Originally Posted by
some dude
IMHO - As long as the frequent flyers don't bite on these miles for upgrades redemption, it is a net benefit when considered in isolation.
People burning their miles on upgrades from MIA-MCO or LGA-DCA will reduce the amount of miles chasing international J awards.
If elites start saying 'well the odds of me clearing the upgrade waitlis the miles to jt is low, so i will payump the waitlist' ... eventually all free upgrades go away.
Thing is, though, that the decisions are already being weighed about whether they want to risk clearing for a free upgrade vs pay cash...that's been going on for years.
now along comes the ability to use miles, at a REALLY bad redemption rate vs just paying with cash.
I still get plenty of free upgrades myself, so the ability to use a terrible redemption value of miles as a new feature to guarantee an upgrade doesn't really make me worry about much of a negative impact.