Originally Posted by parnel
I don't know what it takes to make you understand the yield management system airlines use. simply put flts get to a certain sell point and their data base tells them there is likely hood they will sell X more seats and it then closes off things like C/I class but leaves anywhere from 1 to 9 seats for sale in each "revenue" class until they hit their oversell limits
and what's probably happening (contrary to all of those conspiracy believers out there) is that the lack of baseline data to tune the application means that it's probably a bit more "aggressive" at protecting a potential revenue seat than what we've come to expect. That's plausible.
But back to what I think is the root of the problem... it's expectations. I think that Air Canada (right or wrong) has established expectations in us that by holding an upgrade certificate, it means upgrade space is available. By turning it into a "space available" program smacks of deceptive marketing... or bait and switch.
"Here's an upgrade coupon - you can confirm an upgrade 72 hrs in advance with an applicable fare basis" = BAIT
"whoops, our system zeroed out the upgrade class to protect potential revenue because we don't have enough experience in tuning it. Sorry" = SWITCH