Originally Posted by PremEx
Yep. By Mileage Plus not giving unlimited Domestic upgrades to it's highest elite level flyers, Premier level members probably enjoy a fairly good upgrade success rate. Or at least a better upgrade chance than they might experience at some of the other airlines that do give unlimited upgrades to their top dogs.
As a result, you often see 1Ks sitting in the back when Premiers are being moved up front, simply because 1K's don't have an unlimited supply of Domestic upgrade media.
Also consider the quality of the product one gets if one fails the upgrade. When I was with CO, I'd marry the GA's ugly daughter just to get the upgrade. On CO, the alternative to F was truly grim...31" pitch, the same as E-.
With E+, not getting the upgrade isn't so awful. Obviously, I'd rather be in F. But if I'm back in E+, I can live with it. Combined with the fact that I have to "pay" for upgrades on UA, my motivation to upgrade is substantially reduced on UA due to a
much better Economy product.