Originally Posted by
chrisrozon
They weren't "given" the option, they had to buy it with cold hard cash.
Free upgrades are only available when seats are open....
For the record, I've received one "upgrade for sale" email this year. Just assumed it was easier a heavily undersold flight, or a marketing a/b test.
I don't think you're aware of how VX upgrades work...
Previously, regular customers were able to pay a steeply discounted rate to upgrade, if available, 6 hours before their flight. Elevate Silver members had a 12 hour window, with Gold having 24.
VX has never offered free upgrades to first. Given this, a key benefit was the ability to upgrade to a high-quality product at a steeply discounted price (in your words cold, hard cash). Now that VX is offering random strangers the ability to also upgrade for a discounted price well before this window, it highly devalues the benefit for the member - as the likelihood of seats being available are substantially lower. Back when I would fly them more often, this benefit was one of the reasons I made it a point to keep my Gold status up.