chinatraderjmr

Quite right. Who's the more profitable passenger, the one w no status & flys only twice a year from FRA to LAX in Full F, spending tens of thousands of Euros or some kid flying around Europe on the cheapest fares just to make status?? ....no status passenger wins

Years ago my uncle was the CEO of a major legacy carrier. When I flew I was double upgraded and put in front of everyone w status, in fact they usually upgraded my evening flights the night before.....that's the way the world works

SMK77

Has been around for long: Intra-German/European flights are wide open but only J9 C0 D0 Z0 P0. You show up with a ticket and C and they only offer you an upsell into J (while the whole cabin is empty). If you come from an international flight, that means upselling the whole leg which is VERY costly.

No concessions for HON. It's all about milking the customer.

vbroucek

I doubt that you have seen all five boarding passes... What if parents were high level FF?
How do you know they were such flyers? Or do you think that T-fares are only for your "annual leisure flyer".

WorldLux

So? Other passengers spend thousands of bucks without having status with an airline.

LH4116

That might be the case, but is there any way for the airline to know? Status might not for certain mean that a customer is profitable, but in many cases they are, and they also possess a stronger buying power.

Because the parents remained back in Economy.

totti

Exactly, it also depends on the market you spend your thousands of bucks. For example, it is easy to spend 6k Euros for 10 flights/commutes on routes such as FRA-LUX or FRA-GVA and we are not even talking flexible tickets here. It would not even get you close to SEN status. The same amount can make you SEN in other markets… So no, status is not necessarily a good indicator. Something like BA's CIV score may be much for useful in such cases.

htb

Not surprising. "T" is one of the highest booking classes, only followed by U, V, W and Y (X does not qualify and Z is business already). Alphabetically that is. But what else would you expect as a result if you tell a programmer to prefer "high booking classes"?

HTB.

Lack

oliver2002

If they bought a T fare just on FRA-ARN we are talking about 250-300€ for a return, double the 129-160€ for a K fare. If they were connecting from a longhaul, T is about 800-1000€ for a return. My colleague is coming from DTW to MUC on LH for a week on saturday and is paying 1200$ rt for an L fare.... so in this case, the T ticket may have cost half the price of a leisure P fare and had the right pcv to get an op-upgrade. The parents may have been on an award, and the 'dozen' *G and SEN tags at the gate not an accurate gauge of the current status...

apkohn

So is it just if seats are needed, or automatic? Just been upgraded from PE to Biz as SA Voyager Gold on LH430. Pretty chuffed. Certainly never has happened on SAA. Considering a switch though flying through EU to get to the US is a drag. Record locator still shows PE seat. It was an economy fair that I bought the PE upgrade for ($249).

oliver2002

Just due to operational reasons, ie oversell of the cabin you were originally booked in.

N1003U

The LH OPUP algorithm (if indeed there is any logic to it at all) is something that I, now after about 10 years of regular LH travel, have never been able to figure out, and from the discussion here, neither have many others.

If correlation is evidence of causality, It seems to me to be some combination of operational overselling, fare-paid, premium status, mood of gate-control agents and what they had for lunch, local weather, and who knows what else.

FWIW, I fly the FRA/ORD route multiple times per year, and was chatting recently with the purser while waiting to deplane on LH430. According to him, the early westbound flight (LH430), and the late eastbound (LH433), are chronically oversold, whilst the other two flights (LH432/431) typically carry lighter loads. This trend is consistent my anecdotal experience with fares and frequency of OPUPS for both rotations (both for me and fellow passengers).

From a schedule standpoint, this also makes sense (at least to me), as arriving earlier in the day westbound makes it possible to salvage part of the day to do something on the ground (business or pleasure), and/or allows better options for connecting flights ex-ORD. The late eastbound flight makes most of the day in Chicago available.

Specifically on the FRA/ORD route, OPUPs from Y+ to C appear to me to be particularly common. FRA/ORD has that 8(ish)-hour stagelength, about the threshold when even the most tight-fisted of travelers start to contemplate the value of a few extra centimeters of leg and elbow room, and Y+ seems to sell very well. How much Y+ is advance booking and how much is same-day buy-up, I don't know.

oliver2002

We have been shown the customisation done to the altea dcs in 2014-15. See the detail mentioned above. In the past 10 years the system was changed 2 times.

Kid Flyer

I have to agree with most of all here that the upgrade logic is hard to figure out.
I fly PE, 14-16 returns a year mostly in E and G class, tickets ranging from 2500 - 3500 €. I would say that would qualify me high on the PCV upgrade lists.
Recently, when I was flying with colleagues, who hold TK*G and SK*G got upgrades on 4/10 flights we flew together. Me, as a SEN Status holder none. It is relevant to mention that our tickets were identical and booked through the same travel agency.
So from what I am concerned, I have a feeling that LH prioritizes other *G rather than their own frequent customers. I suppose this is to turn the SK or TK Flyer to book more LH. They do not need to convince me with 310T miles in 2016 to book LH since I do it anyhow and they know it.
It was disappointing to me, but you get what you pay for, at least as M&M SEN :-)

fanb

i recently talked to my friend who works at the airport for OS and she said that sometimes (not always) she sees *G before SEN on the waiting list during op-up situations..which is weird for her too because they were instructed always to upgrade LH/OS status customers first..SEN, *G and then FTL..
so i guess its a combination of fare and status