<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jimpop:
This could only work if you always had more available seats than canditates.
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Not so. The system would have to be told how to prioritize flyers. Thus, when 15 Gold Medallions are requesting an upgrade for only 5 First Class seats, the system will upgrade the 5 Gold Medallions on the highest fare, highest YTD revenue, highest number of segments/mileage, etc. This is IMHO much more fair than giving the upgrade to the first five Gold Medallions who can get to the phone or internet in time. And, yes, I'd be the type of flyer hurt by this.
I think the AA and/or UA system might prioritize flyers by the time they requested the upgrade, which I don't support. It should be based on fare or revenue.