Take it in proportions, Why, In Y Class to NYC one pax cant pay 2600$ and the other 799$, Wouldnt it make someone angry when he will hear he over paid, It will...

I would take the globes article in very limited way, They dont talk about
the status of the "upgraded" passenger, They dont mention if the flight is
overbooked or not (If its overbooked then the "upgrade" is for free...).

I see few holes in the article:
- You will have a meal on every seat in business/first class, they might be out
of specific meal (chicken/couscous/whatever), But they will have something
to serve you unless you were upgraded and you require SKML, Then its been
brought from your original class.

- On-Board upgrade fees are different (700$ vs the 250 mentioned in the article). for 250$ its upgrade from Economy to Economy with business seats.

- Parsers are earning money from such upgrade, its hard to see how a parser
will sell something he suppose to in 700$ on 250$ (means he earn less...)

- Knowing the system doing an On Board Upgrade while check-in require specific approval per pax, On the ticket it will appear OBUPG, If we are talking
about Economy with Business Class then its not an upgrade but seating only.

- Again, They dont mention the status of the pax, I am sometimes upgraded
from J to full business class or from S to F because i am a TPL.

Ebzed.