Originally Posted by
OptionsCLE
I don't mean to attack you, but I believe that this sort of sense of entitlement is the wrong attitude to have. Air travel is an extraordinarily expensive service to provide, yet customers still expect to get something for nothing. If you want to guarantee that you get a first class seat, then pay the first class fare! (or Y fare) Certainly every airline values its elite members, but at the end of the day they are still businesses that can't afford to give away first class seats to everyone who flies.
If I want to actually be comfortable in coach, I sure as he$$ wouldn't choose CO. As many have posted in response to the insipid argument that you should pay for FC if you want to fly FC, note Continental's marketing emphasis regarding upgrades. Things wouldn't be so bad if CO's coach seats didn't cramp me so much.
I am not attacking Continental's Y-up strategy; I am noting that as it succeeds, it drives flyers like me to other airlines that have a decent coach product (out of Denver, that includes F9 and WN; even AA's coach seats don't bug me like CO's). I am almost lifetime Gold on AA, and so I may start to direct more of my travel to them.
The ethics issues regarding paying more than necessary (basically gaming the system) don't help, either.