Originally Posted by Carl Johnson

Well, reading the thread it does really look different. When I first became platinum and they started running recliner seat 757s SEA-JFK and doing their BE service, I thought I wouldn't get any upgrades because there were 16 seats instead of 26, and I flew cheap fares. But then they pushed the BE fares up to the moon and I wound up getting upgraded something like 40% of the time. Back up the thread I read that the transcons can often be had for $1200 r/t, and that's a reasonable price, pretty much in line with the product.

If that's cheaper than it was a year or so ago, that's the difference. Cut off upgrades and inflate the price beyond the value of the product and people bolt. Cut off upgrades and price the product in line with its value, and enough people will pay it to fill the cabin quite a lot of the time.