Originally Posted by crimguy1976
Where they fall in the socio-economic spectrum is irrelevant. I fail to see the sanity in possibly creating ill-will in two customers. That's just bad business!! The rules are the rules, play the game or move on.
But its very relevant: the revenue-generating elite should get far better treatment (and position in the waitlist) than any non-elite riff raff. If someone is going to be annoyed or upset, it makes better financial sense for the non-elite to bear the bad news than the elite.
I agree with the previous posters --waitlists should be prioritized on elite status, class of service purchased, and date of waitlisting. If a Platinum buys a full Y 96 hours before departure and wants to waitlist for an upgrade, he should get priority over all others (that aren't Platinum or bought a full Y before he did) including Golds and non-elites or others on discounted flights. Why should a passenger not generating as much revenue for the airline be treated better than one that is?