Confirmed Upgrades: which genius axed them?
Confirmed Upgrades made a lot of business sense.
Firstly, you needed a high-yielding ticket to be allowed to use them: Y or B or M or H or U. Not, for example, the lower 3 of the 4 Premium Economy fare buckets.
Secondly, they delivered a lot of revenue - at least twice as much as Standby Upgrades per sector long-haul.
Thirdly, they could only be used towards cheaper fare buckets in the higher class cabin - Z or O class.
Because the same genius invented Onesmart which allows anyone to buy Airpoints without limit and the end result was anyone could buy a high bucket economy fare and upgrade to confirmed Business. Who is going to buy Business fares then? The confirmed upgrades (or any old Airpoints functions for that matter) used to be earned not bought, whether it be through flying or hotel stays or credit card stays. The root of all the problems is the concept of "Earn to Fly" and the Onesmart Top up.
Now slightly OT, the root for the need of these new "ideas" is probably the introduction of dollar based programme instead of distance based. How many years have Airpoints Dollars been invented and which other airline has followed suit? None. Because other airlines usually want your loyalty and the dollar system does not work.