minimum bid on flight 3 weeks ago NAN/LAX was AUD$865, so bid $900 & got it. Business class was awesome. This is a great programme.
Many people don't realise that any airlines aircraft with say 400 seats, say 50 in business & 350 in economy, will take more than 350 economy bookings as long as business is nowhere near full. Then if all 350+ showed up someone who have to be upgraded for $0, so better to get some revenue than do it free. Win-win for everyone. Only catch for airline is, if someone is prepared to pay for business class(there are 3 or 4 different business class fares) then they might buy cheap economy ticket & upgrade, but then again, upgrades can never be certain, but bula bids close off 24 hours out & may still be able to buy upgrades at higher level at check in.
Flying LAX/NAN week ago, checked afternoon of flight & the airline said 7 business class still available. Got held up & only arrived at check in at 9pm for 10.30pm departure & they said only 1 business class left & while I was thinking about it, they seemed to give it to staff (think he was a pilot).