Originally Posted by
HNLbasedFlyer
I'm a heavy user of buyups - and I like the opportunity to buyup.
But the discounted buyup is a real thing. Almost 100% of the time at booking the Y to F differential is always more than $350 from HNL to LAX and SFO and vice versus (usually $500 or more). More often than not at purchase - I get a popup at the end of booking offering an upgrade for $350.
But, in fairness, should you cancel the flight, you lose the upgrade fee, right? So your "discounted" (bought-up) first class ticket isn't quite the same as one that you could have bought "normally".
So, it's not clear that there's anything wrong here -- one could view it as similar to how refundable fares are more expensive than non-refundable. You are giving up some flexibility, which has value, so you should pay less.