Originally Posted by
DetroitFlyer
What if UA showed the full upgrade list with people who are waiting, in the exact order they would clear? Isn't that better?
That's better than we have at the moment. I would still want to know how many people had already cleared. If UA were going to show us the status and fare class of each person on the list, I could probably live without knowing how many have cleared, although I still wouldn't think that hiding that information was somehow good -- just less bad.
Originally Posted by
DetroitFlyer
I feel like a lot of the "calculations" everyone's making here is because the actual list with people waiting isn't reliable since it only shows people who are checked in.
No, sorry, you're missing the point. Obviously you have to repeat the calculations as the flight approaches. However, by T-1, it's reasonably accurate. It's even more accurate if you've been able to see people clear day-by-day as the flight approaches.
Originally Posted by
DetroitFlyer
For example, if at T-24, I look at the standby list, it shows very few people on the list. Let's say I go ahead and check-in. I might be a 1K at position 2.
But if I check a few hours later, some GS and some other 1K get added to the list, only because they are now also checked in.
That's accurate, but again, I know a lot if there are already 6 people cleared on the list vs. nobody.
Originally Posted by
DetroitFlyer
I personally would prefer UA show me the upgrade standby list at T-24 and tell me exactly what position I'm in. That would be a better way of telling me my upgrade odds, wouldn't it?
Again, false dichotomy. I want both.
Originally Posted by
joe_miami
But that's the thing: United doesn't actually want to upgrade anyone. If a person in E+ who doesn't believe he'll be upgraded SDCs at T-1 to a flight 3 hours later, as per an example someone mentioned above, that's one less upgrade and/or seat United can sell on the later flight.
No; if it's open for SDC, it's because RM doesn't think they'll sell the Y seat, and if the person successfully CPUs, they failed to sell the F seat too.
Originally Posted by
joe_miami
SFO-based passengers are seeing fewer and fewer upgrades because the Bay Area is absolutely awash in cash. If the airlines have their way, the SFO situation will be the future systemwide, not a problem that needs fixing.
If that's the case, UA is really, really bad at business; they should be charging more for airfare from SFO, since apparently people have nothing better to do than to burn it.
Even DL, who started the monetization trend, has stated their goal is to sell 80% of the front cabin. As long as any one carrier still provides status-based upgrades, they'll all need to do it...
Originally Posted by
joe_miami
Again, I'm not trying to be an apologist for United. I noted my objection to the changes a couple days ago. But anyone expecting the current upgrade model to get any better over time is dreaming. Everything airlines have been doing in recent years has been with the goal of fully monetizing F and J.
Not really. Fully monetizing F and J is a fool's errand in the US market. Keep in mind that the most expensive Y tickets on a flight are often 5x more expensive than the cheapest F tickets. Airlines will run themselves into the ground trying to sell $300 F tickets and leaving no place for the passenger on a $1500 Y ticket to sit up front. United is making money giving out upgrades, even if their current management seems to lose sight of that sometimes.
Originally Posted by
drewguy
If you're checking the upgrade list for that you can just as easily check your reservation, which will show the seat you've been assigned. And then you're a couple of clicks closer to choosing a different seat.
The flight status page loads much faster than the reservation page on the app.