Originally Posted by
xyzzy
Y
u may have
seen zero impact, but that does not mean you've not been affected. I've seen plenty of cases where about an hour before flight time the upgrade standby list remains the same but the number of available F seats suddenly goes down. Why? Someone checked in at the kiosk and took CO up on a tens-of-dollars offer. Sure, someone could have walked up to the ticket counter and said, "Here's my pile of cash. Please give me an F seat on your next flight to <wherever>." That hardly ever happens, though.
The reality is that CO is offering these buy-ups and upgrades are being sold instead of being given away. As a shareholder, I'm all for that from a direct revenue standpoint. From a long term customer goodwill standpoint, giving away an upgrade for tens-of-dollars is about the worst thing you can do. Customers may not notice this kind of activity right away, but eventually they will notice.
I haven't missed an upgrade for over 4 months, so I assure you, as of today, it still has not affected me at all.
I of course agree in principle that I'd rather have loads of unsold F seats get given to me for free, and it has been the Number One reason I have given CO my loyalty, as buying coach, and getting first class is wonderful. If (and only IF) you are right, and within a short period of time, upgrades vanish completely and mom and pop Kettle get them for less than 50 bucks etc, I will let my wallet do the talking, but sadly I think that this model is going to be taken up by all the legacy carriers, and thus there will not be anywhere better to go.
Like you, I am also a shareholder, and want to see a profit, I also understand the short term vs Long term risks, but the long term risk only comes into play if the other carriers don't do the same.
I've not seen much originality from the legacy carriers, anything they can do to squeeze out an extra dollar is matched by all, and I don't think this will be any different.