Originally Posted by
boolean64
This hasn't been touched on explicitly that much in the however many hundred posts in this thread, but a question worth thinking about. My guess is that there wasn't anything inherently wrong with 1Ks getting 8 CR-1s. The bigger deal was that if CO gave out 8 CR-1s, their revenue model would break. Too many plats that would normally buy YBM fares to get the confirmed upgrade would now just buy the cheapest fare and upgrade. Four RTs per plat where you lost several hundred dollars of revenue would be a problem. But they couldn't take CR-1s away completely, so this is how they made the compromise.
I think you nailed it with this statement; I imagine that UA is planning moving to the CO "instant" upgrade scheme and CR1s negate that model.
I'm betting the next "enhancement" for 2012 for the combined program will be ZERO CR1s and "instant" upgrades (maybe instant upgrade 2H2011, and bye-bye CR1s in 2012, and amount of complaining will bring them back).