mtofell

This must have been before my time. I'm only a couple years into flying a lot and caring about programs and upgrades.

Yeah, this is a good point - I'd be unlikely to ever purchase a Saver fare but might be tempted when the the cost spread is enough. But with the chances of an upgrade I don't even consider it.

Eastbay1K

I guess I shouldn't assume that some of us aren't as old and jaded as others of us may be

chrisl137

And I'm almost the exact opposite.

Almost all FF programs are trying to serve two populations - the ones that want RDM like you, which I refer to as "S&H green stamp" programs because they give you all kinds of ways to get stamps or tokens (RDM) to collect for a big reward, and the ones that want their time in the air to suck less, because even a lie-flat with a fancy meal isn't as comfortable as being at home on the couch after a nice meal at home. And there's a continuum between those, filled with people balancing he RDM and the comfort.

All my business travel is purchased-Y only, but upgrades (free, paid, or with instruments) are allowed. I have periods where I have to do a lot of transcons, and it gets old fast sitting in Y LAX-BOS-LAX or LAX-IAD-LAX a couple times in a month.

Years and years ago, the first time I was flying a lot, I got upgraded regularly on UA as a 1P. Then after a pause in biz travel, I started flyiing a lot again and if you're flying hub to hub, it seemed like more than half the plane was 1K at boarding time, so upgrade changes as a 1P or 2P were zero unless I paid. So I made the switch to AS and it's been much more pleasant.

I don't really care that much about RDM. I use them eventually, but I already travel enough for work and personal stuff that I'm not saving up miles for anything special, and my vacations tend to be places where I can be completely offline outdoors for a while, even if I don't travel far to do that.

Xrayman

Same, I travel for work and when I travel for leisure it’s as a family of 3 so FC upgrades don’t exist even as a family of 100K and 2 MVpG. Starting this year the family will no longer be traveling with me to keep status as I’ll just buy the FC for spouse and the kid and I will play the upgrade roulette.

Without the upgrades to FC, I might as well fly WN and thus buy the cheapest fare. The saver fares are not an option and thus the do suck the extra $40 each way from me every time. 40 x 70 flights a year turns out to be 2.8K

Eastbay1K

I've been both over the years. But I've always used my RDM well. I've redeemed well over 2MM on LA over the years in the front cabin, as well as a EK F, CX F and a handful of others, not to mention millions of redeemed miles on UA. Years and years and years ago (more years that you?) I was upgraded perhaps 75% of the time as a UA 2P, then 90% as a UA 1P, then nearly 100% as a UA 1K, yes, to/from SFO. I just don't sit in the main cabin anymore on a flight that is going to be more than 2 hours. So the fare is going to be fair, or I'm going to need an upgrade at booking.

And watch what you compare this to. Some of us were Blue Chip Stamp people. The S&H Green Stamps were a mere annoyance. Oddly, I used to compare the FFPs as the modern version of the Stamp programs.

mtofell

Booking into PC is a pretty nice perk but I'm very "legroom sensitive" at 6'4". I flew WN for years when I didn't fly that much or that far but 5-6 hours is just too long to have me knees crammed in the back of a seat on my route to/from Hawaii. And it even goes beyond just my comfort. I've got back issues and I pay for it if I can't move around a bit. And yeah, that third person on the reservation does muck things up. It would be nice if AS could figure out a way to help out the upper level elites with that. Maybe allow you to bring two guests to PC? No one wants that middle seat anyway, right??

notquiteaff

I had forgotten how it works at UA since my wife and I are both lifetime Gold MM (well, I am Gold, and she is my lifetime guest and companion). Looks like a UA Gold can bring one companion into Economy Plus, so if my wife and I travel together, we can bring two people into the comfy seats. But if I flew enough to get to Plat (or higher), each of us could bring 8 companions. That’s probably excessive, but some level of improvement for AS mid and top elites would make it more competitive. E.g., on an upcoming trip we are taking my MiL along. As an MVPG75K I can bring just one companion and had to choose between my MVP wife or my non-status MIL. Well, actually, I chose option C and put my wife and I on a companion pass ticket, booked my MIL separately and paid for her PC seats.

Heck, if I could just use my fairly useless Gold upgrades for confirmed PC upgrades, that would be nice.