Originally Posted by ermdjdsj

I'm looking at the cheapest non-stop SJC-MSP fares I can find (B fares are all that's available right now) for around Christmas for my companion and myself, and see fares significantly higher than in previous years, e.g., around $730 instead of the usual $450-500. In the past, we'd usually both get upgraded off of the cheapest discounted coach fares (didn't happen on the outbound with the companion last year)

A Y fare costs around $1130, so the marginal difference between cheapest discounted coach and regular Y is not nearly as big as it used to be.

I've read somewhere on the forum that if you buy a "Y" fare in domestic on NW you automatically get an upgrade or "Y-up" to F, in advance, at the time of ticket purchase. Is this correct? If so, why would anyone buy an advance F fare (for this routing, advance F costs about $1600)?