"While op-ups are nice, that's an outlier situation that doesn't really count as "upgrades from Saver." If that poster hadn't been on the plane, it'd just have gone to a Y passenger without status, and theoretical upgrades when weight and balance need to be tweaked aren't an advertised benefit of flying any airline."
I agree with you 100%, it is an outlier......but still not the strict adherence to "no" you cannot move up. It was just an example and not the main part of my post.
"On the routes where AS/WN are among my choices, fare flexibility at a low fare wins out over mileage acquisition, upgrades, exit row, elite recognition. This is the key benefit of MVPG for me. Losing it on Saver and having it on the Wanna Get Away fare WN matches means I'm going to fly WN."
To this I have to say, to each his own. Mileage acquisition, upgrades, elite recognition, etc IS important to me as is fee waiver/changes and I am happy to pay extra for them on Alaska. I get it, people want the cheapest fare and upgrades and perhaps Alaska will lose business over this, who knows as we all speculate here. WN is an excellent company, I for one have never enjoyed flying with them and would do so only if they were my last choice....but for leisure flying, I do have choices. For others, it may be a better choice. I am interested in how this all works out for the company which will not know for some time.