Originally Posted by ijgordon

Here's a (novel?) thought -- what if this isn't a buy-up to an M fare, but instead a buy-up to some other discounted coach fare (above G) that would put you in line to "guarantee" an upgrade according to the current "waitlist" underlying the EUA process. So all they're doing is offering you to pay to improve your standing in the EUA priority, which is the same thing you could have done when you originally purchased your ticket.

Remember -- CO was supposed to be working on a process by which they could give you your "projected" position on the upgrade standby list based on what other elites were on the flight. Originally, I think this was just a courtesy. But perhaps now they have figured out how to monetize that information behind the scenes.

If this is in fact the case, it's pretty legit, IMHO, just like the true advance buy-ups to M/B/Z fares offered outside of OLCI.

I don't think there's enough info to prove whether this is or isn't the case. It's not like this was offered to a Gold elite giving them the opportunity to jump the line ahead of a Platinum. You were possibly only offered the opportunity to jump ahead of other Platinums. Which is fine, if you pay more $.