Originally Posted by
gadgetfreaky
Marginal revenue on a cashed in award is >0. A GPU has no marginal revenue the airlinine. Also fairly logicical -even the lowest business class code would prioritize higher than an upgrade from coach. That said - i do realize lots of people here may know quite a bit more than waht travel blogs say which is why i posted the question here.
It’s this kind of thinking that has caused a number of the problems that United has had with retention of elite travelers. The marginal value of an instrument may be zero (I disagree — see below) at the time it’s used, but perhaps thousands of dollars later in the year when that person steers his travel to UA in order to earn more GPUs next year.
And, your logic is incorrect — full stop. Buckets are listed in priority order in the search results, and I (saver business class award) is after (lower priority than) R (upgrade from coach). Before the gate, there is no question whatsoever that passengers on upgraded tickets will get priority before saver awards. The only question is what happens at the gate, and frankly nobody is sure because UA has never told us. We (as a community) have been able to infer quite a few things, but they’re contradictory enough that it’s difficult to make any hard and fast rules about what happens.
Finally, as to the value of an instrument — first of all, there are massive copays included in mileage upgrade awards. Someone who purchased a discount coach ticket and then waitlisted an upgrade will be out as much as $600, depending on route and fare class, plus the miles. Your point of view would have UA prioritize this — real cash revenue — over a business award. Second, if you think of the purchase holistically, it’s entirely possible that UA may prefer to be paid with a W fare plus a GPU as opposed to a boatload of miles. The more times the W fare fails to clear, the more likely the passenger is just look for a G or K fare next time.