I would bet that this program is going to be implemented on the subset of flights which historically show a strong pattern of being oversold and have convenient backup flights which show a pattern of not being oversold.

It cannot be a general pattern for all flights especially given the present occupancy rates and schedules, I would think.

It is ironic that United would have to depend upon an outside firm to implement technologies core to running its business more profitably. But this seems to be the case with many things IT related at United. They just don't understand IT and IT is really core to running their business efficiently/profitably.