Originally Posted by
Rambuster
SQ has been getting away with this type of behaviour for years.
LH is just following the SQ road.
I might note that SQ finally figured out that an empty F seat generates $0 revenue and is loosening up their award policies.
Originally Posted by
Van_Looy
I don't have a problem if M&M largely or totally blocks F redemptions from other *A programs, as a countermeasure to all the US DM and UA abusers
Only on FT do people get such inflated egos from sitting in metal tubes hurtling through air that they consider a willing seller and a willing buyer "abuse".
If LH would rather a seat go empty and generate €0 revenue rather than take my dirty, abusive US DM redemption that gives them more than €0, then fine. But then don't whine about not getting enough money when their seats are empty.
Airlines have high fixed costs and their goods (seats on planes) are perishable. If the baker would rather throw their day-old bread into the garbage rather then sell it to a willing buyer, that's their problem, but maybe they should think about their bread and the price they sell it for if they keep tossing bread away every day. And if LH isn't selling enough of their F seats, such that providing them to DM Maximizers™ is actually a viable option, that means they need to adjust their F pricing such that it sells better (and their supply, although I think they're at work on that by removing F on some routes). That would actually be following the plot.
I don't expect that award inventory is going to be any better or reliable than day-old bread, but there's being sensible about it and cutting one's nose off to spite a face. LH policies right now seem closer to the latter.