No, date of ticket purchase is now trumped by fare basis. The EUA/yield management algorithm is taking into account both historical fare-basis bookings as well as current fare-basis bookings (i.e., for an upcoming flight on a given day/time). As would be expected, the release of seats into the F bucket from A/D is done on the basis of this historical booking data and current reservations. But now, wih greater stringency, EUA is releasing *only enough* inventory into F at each upgrade window (5/3/1 days prior to departure) into which only the higher fare-basis reservations will be upgraded, e.g., 6 plats on day 5, 3 of whom on K fare, 2 on Q, 1 on T. Yield management/EUA spots this, so only three seats open up in F. The three on K get the EUA; the 3 on T/Q are skipped. Day 3: Same thing, but for Gold - and the lower fare basis Plats from before (in addition to the lower fare Golds) are nixed out of the running. And so on. Of course, this is the general paradigm, so specific routes and days of the week will throw in different variables. Still, overall, the machination of EUA is different from before.

What's more, as has been mentioned previously and in other threads, the at-airport upgrade standby list doesn't work reliably anymore. I was "number one on the standby list" for upgrades on the day of travel the other day on a 5-segment itinerary, none of which were EUA'd (one segment was on a junglejet). Watched AOW classavailability (BTW, it's so much easier than ITN I find), saw the F bucket go live, went over to the P-Club desk to get my upgraded boarding pass, and you know what? The F inventory was still sitting there, my original reservation un-upgraded, and *several* club agents hoarded around to observe this new twist, chattering about how I should have been automatically upgraded, this is weird, why is inventory still holding out releasing upgrade seats as if they're going to sell an hour before the flight all of the first class seats they're holding back, this wasn't the way it used to be, somebody else could have just slipped in there and got the upgrades if I hadn't come over (*bingo* - CO's own is saying this - HELLO HOUSTON), and even, get this, "why would anyone want to fly us anymore if they couldn't get the upgrades like they were promised?"

With all due respect, folks, the "couldn't be's!" and the "hmmm, I'm skeptical, that's not what I saw," sound a lot to me like rationalization and denial of a new reality that showed up sometime recently. Can we all say, "cognitive dissonance?"

I told myself I would stick it out on CO after HOKEY I in anticipation of seeing what HOKEY II was going to be like. But this new macro under which EUA runs is the hair that breaks the camel's back for me. Definitely not the change I was anticipating.

[This message has been edited by Beef or Chicken? (edited 03-16-2002).]