I'm not going to read through 98 pages of posts on this, so maybe this observation has been made before, but I was offered an upgrade to C on my upcoming flight to Japan for about twice the price of what I paid for E+.

In other words, if you take the E+ price plus the price being asked for the roundtrip upgrade, you get a fare that is three times higher than discounted Y.

Not five times higher, as the official price for C would have it; three times higher.

Unfortunately, I can't quite afford to take it, but this seems like a much more realistic price than the standard prices for C.

I'm seeing a lot of bellyaching from 1Ks, but frankly, if you can afford to fly over 100,000 miles a year every year, you don't really need a FREE upgrade.

One reason the official rates for C and F are so expensive is that UA has to give all you elites free upgrades.

If I were in charge of Mileage Plus, I'd get rid of free upgrades, which force the airlines to make C and F unaffordable for everyone else. Then I'd lower the list price of C and F, making international C three times discounted Y and F twice the price of C. However, elites would get priority for upgrades to C at the cost of twice the cost of discounted Y and upgrades to F for the C price plus 50%.

In concrete terms, on a $1000 discounted Y fare, a non-elite would pay an extra $2000 for C (total $3000) and an extra $5000 for F (total $6000). An elite would pay an extra $1000 for C (total $2000) and an extra $2000 for F (total $3000). With such pricing, the lofty 1Ks would likely be spared the presence of those they call "kettles."

This would not only make the upper levels of service more accessible to those who don't fly very frequently and just want an occasional splurge but would also improve the financial position of the airlines.

I know, I know--it's heresy to suggest something like this, but can the airlines actually afford to pile on more and more luxury for C and F passengers? To what extent are the Y passengers (who are human beings, too, after all) being nickel and dimed to pay for all those flatbed seats and private compartments?