<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Spiff:
Sorry, I don't see a Y to C or a C to F upgrade as giving away the store. Those miles used for the upgrade are not free! They or the certificate used for the upgrade was earned by flying a ton of miles or by shopping/other means, both of which deliver plenty of revenue to the airlines. Airlines need to expand, not shrink access to the premium cabins. If they feel that's not economically feasible, then they need to charge their partners more money for the miles they sell. And they definitely should not reduce/eliminate miles earned on cheap tickets. If they want to reward high spenders, let them increase miles earned on those tickets. I sincerely hope Delta pays through the nose for gutting the SkyPiles program.</font>
I don't think anyone here has suggested that one shouldn't be able to upgrade using miles. You're right that miles aren't free. It has been suggested that giving out free upgrade certificates is giving away the store. This is particularly true when a situation is created in which FFs know with reasonable certainty that they can pay Y and sit in C or pay C and sit in F. Because US majors have created such a situation, many FFs pay lower fares than they would otherwise.
Virtually all non-US carriers redeem miles for upgrades. Most don't give out any free upgrade certificates and those that do (e.g. LH) give out a tiny fraction of what the US majors give out.
If we had to burn miles for every upgrade, the airlines would be more profitable. Some people would pay the fare for the cabin they want instead of relying on a free certificate. Some people would buy tickets instead of redeeming miles for free tickets in order to use the miles for upgrades.
If the airlines were to start selling upgrade certificates instead of giving them away for free, I'd think about buying airline stocks.