Originally Posted by
Another user name to remember
I don't think that is the point. I just roll my eyes on offers like this (or the "get 80% discount on your upgrade to the last available seat, now only 339..."), but it worries me that the people in KLM HQ are so far detached from reality and the quality of their product. Would any of them suggest to their friends to pay any of those numbers and stand up for the value received towards those friends? I doubt that. Somebody within the KLM organisation should say this does not make sense and revert back to the 100ish range for intra Europe upgrades. I would still not take it, but others might and might actually be pleased with it (think occasional flyer, going on a romantic weekend, trying to impress his/her partner).
I take your point (poor value of product, out-of-touch approach from KL people etc.) and I do agree. However, what I was trying to say is that most people wouldn't really know about those (again, laughable) upgrade offers, unless obviously a message pops-up during check-in. The random traveller going to AMS for the weekend wouldn't even think to click on the EBC seat to see how much it would cost to be on the front of the bus. As I mentioned above (and I was referring to those posting seat-maps with the ridiculous price popping-up when clicking on a EBC seat), it would be absolutely stupid if a message during check-in would
pro-actively encourage the passenger to upgrade his SVG flight for an absurd € 869 but, if KL is not doing that (please correct me if I'm wrong - whenever I had a message during check-in, I never got a figure like that), it means that they have their own reasons (probably silly, probably not - I work in an entirely different industry so that's not for me to comment) for doing so. Some people need to remember that not all travellers have a FlyerTalk mindset and that, for the random bloke going to AMS for the weekend, even a 129 GBP upgrade would probably be worth the extra expense simply because he wouldn't know about all those dynamics which get largely discussed over here.
G