Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
AS is an LCC (you can see them brag about it in their investor presentations). They would rather fill the Y and F cabins as best they can and get something than sell “it’s a million dollar glass of lemonade, we only need to sell one” F and not realize that revenue, just in the hopes that you want to last minute change into that other million dollar glass of lemonade and someone else buys the one you left behind. Frankly SEA isn’t SFO, CHI, WAS or NYC in terms of F demand especially on an LCC that isn’t going to be as “wired” into corporate travel departments as UA is. Part of being an LCC is not letting inventory spoil just so they can have it on hand for a lot of indecisive travelers who won’t commit until the last minute. It’s not their market niche like it might be for UA.
I’m not talking about million dollar glasses of lemonade. I’m talking about $400 o/w tickets on the west coast and $800 transcons. I get clearing out J in order to open up Y space, but I’m seeing J0, Y9 often 24 hours out. What harm is caused to upgrades doing it 4 hours before the flight to accommodate J sales or J customers that need to change flights due to irrops or their personal schedule changes? I’d argue this behavior is causing AS to lose significant money on the table.
As an example, I had a recent PHX AS flight that was delayed, booked in C class. No other AS flights with J for 12+ hours. I cancelled and booked on Delta. This can’t possibly be a savvy situation for any carrier to put a loyal paid J traveler in, LCC or otherwise.