I suspect clearing eups in these edge cases (high value pax, high revenue, paid lat / paid PY) has a much more manual element to it as well.

The system can forecast what % of J will be left unsold before checkin opens. I suspect they can also see the current upgrade bids. They'd could also see from past data how well day of upsell at checkin might sell.

If they a​​​​​utomate sending reports out to rev management, now RM has steady work to do. Accept all, snooze a decision a week till more data is known, etc. That would gives an extra chance for humans to act on harder to program scenarios. A one off event somwhere? Another airline possibly impacted from a strike? Perhaps in a meeting, maint mentioned a possible fleet shortage that might cause more downgauges or cancellations than usual.


It's pretty apparent to me that their team focuses on this more as it gets closer to travel. Nothing at all happens for weeks, then one day or two before a clearance window happens, some paid latitude get cleared.

I diaagree that they are playing games such as trying to make a high latitude fare miss an upgrade to teach them to buy J. Too complicated for AC, too absurd, or both.