It's about control. All the airlines want to be able to decide (in broad terms) who is getting these perks...and now they have the technology to do it. The sad thing is, most people just want to get out of the deplorable conditions in Coach. 20 years ago, nobody cared where they sat. You had legroom, a decent meal, crew that didn't treat you like a bum, and frequently an empty seat next to you. What I don't understand is, with full coach fares almost always guaranteed the upgrade at time of purchase, the suggestion is that the remainder of those seeking the upgrade are on discounted fares.That's a relatively level playing field, and begs the question, why are they so consumed with monitoring this process, and what's the real motive?