Originally Posted by
nwacked
It is unlikely that there are suddenly, this year, five times as many golds and plats as before.
It's likely that either:
1) Corporate travel departments are suddenly snarfing up F fares or Y-up fares at never-before-seen levels;
and/or
2) NWA is experimenting with offers to corporate agencies and/or travel departments or making F available at discounted rates to individuals, so that F is filling up with people who are "paying" for F well before EUA runs, at never-before-seen levels.
Something like this happened back in the early 90's -- NW made some deals with some large companies to provide what were essentially Y-UP fares. There was about six months were getting an upgrade was a chancy thing on many flights. I remember a friend from CID told me that UA (thru ORD or DEN) was better for him but flying NW got him 1st Class most of the time so he would request NW. I said "Hey, that's
my upgrade you're sitting in"
