a Asia-Hawaii award techincally?

Is she assumed to be Gold because the miles came out of my account when I was gold, Silver because thats what I am now, or a nobody as she is when it comes to upgrade order?

Thanks for your help

ijgordon

My interpretation of the information posted in this thread is that you'd get ALL of your miles back. Effectively a free upgrade on DPS-GUM.

It sounds like they can go back and adjust the mileage deduction according to what award actually ended up being redeemed/cleared.

rkkwan

Yes, miles have always been deducted when you put yourself on the waitlist. But plenty of members have tonnes of miles sitting around anyways. And I am not aware of any redeposit fee of getting off a waitlist (though I have no 1st hand experience).

ijgordon

And plenty of members have tonnes of $ sitting around too!

rankourabu

Thats how I interpret it too from this and other threads, DPS-GUM, effectively being treated as a domestic upgrade since its only F not BF.

The GUM-HNL portion is on a 20-seater flight so I am not holding my breath with only 10 seats showing open for August

Mary2e

Spending the money isn't the issue, it's just the general idea of paying for it months in advance, often for nothing. I don't mind paying a deposit (for lack of a better word) but the whole thing up front, plus the miles just doesn't sit right.

Rev-up are almost never available, though I did manage to score it once. It was nearly impossible on the way home. I would have gladly paid the upgrade points & fee, but that wasn't available either.

I agree that staying on the waitlist beyond the 24 hour period is a great benefit, but there has to be a better balance to do it.

sbm12

I guess I question the "often for nothing" part of your observations. Maybe HNL is a harder upgrade than other BF destinations or maybe you've been burned one too many times of not getting it. Still, fronting them the money doesn't actually cost you all that much real money, so I don't know that you have all that much to complain about. Or you're a phenomenal investor and I'd like to hire you...

Mary2e

I wish

HNL is a very difficult upgrade to get - often requiring daily checks of the inventory. Eventually it comes thru, but it's a job.

Still, the last time I tried it didn't work and I had to go the waitlist route, which did not clear.

It's just the principle of the matter, not the money. I would pay something, such as a deposit, but asking for the whole thing up front, when chances are it won't clear (IMHO) is what bothers me. As with everything else on FT, YMMV - my experience is almost entirely with the EWR-HNL market - yours may be different, and better

sbm12

Why do you have to make a job of it?? Does the system not work so that you manually have to call even if you're on the waitlist? Or are you saying that you won't use the waitlist approach so you check every day and then buy once you know it will be clear at ticket purchase?

And HNL might be a harder upgrade than other destinations; I have no idea. I've almost always been able to find a seat up front when I wanted one using miles, though I have a very small sample size. Turns out I don't mind flying in whY all that much.