Originally Posted by
zorn
Part of flexible J is, well, flexibility. I think if they have 5 round trips per day someplace that sustains a J cabin at all, it should aim to have seats available for the person purchasing flexible J to be able to: a) buy the flight they want; b) SDC pretty much always; and c) probably clear standby more often than not.
Being full for 5 of their next 15 flights isn't really giving the flexible J traveler all that much flexibility. I would be disappointed as that traveler trying to get on the flight I want when paying the largest possible premium.
If it's not an anomaly for some particular event, I still think this suggests a lack of capacity on the route. Giving AC the benefit of the doubt, I have to assume it's because they will make even more money somewhere else with the aircraft.
The J seats won't go out empty. They'll be backfilled with upgrades - probably a tough upgrade to get unless you're a high-value customer to begin with.
(Note: I am not an airline executive so I might not know what I'm talking about.)
So you're suggesting they should hold back from selling a J seat on every flight just in case someone holding a J ticket might want to do a SDC? The suggestion that 'The J seats won't go out empty as they will be backfilled by UG's' probably doesn't align with AC's Revenue Management objectives. AC has shown that their primary objective is to monetize revenue in the Premium cabin by selling seats, Bid UG's, LMU's at check-in and after all of that, if there's anything left you might get a gate UG. 5 out of the next 15 flights means that 2/3 of flights on the route have J availability, and some on every day, so someone who really needs to get from SFO to YYZ in paid J has lots of options to do so.