Originally Posted by
DJ_Iceman
Not that this would be hard to do, for an airline with a half-decent IT staff. I recently flew US for the first time as a 1K, and I was checking their website to see if I had any chance of an upgrade (the answer is no, by the way). For their elites, they do complimentary upgrades based on status, fare basis, and then YTD EQM. That seems like a much better system than time added to the DM list. Also, I liked that they had a very clear, very explicit flowchart on their website explaining all this, unlike the morass of confusing links and conflicting information on UA's site.
It has ZERO to do with a half-decent IT staff, and they couldn't help. SO who is worth more in terms of fare paid on a DEN-LAX flight...1) The DEN-LAX local passenger who apid $500, or the GJT-DEN-LAX-SBA who paid $650, or the DEn-LAX NRT guy who paid $800, but is in a lower booking class? Would you then have the number of EQM be the tie breaker? I can assure you, the computer of ANY airline has ZERO clue what you paid, only what booking class you are on that local leg, which could have little to no correlation to your value to the airline on that segment.
Trust me when I tell you, US systems do NOT have any knowledge of fare paid, let alone a prorated leg fare on the entire itinerary. DOes a misconnect in Y pay more than a just bought fare booked in Q?
I know how UA's system works down to the exact detail. While it will not be perfect to all, it works pretty good for most. Unless you personally know every detail about every other person on the DM (status, ticket price/booking class, time added...) what difference does it make? How will you know. Be happy that you have a good idea. MP level is #1, some sort of fare/booking class is number 2, tie breaker is time added.