Originally Posted by
YWG-RO
I understand and agree with Ben's comments. Look at the quality of domestic F in the US, no thank you. If you want guaranteed J, pay for it. If you want to take your chances, use an upgrade instrument. If you don't like the rules, go elsewhere, if you can.
AC needs to make money, it's a business. I'd rather have a better quality J product, competitive price, and fewer upgrade Ys and employees in J. The PY cabin of today is very similar to J of 20 years ago. Good for AC for rationalizing the products and their upgrade access policies.
Where Ben and obviously you are not getting it is that elites and especially super elites are 'paying' for these upgrades by buying more expensive fares and flying 1000's and 1000's of miles on AC metal. To get an occasional upgrade is a small but very important part of spending all this money on AC. It's a sound business practice for any company to reward the people who spend the most with them.
But when Ben says things like why pay for J when you can upgrade for 'free' it diminishes the value of being an elite. Saying elites are getting it for 'free' is akin to saying they are paying for the lowest fares in Y and sitting in J. It's a ridiculous statement for an AC employee and demonstrates how out of touch they are with their highest revenue paying clients.
These are not freebies but are darn well earned by spending copious amounts of cash and in no way cheapens the J product.
There is no value anymore in bring an elite with AC as is demonstrated by these types of statements by Ben.