Originally Posted by PremEx
...Makes us consider purchasing a Business seat every once in awhile if we don't want to play the upgrade anxiety game. Or if we don't consider purchasing one...it makes us value and appreciate the upgrade more. Conditioning the customer and all that.
Actually, they got me to buy one this year on one of the Z fare specials to Europe over the winter. Was confirmed in one direction of SFO-CDG, and waitlisted on the other, during *very* busy travel days. My UA contact spoke to IM and they gave me a "very poor chance" of clearing. Instead of risking it, I took the bait and paid 2.5x my V-fare ticket for a confirmed C seat. As we discussed in another thread, if Z fares were always like that, I'd be paying for business a lot more often - perhaps 90% of the time, instead of 0% today.
Originally Posted by Morrissey
Perhaps UA has a new internal policy to only confirm advance upgrades for their "best customers" that buy Y and B tickets, and make the folks that buy W and V tickets wait until the last minute?
It doesn't quite work like that. The confirmation process goes: STATUS, FARE, TIME on DM, within each A and B "priority list" queue, iirc. So, they'd have to only do 1K Y&B fare buyers, not 2P Y fare buyers.
Originally Posted by ozstamps
They have an totally oversold situation in coach. If they can't tell folks NOW their coach seat is confirmed they also lose money if they jump ship to Qantas or AC or NZ etc. They will not be able to sell a coach seat last moment if Ma and Pa Kettle have not bothered to come to airport in the first place.
Oz, you're totally right - but I think that's the point. At this moment in time, if someone wants to buy a ticket on that flight, they will need to buy C class. I suspect that in the case of major corporate clients, this is the desired behavior.
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