Originally Posted by
ozstamps
Do they care if a 1K has paid 3 times the Kettles, and sits down the back when they are not upgraded? Of course they do not. SWUs earn UA zippo. The Kettles hand over hard CASH.
I think the difference though is that the 1K has not actually paid for their ticket - their company/job has paid for it! The Kettles are paying with their own money. The 1K hasn't paid a dime.
If a 1K was really paying with their own money for a W fare, wouldn't they be smarter to book the flight and schedule when they *know* that NC is actually available, else just pay for Z? If it's a case of "needing" to be somewhere at a certain date, then wouldn't it make more sense to just use a consolidator and pay for cheapest C ticket? Even with the lie-flat, I'd still say that UA C is not the best int'l C, and anyone using their own cash for an international business trip should actually shop for a better deal instead of relying on just 1 airline.
Otherwise if the 1K isn't paying for their own ticket, then why should they care if their W is thrice the price the S/T that the Kettles in C have paid, while they sit in Y because the W didn't clear? THEY DIDN'T PAY FOR IT. You can mentally include Size 4 and Bold font for a better effect.
If they aren't happy, then they should question why they have an employer who sends them on an international business trip in Y, unless the employer gives them 1-2 days to acclimate to the new location *before* working - which in my mind is more valuable than a C seat.
I pay for all of my tickets, and I make damn well sure that there's NC before I book anything! I just paid $430 each for 3 tickets for Thanksgiving SFO/ORD *after* I saw NC9 on 763 lie flat, because if I'm paying $430 (more than SFO/JFK) for a flight that only gives me 1872 EQM each way, then I better be instant-upgraded (confirmed upgrade) now and not have to think about it at Thanksgiving time! Of the 90000 RDMs I also paid, I already will be getting back 9900 or so RDMs for that flight (1290*2 RDM w/ UAL Chase card, plus roughly 3700*2 RDM for BIS flight) so my net RDM loss is 80100 RDMs. A couple months ago we went to NYC for a week which included a Midnight arrival and 6am departure just to get NC with our $325 fares.
Originally Posted by
d3van
I think it is worth pointing out, yet again, that a co-pay system only makes you pay if you get the upgrade. If you don't get upgraded, you still only paid bottom line for your ticket.
Paying triple the cost for an economy ticket for the chance to upgrade with earned instruments is still a poor way to treat elites. If you don't get it, you still paid 3X the cost of the next person in economy, for nothing.
In February I paid $1250 and 60000 RDM for H for SFO/FRA, and sat near Flyin'Hawaiian who had a $800-range W fare. Was I upset that my ticket cost 150% more than the 1K's ticket? Of course not, because I was already happy to pay $1250 and RDM for a seat in C.
So maybe the 1K whose ticket cost 3X the cost of the next person in Economy (even though the 1K should be in E+) can sit smugly thinking "My ticket cost my employer a lot of money, but none of it is out of my pocket whereas these fellow pax paid for their ticket with their own money!"
Because the 1K paying $0 for their employer-paid $3000 ticket is still ahead the $700 or so that their fellow pax paid for their S ticket!
Michael