Originally Posted by
fanger
To partly hijack the thread, do we even believe that IM or whoever will release additional award seats just because a flight is lightly loaded? I would think not, at least for international flights for reasons similar to not "freely" upgrading internationally just to fill premium cabins.....
if the question is, will C (international) or F domestically go out empty if there is a waitlist --- no, the GA will/should empty the waitlist if there is available space independent of the amount of NC/NF. However, UA will not move folks from C into F just to make space in C for upgraders.
If the question is award seats in C, IM will not necessarily open enough XC to fill a cabin close to flight time (and the same caveat as above about C-> F moves) -- however it is not usually to see XC close to flight time for lightly loaded flights