Originally Posted by dukeman
I just don't see why UA would do that. If you are travelling on UA metal they are generating revenue! And there are probably a lot of US elites that are now flying UA metal. Sounds like a win-win for UA. They get revenue and US has to credit the mileage.
Unless somehow UA does a calculation and realizes that they'd get more revenue from people buying tickets (regardless of US elite status) then paying up for E+ seats later. That said, they'd be getting the revenue that they'd normally get from US elites + some money for people buying up from their E- tickets.
Maybe UA is playing this game to see if there is a trend going in one of the two directions:
-US Elites who STOP flying routes on UA because of this
or
-Increased revenue from the seats that normally would goto US Elites, that can now be sold in E+ inventory buy-ups.
Just my two cents from thinking from a pure-UA perspective.
-jeremy