Originally Posted by
DMIrishFlyer
Let me ask a question here specifically to the people who don't and say they CAN'T use PMU's - do you get the PMU's and leave them in your briefcase, backpack or a drawer somewhere and forget you have them/or assume you can't use them or DO you actually try to use them on Y/B/M fares or domestic k+ fares and can't find availability?
You've missed the problem entirely. There is no assumption required - people *KNOW* they can't use them because their tickets are not eligible at all. Availability makes no difference if your international ticket isn't YBM or your domestic ticket isn't non-LUT. Almost no one is going to pay $2500 for an international YBM fare when a $700 discount coach fare is available or a $2300-$2700 discount business seat is available on another airline. And almost no one is going to pay more for a non-LUT fare when they're already a plat and will almost certainly snag the upgrade anyway.
The PMUs are mostly useless, unless you happen to be on contracted YBM fares or are flying to HI. At best, they are a couple-hundred-dollar-off business fare coupon.
Or, put another way: "Hi, we can get you where you are going in Coach for $800 or in Business for $2900. But, as a valued frequent traveler, you can use this PMU and fly in Business for a mere $2600!"
It's not an award. It's a revenue-driving discount coupon that DL uses to offer slightly more discounted business fares while protecting business fare pricing, figuring they can get more revenue from people paying for the M fare to use their 'award' than they'll lose from those who buy M+PMU instead of a normal business fare. Not that there is necessarily something WRONG with that, but it should be called like it is.