OfficeGlenn

At check in for a yul to yvr flight on a A330-300

Offered an upgrade to premium economy for $295 and upgrade to business for $395

premium economy showing 9 of 24 booked
business showing 23 of 32 seats booked

Changeup2000

Sounds like great value for Business. What are your original brand and price?

OfficeGlenn

Originally booked with 12,500 Points in Lowest Economy

billdokes

Shame it was on a A330 though, which might explain why it was so cheap.

I consistently see using the CowTool that flights on an A330 cost few points on the same route/day than flights operated by a 788/789/777.

Sophon

Not sure if its well known - but pricing appears to be dependent on elite status?

checked in my wife and YYZ -> YYC was $730 (50k) but when I checked in it was $657 (SE).

PLeblond

Did you check in at the same time? If not, it could also be a question of timing?

canadiancow

My dad is checked in for a flight. It's a UA codeshare operated by AC, 016 ticket. The flight is J2.

I don't even see where an LMU would be offered.

I don't know if it's because they're just not selling them, or because it's a codeshare, or because it's 016, or because there's a Status Pass.

Oh well. Less money for AC I guess.

Snow Goose

You should instruct him to approach the gate agent:

”Do you know who I am? I’m Cow’s dad…”

I’m pretty sure J2 is the reason. Holding out for a possible last minute - failing that they want to hold some inventory for priority upgrades.

PLeblond

Less money from you, yes, but how do you you know its less money overall from AC? Do we know how LMU revenues are shared in a case of 016 ticket on AC metal?

Perhaps not offering it to CanadianBull means more revenue for AC from another source?

canadiancow

I've certainly seen them sell half a dozen LMUs down to J0 on Signature routes before.

Yes, I know, because they set the price.

If they think there's a 50% chance they can sell a $2000 fare, then they should reasonably be able to price the upgrade at $1000.

But they could certainly offer it at $2000.

But instead they're not offering it.

They're not shared.

PLeblond

What I meant is If they are not offering a LMU then there is most likely a reason. You are saying they lost the opportunity to sell you something. What I am saying is they might have another revenue source for those seats. Or an opportunity cost.. or even a direct expense that surpasses $2k for selling it to you.

Hypothetical example: perhaps with all these cancelled flights, they turn off LMUs at less than J=X. Because if they need to reroute 2 other J passengers onto that flight and there is no room, they might be out hotels, vouchers and paying thousands of dollars in compensation. The result is net more money for AC by not selling it to you.

If you really wanted to upgrade you could always call it and pay the fare difference + change fee (if applicable), assuming the seats are still available for sale. LMU most likely falls into ancillary revenue for AC and thus not a primary source of revenue but rather a 'nice to have'.

canadiancow

That would be a reason not to sell the seat to a new passenger. All those factors still apply regardless of what cabin someone sits in on a flight they're already booked on.

No I can't, because:
1. It was booked through a TA
2. The passenger is checked in, and it's too close to departure to risk this

They're not, at this point, because it's past scheduled departure time (but check-in is still open). They were available for sale last night.

5 seconds of Googling showed that in 2016, AC's ancillary revenue exceeded their profits. So it's more like "essential to have".

I still think it's likely the codeshare issue. I never fly codeshares in below the flight's highest cabin, so I've never attempted this before. It certainly prevents SDC and SBY, and makes eUpgrades much harder, so it wouldn't surprise me if some system just said "we can only sell upgrades on AC flights, and this is a UA flight".

PLeblond

Profits and losses are relative. When they are losing millions so the revenue from selling model die cast places is higher than profits. And from what I have read, Airline Frequent Flyer programmes are essentially private banks that print their own money and their value exceeds the (often negative) value of the actual flying part.

Sounds like you believe its a technical issue because of codeshare rather than "Oh well. Less money for AC I guess."

But I digress.

Nitehawk

I also agree it must be a technical issue caused by the codeshare or status pass. They don't care about eupgrades or saving space. AC will gladly LMU to J0 everytime there's any positive space in the cabin.

Changeup2000

My experience is that AC gate agent can process LMU for either cash or eups. Probably not all of them, but the few times I asked they were all able to.

No discount whatsoever though.