Originally Posted by
zebranz
Don't agree. I am not a MR but believe there is a use for them as they do fill seats.
Bingo. Yes something like this weeds out the person that only does MR for status - but saying MRs hurt the airlines is silly. Mistake fares yes - those likely hurt an airline (especially one like the BOS - ICN F mistake fare), but MRs do fill seats that may have gone out empty.
Many people who do an odd mileage run or two (myself included) use them to top off a gap between work travel and the next elite level. Those people are still profitable overall to the airline and this just encourages them not to spend their free time and money flying UA and instead just walking away.
Plus UA seems to have a problem filling those seats these days whether they're filled with MRs or not unless they downgauge to an RJ