Originally Posted by
IAH-OIL-TRASH
My better half (Gold) has been upgraded more than half the time in/out of LV this year.
I think there is a very big difference between Gold and Silver in terms of elite upgrade chances.
LV flights are headed to/from a leisure deestination and normally don't carry a high percentage of gold/platinum elites except for a few conventions (CES comes to mind), plus even the conventions are whittled back due to the current economic climate.
Well, I wouldn't say "a few conventions", there are a LOT more conventions and meetings in Las Vegas than just the well-publicized biggies. Throughout much of 2008 I was going to Las Vegas practically monthly for meetings, in paid F due to company policy (> 5 hours). On many flights there were few to no upgrades, per the PDA website. And many of those upgrades were elite Y-UPs. Things have changed for sure: my (former) employer no longer pays for F domestically and of course the meeting & convention business is down, but so is capacity.
In any event, I think upgrades to LAS can be just as much a crapshoot as...well...a crap shoot.