Cholula, when you get a chance I had a question about a point you made in your OP (quotes below). Long story short: how does allowing DL to have empty seats help increase revenue or boost the load factor? If DL ug's the medallions 5/3/1 day before and can then turn around and sell a Y seat, even if it's L, U, or T for $200+ more than an empty Y seat and collecting the ug fee?
Originally Posted by Cholula
If DL doesn't get enough people willing to pony up the extra charge, the FC seats go out empty. Kind of like they used to.
Originally Posted by J.Edward
How does having empty seats help revenue? You mentioned that if no one wanted to upgrade, the seats would go empty. IMHO, DL has lost on two fronts when this happens: 1) elites and potential elites have little motivation to fly DL when others are offering their premium cabin for free 2) By moving elites from Y into FC it frees up more Y seats for sale. Should a now vacated Y seat be sold even for a LUT fare that’s still more money for the flight and less spoiled product – plus there’s the added benefit of a happy(er) elite.
Finally, what would happen to the elites who choose DL because of the upgrade policy? As others have stated, do you really think the incremental revenue would offset the defectors and negative impact on those customers?