Originally Posted by JB123

Is part of the problem that there are just a lot more elite flyers now that there is an upturn in the economy? I have made GS during the last 3 years because starting in 2010 I have flown a great deal more than I have in my life - about 180,000 miles or so per year. I also have 4 friends who have also made GS for the first time in their lives due to massive increases in travel during the last two and a half years. We were all 1P or 1K in 2009 and the 10 years before that. I have had no trouble using upgrades this year (this is not a gloating e-mail). I am currently on a family trip and was able to upgrade my family of 4 from LGA to ORD and then ORD-SFO round trip in 2 weeks. I also used upgrades earlier this year from ORD to FLA and JFK to LAX round trip. I even used a one class upgrade from FRA to ORD in June.

It seems like there are just a lot more GS members, and GS members unfortunatelty trump 1K's. My friends who are GS seem to be able to use their upgrades. So perhaps 1K's ability to upgrade has just been diluted by the increase in GS people? does this make sense?