Originally Posted by Anglo Large Clawed Otter

Granted, if CO does begin to noticeably lag behind the competition, perhaps this could become a net positive (by CO making it easier to upgrade into BF, or by selling R fares year-round). However, such moves just wouldn't seem to be the style of CO management. I fear they won't make any such moves until the market forces their hand (or 787 rollout, whichever is sooner), by which time they may have lost valuable customers and/or corporate contracts.

Where's rkkwan with the 764/777 heavy maintenance schedule when you need him? If CO neither increases upgrade/R availability nor redeploys a greatly-improved BF product prior to 787 rollout, methinks the next two years could be rocky in terms of premium-yields for CO. No one in their right mind would pay D/J for TATL CO BF (CO's bread & butter) if they have the choice of new UA (recall, 767-300s get revamped first), DL 777-200 with new lie-flat VS-style seats (with lie-flat also expected for 767-300s at some point in the near future), BA, VS, BD (soon to have SA-style lie-flat), AC, or EOS. That's quite a spectrum of true-flat J seats to choose from on TATL routes. If I were purchasing J tickets, unless CO was just gazillions of times more convenient than any competitor, I would have a serious think about who got my $$$ (as I could choose true-flat on so many airlines, on any of the alliances).