Originally Posted by
HNLbasedFlyer
I've not seen any evidence of that all - I've seen some flights to/from the West Coast clear 30+ upgraders - I've seen empty F seats EWR-HNL - I recently had no issue upgrading HNL-ORD as well as several others - I've seen posts of upgraders IAH-HNL - all routes nearly impossible in the past - and the tickets aren't even that expensive to buy outright.
Sept 2021 vs Sept 2019 has visitor arrivals down 35% to the islands.
There used to only be 28 premium seats to HI from IAH on the IPTE 777-200s
There are now 74 (50 "first/polaris", 24 PP). Makes sense that there are some upgraders.
On a flight I have on Dec 2, there are already 27 seats, plus the one blocked seat up front. Cannot see PP. ON the IPTE seats, that would have mean the flight was already sold out up front, 5 weeks in advance. On my return flight on Dec 8, 33 seats sold already up front.
Upgrades clearing from IAH doesn't mean we're not seeing increased premium demand for those seats. There's just a LOT more of them available now