Originally Posted by
cbechdel
A plane seat like a hotel room is one of the most pershable commodities round, so do all you need to to earn money when each opportunity presents itself.
I just dont get all this "why dont they give me free things and tell people who want to pay for them to go away" sentiment.
I largely agree with you. But CO is not a monopolist and have to look at what competitors are giving their elites. It is perfectly fine to say "I want (some) free upgrades, or I'll start flying with DL, where I can expect about 90% EUA".
Buy-ups generate revenue, but come at the expense of are devaluing elite benefits. A rational airline would raise revenue from this source to a point where the marginal revenue exactly offsets the marginal cost of buy-ups.
Cost includes (some) disgruntled elites that leave CO and other aspects. For instance, CO may see buy-ups generate lots of revenue, but the effect on the bottom line will be smaller, because buy-ups reduce the (EUA) incentive to purchase a higher fare.
It is not clear that offering buy-ups on the most "EUA competitive" routes, such as EWR-SFO, is a smart move.
- Platinums that fly frequently on EWR-SFO will have lower than average upgrade percentages, and appear to be more upset about the effect of buy-ups.
- Moreover, if the EUA percentages goes to zero on a route, where instant M-up and B-up are hard to come by, I cannot see any incentive to purchase anything but the cheapest fare.
Originally Posted by
cbechdel
And I love all the posts about "shenanigans" and "someone must have bought that last seat" you can never know.
I agree that there is a lot of speculation about such instances. But CO has not been very transparent about the mechanism by which buy-ups operate.
The discovery of the "buy-up sale" was particularly offending to some.