airzim

A theme that seems to be overlooked in this is the YBM upgrades. I have to say that 75% of the time, I've been upgraded instantly on those fares. It appears that CO is trying to reward those that spend more money by giving them a better shot at an upgrade and not waiting for the EUA process. They are differentiating between Elite's based on a revenue value.

Having said that, if I don't book one of the higher fare classes I'm almost guaranteed to not get upgraded. As much as I don't like it, I think that's fair given that when I do book more expensive tickets, the opportunity to sit in the front is much higher.

I again am thankful for Scott's candor and for CO's attempt at greater transparency.

cova

Not clear how you can separate the fare for individual segments (unless you mean - each one-way)? For a four segment flight - say PHL-IAH-LAX and back - how can you calculate the fare from PHL-IAH and separate it from PHL-IAH-LAX?

CO immediately shows the cost of a F ticket when you search, then when you reserve the managed reservation shows the cost of upgrading ($ and/or points) and shows wait list. The cost of an F ticket is very high at that point and continues to be very high. Folks here do not see an issue with that - if you can upsell to the F fare - great for CO.

I think the issues we have are CO lowering the price of a F ticket at the last minute so that the fare difference to upsell is now very small.

If there are glitches about the buy-up fee - we know this can be fixed. As long as we know that CO is committed to fixing it and CO has not changed the policy of not selling cheap buy-ups when any Elite is waitlisted or not upgraded - then we understand these glitches can be worked out.

I think the other complaint is that some may buy a B or M fare - and the instant upgrade not be available - but later CO releases B or M - and does not go back and upgrade the original purchasers. I think revenue management should be set such that if it decides not to release B or M instant upgrade inventory for a given flight - then CO should NOT later release B or M AT ALL for that given flight. Then let the EUA system work - and those people will get priority upgrade for their B and M ticket.

bocastephen

As I suspected, it was a glitch (or more precisely, still a work in progress) and there was no wool being deliberately pulled over our eyes. Still, it's important we communicate our experiences openly, as it's a quick and easy ways for CO to learn that something isn't working right.

I think CO has a good picture that domestic upgrades are an important - perhaps the most important - feature of the program for Elites, and especially for those who are not hub-captive.

J.Edward

Agreed -- they've admitted the EUA is "the cornerstone benefit" of the elite program.

But they've also shown they're willing to aggressively market upgrade/upsell mechanisms to drive incremental revenue (as I think they should) and these initiatives serve to directly erode the EUA rate.

The bottom line is the EUA rate will fall system wide for everyone.

saathich

Kudos on #2. ^

Regarding #1...Others on FT have suggested that F prices may be lowered close to departure so that the delta btw F and Y is low (allowing for CO to market the difference in fare). Can you confirm whether or not First Class fares are adjusted in this way? If FC prices stay high, the approach makes sense and is totally transparent. If the F prices are dropped meaningfully so an low fare is put within a "reasonable range", then it's just a question of a semantics.

Off topic, but can you also give us a rough sense of number of elites in 2010. Higher, lower, about the same?

Thanks again for your feedback on everything. Relatively new to FT and CO and really appreciate your openness.

COpltASgldPHX

Was your traveling companion a platinum elite? If so the difference between the V fare (~$178 o/w FLL-EWR) and the M fare is only $150. Methinks this was a buy-up offer and not an upgrade for purchase.

sweetkiddddo

I think the more relevant data point is "are upgrade percentages for Platinum, Gold, Silver in 2010 higher, lower or about the same?"

It is my understanding CO's EUA was designed to attract business travellers. Most corporate travel policies allowed business class for international flights or flights of 6 hours or longer. But for domestic travel, most are required to book the lowest booking class. CO's EUA rewards those that are paying big dollar full fare J for international by offering them the chance of sitting upfront for their low fare domestic travels.

I understand CO's need to squeeze more revenue out of the domestic F product. However, by doing so, they're upsetting the balance of the reward system for corporate travellers. I am now 0 for 6 for EUA this year and most of my coworkers are doing no better. I have three trips to Asia coming up. I am finding zero incentive to book these international trips with CO.

I got a status match to AA Platinum. I did this with a heavy heart as CO has been my carrier of choice for the last 10 years and I have a stack of Platinum cards to show for it. I will see if the grass is greener with AA/CX combo. I may still use CO to Europe from NYC... but even that decision is not so simple anymore.

giggy

I agree, I'm in exactly the same boat CO PLAT, AA EXEC PLAT. CO doesnt have a problem with not enough UGable seats....They have a problem with TOO many Plats. 75K for top tier is just too easy. Throw in a DEQM offer to match competitors and PLAT becomes a joke. Whats 37500 eqms? two trips to NRT at $750 and a couple of $200 transcons for Platinum. Going from 50k to 75k is one thing, but going from 50k to 100k is a lot different. CO needs to address this as the problem, and stop treating the symptoms.

bocastephen

If Plat goes to goes to 100K, there needs to be a significant differentiator between today's Plat benefits and 100K Plat.

Can someone tell me the difference between UA 1K at 100k miles and today's CO Plat at 75k? Besides the SWUs, which are coming to CO anyway.

channa

The SWU's are only coming at 100K for CO Plats, so not every Plat will get them.

As for 1K over CO Plat, there's CR1s, as well as the 1K desk, 1K email for issues, 1K baggage resolution desk, etc. UA also does boarding/checkin differently, giving 1Ks/GS/F/C pax preference over other Elites.

The issue is not so much benefits, as you point out, the substantial benefits are much the same. The issue is that there would be fewer of them at a higher threshold, so that the existing benefits could be better distributed. Presently, a Plat flying 125K per year gets the same upgrade priority as a 76K EQM who qualified on 38K miles flown during DEQM.

There would still be the same issue at a higher 100K threshold, but since the threshold is more difficult to obtain, the sheer number of people to deal with would just be lower.

CO is kind of stuck since they probably realize that 75K is too low, but they don't want to alienate their large number of customers in the 75K range by raising the tier.

cova

I think CO has looked at the numbers and EQM of it IAH based flyers and determined that raising Plat to 100K would eliminate too many of its corporate customers in IAH. This is since IAH is in the middle of the country. AA may have the same issue - but they decided to just limit the number of 100K members and give them better benefits.

J.Edward

I think that's a red herring.

CO can always award bonus EQMs to kick start select customers towards elite status and offering a 25k start to high yield customers would still keep Plat at the 75k bar for them while raising it for everyone else.

belynch

I was just offered a "buy-up" for $100 to F or 15,000 miles. Funny thing about that is I'm on a B fare. So, what's up, besides not making me happy?

Bonehead

Looks like B-ups were not available (i.e., the ZN bucket), and they wanted you to pop for the difference between B and Y or some discounted FC fare. Lucky you.

belynch

Don't the mileages upgrades go into ZN as well? Or is it a different bucket?