VERY interesting!! Thanks so much for posting it. That's exactly the type of information I was hoping to find. All of the comments on that blog shed a lot of light on things, especially the person who said that the airlines' "own appallingly complex 'revenue optimization' systems are to blame for these kinds of problems and gamesmanship in general." That's the rub. They will screw you any way they can, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, and that's somehow "right", or at least OK, but if I figure out a way around their system, which is perfectly legal (probably) all of a sudden that's "wrong"????? Even if it doesn't cost them a penny?

Everything they do is set up in their favor, on purpose, to fleece you from as much of your money as they can. The government had to pass a federal law to require airlines to even tell you how much a ticket costs, (including taxes)!!!

USAir is actively trying, right this very minute, to figure out how hard they can screw their own customers, to squeeze the most money out of them, without them saying anything. Let's pack even more seats into coach, to make first class more appealing. Then, let's make money off anyone that wants to upgrade rather than "give" the better seat to our best customers.

I probably shouldn't lower myself to the level of a crooked, greedy airline, who has a monopoly on nonstop CLT-LAX flights, and take advantage of their system just because I figured out a way to, so I guess I'll just suck it up and hope the seats next to me are empty. Dammit! I need to go somewhere else for support next time I figure out a way to beat the system!