Originally Posted by Brunner
On a 200-passenger flight, 1% is 2 people. On a major routing from SFO (e.g., my most popular routing of SFO-IAD), a lot more than 1% are UGS, and there are more than enough to take all the upgrade (& revenue) seats. My last flight on this routing (2/4), there were 5 UGS passengers and 11 1Ks. Also makes it really hard to get into Business on the PS flights to/from JFK.
Situation made worse with so many more 320s and 319's doing transcon since 9/11.
P!sses me off when you spend that much, and 1P's or 2P's who flew less than I (guaranteed), and may have spent less than I (according to some previous posts [no personal offense intended]), get upgraded, and I'm sitting in the back of the bus.
Although it might be the top 1% of customers (or is it elites?), we make up more than 1% of customers on any flight as we travel more than many others.
I agree with your sentiments, but can only assume that UA have determined who really contributes to the bottom line, and rewards them accordingly. I think it would make sense to at least publish the criteria (if not a hard cut-off point as it changes every year), so that we'd know what to do in the way of fare classes etc to maximise the chance of requalifying.