Originally Posted by
inasmuchas
I don't pretend to know the first thing about yield management, however, is it not a little greedy / cheeky of BA to grab a bit of cash for a POUG and at the same time remove a seat from what would otherwise be award inventory?
Inventory isn't static. It's not the same as stacks of two different brands of baked beans sitting next to each other on the shelf.
To be more precise, if a flight is showing I4 U2 and someone books an I class seat, availability doesn't necessarily go to I3 U2 (as it would if we were talking cans of baked beans). It might immediately go to I3 U1, for example.
Similarly, if a flight is showing I4 U2 and someone books a POUG in U class, availability doesn't necessarily go to I4 U1. It might also immediately go to I3 U1.
There are also other sophistications that might be at work. For example, there may be U class seats that are only available for awards and not available for POUGs (or only available for POUGs and not available for awards).
So it's impossible for anyone on the outside to know whether changing the class used for POUGs will have any effect on award availability.