I hear what you are saying, but that they aren't free is a poor argument (maybe not yours, but the one you mention.) In all the programs I am aware of, they are space available, at no charge. There is no entitlement to the seat, no guarantee, no transaction of XXX future purchases or XXX previous purchases gets me the seat, rather if bought, a transaction occurs that effectively sells the seat for a specific price. If not bought, they are given away at no additional charge, no promise of future revenue required, and nothing given if not available. They are an intrinsic perk that one may get or may not get for the small price of nothing on a transactional level.

I understand the perk of previous flying. But it is not a sale, it is not a guarantee, and there is nothing given to you in in't place when it is not available. It is "spoilage", much like the NRSA seat I sit in. They sell it if they can, when they can, and if they can't then people with certain qualifications (elites/employees) get it on a space available basis.

I know I will sound like the evil beast for this comment, but I have had dinner recently with a UA IM manager. I told her that on many flights, NF is sold out in advance, to the point there are zero remaining F seats to clear at the gate or to even sell. I often have 2P's that cleared at their window sitting in F on uber-cheap tickets, and 1K/GS who bought tickets that day for multiples of the 2P's ticket fare, sitting in Y. To me, it makes sense to hold at least a pair of seats for sale up until the ticket purchase cutoff/checkin cutoff. Reallocate those seats via the DM list to whoever is highest on the UGDG list, and give the opportunity for them to sell. Her response: We do it so you don't get overworked as a GA. (I think she was serious too!) Please! If I have to assign out 20 E+ seats to non elites on the BP1/2 list each flight as E- is oversold and E+ is empty, do you think I can't call 2 people up for an upgrade? Anyway, that is my stance, try to sell the product for as long as you can, and liquidate the spoilage at the end to whoever, be it elites or NRSA. I know people would want to have their UG's clear earlier and know where they will be, and if they cleared (maybe so they can buy a lunch if in Y...) and a move to not process so many UG's in advance would upset a few, but a sold out cabin is real revenue lost. I don't think that it would be that far of a stretch for CO's few ELR seats to be allocated the same way, if not bought by 30 min or an hour prior to dptr, then let them go into the elite pool.

Cash is king, loyalty can be fickle, and loyalty doesn't promise future revenue, only past, as all of the threads of all the "loyal" UA flyers begging for a top tier match to AA shows.

And ep coward, as you say, "The bottom line is UA started the process of "selling" elite perks well before the CO merger." To be sure, UA started selling the best seats to anyone who paid long before there was such a thing as an upgrade or even a loyalty program. It was called a first class ticket, and traditionally, one bought it and got it, or sat in coach, unless you were an employee, who previous to the invention of upgrades, got ALL of the spoilage. Things change, sometimes for the consumers benefit, some times for the stockholder's benefit, but things do change.