Originally Posted by
commaspace
Wants J, buy J. Simple. They will fly empty cabins. All carriers, UA included, have restricted plating for upgrade from another FF program. EVA is no different.
No, not so - they will not fly empty J cabins when there are customers waiting to upgrade. They have a waitlist for IM members, and will continue releasing upgrade inventory for both IM and *A as departure approaches. The only limit is the 24hr window for *A upgrades may close off that option when more inventory is released to IM members.
So no, if you want J for the price of Y, one needs to be proactive and flexible. The seats are out there - but generally not more than one per flight.