Originally Posted by
newflyer27
yeah indeed that seems to be the case now, standard prices became "Light" just like that
If you need checked luggage you could say light fare on PE does not include it which is true
although your status gives you one. however why do you say you can't upgrade? you mean change the ticket to J (still possible but with that 250 € modifiation fee)? or you mean upgrade at OLCI which will also be possible.
Yes indeed, as I pay from my pocket the differences it wouldn't be reasonable to pay 250/500 on top of of the normal fare difference. Sometimes you can find very good deals such as 600 EUR in PE and 900 EUR in J (eg. to IAD, JFK), so I do pay 300 EUR to upgrade as it's good value. But if I'll book PE Light it will make those flight changes very pricey and I'll just stick with PE. Plus with me being Plat and having lounge access it's actually a "perk" for the employer to book Light fares because you will have anyway all the other advantages at a lower price. I only had to make 2 necessary flight changes (in terms of changing the dates of travel, so without "upgrades") in the past 2 years (and I fly a lot since the pandemic started, ironically), so it would have been overall cheaper to simply pay the change fees rather than booking more expensive tickets. But individually this will be a hit.
Unless with the Platinum changes that are hopefully imminent they will add a change fee waiver irrespective of fare bought, which would change the game completely.