Originally Posted by Blumie
I'd be interested in seeing whether the stats have changed (and I assume they have) with respect to the breakdown of F passengers who have paid for F seats (either full fare F, or a discounted F fare like a YUP) compared to F passengers who purchased Y seats and used miles or upgrades to get into F. I think the airlines, who used to be loath to discount their "premium" F product, have gotten much smarter and realized that they can use their F cabin to generate significant incremental revenue by selling F seats, albeit at reduced prices, rather than giving them away for free.
That's always been my thought as well - especially on Non-Business routes. I fly NYC-FLL/MIA a lot and with the exception of a few seats for people connecting to International Premium flights, almost everyone in the F cabin is upgraded. The difference between purchasing the cheapest Y ticket (about $130) and the cheapest F ticket (over $1,000) is ridicoulous. While I'm not complaining, if they sold cheaper F tickets they could make some added money. I for one, would be willing to pay appx $400 - $500 to get an F ticket and not risk it for the upgrade.
Originally Posted by Blumie
By the way, it is my suspicion that there are passengers sitting in Y who, for little or no extra cost, particularly when you factor in the cost of the 500-mile upgrades that many of them would have been willing to use to upgrade had the upgrade been available, could have purchased discounted F seats. But I think a lot of these people, and/or their travel agents, don't know enough to look for YUP and other similar fares when booking flights.
Very true. My office requires us to buy full Y fare and requires us to fly in Coach under 5 hours. A Full Y Fare from NYC-ORD costs us (we have discounts) $878. If you buy an F ticket, the cost is $897. I always buy the F ticket and pay the difference personally - tons of people though, don't even know.