Originally Posted by
LaserSailor
I wouldn't. Im not poor, but 99 bucks is a lot of money and not worth it to me to fly FC for 3 hours domestic.
Lunch, schmunch. I would save the calories and geta helluva nice dinner for 99 bucks - even in SFO...
I would pay $99, assuming I didn't think my CPU would clear - which as a Gold would be my assumption. I mean, I do think that the food quality in F has gotten really bad - about on par with what Y used to be when it was free, but I'd pay about $50 an hour for the F seat, even over E+.
I do think these amounts might be relative to how much I fly and if I flew 6 hours a week for work the $300 a week would eat into my budget, so maybe this is one of those interesting psychology of pricing effects where infrequent fliers are willing to pay more for upgrades than frequent fliers?
Is this differential in value that different people place on domestic F part of the problem of CPU? That is, CPU provides free upgrades even to those who don't value it (or just value it very low).
Perhaps what UA should do is modify the CPU program to initiate charges for CPU? It could be a sliding scale based on demand, flight duration, and the difference between the lowest F fare and your fare. Silver would be 25% off, Gold 50%, Plat 75%, 1K 90% and GS 95% - 100%.
They could rename the benefit "Complementary Premier Upgrades". They would complement your flight.