While not as passionate as NJDavid about the pitfalls of EUA, I do take his view that EUA significantly reduces the upgrades opportunities for Golds and Silver to the benefit of Platinums.

EUA, in effect, strongly skews upgrades to Platinums over the previous system.

I don't have a problem with people not wanting to stay up to midnight in order to call in to get an upgrade, though that wouldn't bother me personally. So if the goal of EUA is to keep Platinums from missing out on sleep, then fine. I bet most Golds and Silvers wouldn't mind being upgraded automatically, either.

The problem is that EUA does more than only upgrade folks automatically, it completely changes the upgrade balance.

I see two ways to restore this:

A) Instead of having auto-upgrades processed three different times before flights, release all F seats at the midnight before the flight (except those to be held until flight time) and run EUA then.

That eliminates JeffLewis2's complaint about Plats missing out on the release of F seats, yet still leaves Plats on the top of the pecking order, Golds second and Silvers third. Things are, for the most part, as they were, except there are auto-upgrades.

However, because of yield management, this probably isn't very attractive, or maybe even possible to implement, for CO.

B) CO rewrites the pecking for the three EUA runs.

Three days before the order is this:
-- Full-fare Plats and Golds are upgraded.
-- Other Plats are upgraded.

Two days before:
-- Full-fare Plats, Golds and Silvers are upgraded.
-- Other Golds are upgraded.
-- Other Plats are upgraded.

One day before:
-- Full-fare Plats, Golds and Silvers are upgraded.
-- Other Silvers are upgraded.
-- Other Plats are upgraded.
-- Other Golds are upgraded.

Plats ticketed within 3 days of departure and Gold within 2 days could be upgraded upon purchase. Plus, anyone is still free to call in if they want.

This system effectively automates the previous system, giving priority to each elite level at their appropriate upgrade window and restoring (again, more or less) the upgrade balance that existed before EUA.

Yes, it doesn't deal with JeffLewis2's complaint about the release of F seats (though it does protect full-fare pax), but, then again, EUA wasn't about that, it was about automating upgrades, right? At least that's CO's official line.

And after all, Plats are at the top of the upgrade waiting list at the airport, anyway, so they're still in pretty good shape despite F-seat releases.

This simple change would put things back close to how they were, and not alienate Golds and Silvers so that Plats can marginally improve their upgrade success.

[This message has been edited by motnot (edited 11-24-2000).]

I appreciate your attempt(s) at a creative solution, motnot. I do, however, have a couple of thoughts that come quickly to mind.

Solution A:
Under this scenario, a Silver would still not get an upgrade until every Platinum and every Gold was already upgraded. A Gold would not get an F seat until every Platinum already had one. While, as a Platinum, that logic would meet my needs, it would not change the situation at all for Golds or Silvers (although admittedly under your logic a full fare Silver would trump a discount fare Platinum). The only way a Silver, or Gold for that matter, could maintain their pre-EUA upgrade %, assuming all other factors remain constant (take the same flights, etc.) would be if a Silver could take a seat from a Gold or Platinum.

Solution B:
This scenario would actually be worse than the pre-EUA call in system. We all know that there are many flights that do not have ANY A seats released to F until well after the 48 hour mark. Under this system, a Platinum on a flight that did not have any seats released to F until the day of the flight would not be upgraded until EVERY Silver and Gold were upgraded.

Just my 2 cents,

Mike

I think the only solution that is even partially a compromise, is create a single waiting list three days out of every flight, that is maintained by elite level through to boarding.

Plats, Golds and Silvers call in ask for an upgrade and get put on the list. The list is cleared upon availability (release of A to F). This way the Platinums do not have to stay up all night, and the ones that bother to call in will get their upgrades first regardless of Golds or Silvers calling in.

If you don't bother to call or have someone call for you, you don't get the upgrade in advance, but rather get added to the list at the airport in order of elite status and time of asking.

This scenario also allows for the "opt out" so people can retain their chosen seats when they do not want the upgrade.

It is still not as good for GOlds, but is at least a fair compromise.

I agree with that solution wholeheartedly, NJDavid - the old Tastes Filling (or was it Less Great?) solution.

OK, to help alleviate the problem with the release of F seats, I propose that, in addition to my previous plan, CO run EUA an extra two times, 12 hours off the other runs. Both of these (2 days + 12 hours, and 1 day + 12 hours) would give Plats the priority, then followed by Golds (only the 1.5 day advance).

This gives Plats 2 extra opportunities to upgrade before Silvers get one shot. Of course, if CO really does release seats 15 minutes before the Silver window, then CO needs to change that, at least under my "plan."

Another addition:

If you book multiple flights under the same name to the same destination within, say, a 48 hour window, only the first flight booked is eligible for upgrade. And the other flights are blocked off from upgrade...at least until all other flights are formally cancelled.

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"An upgrade, an upgrade! My kingdom for an upgrade!"