Originally Posted by
kaka
the part i didnt like is the bidding part. there's a reason why dont they sell tickets by bidding. why should they now bid for upgrades? just price your seats right and you wouldnt have to worry about bidding to sell an upgrade.
Bidding can capture the consumer's surplus, by selling the remaining unsold seats to those value them less then the lowest fare available.
The trade-off for CX is that people who are elastic may choose to fly one lower cabin and bid for the unsold seat instead - even worse people who are flexible with their travel time (like my grandparents who are retired), may buy a rebook-able fare bidding for the upgrade and board only when their upgrade bid is cleared, assuming that the bidding system does not clear as late as when boarding.