EUA Woes
 

Here's a fine example of what my CO year has been like.
EWR-LAS 04/10/05. Yesterday 8 FC seats available 757-200 (24 FC config.)
This morning first day of EUA possibilty for Plats. No EUA - 6 FC seats available.

Wiithout question this will go on for the next few days. Each day no EUA and one or two less FC seats. For the last few years this scenario virtually guaranteed you the EUA. During the past six months I have resigned myself to the fact that it is much more likely that I will fly Y than FC. At some points I've actually thought that I might have been blacklisted from UGs :D

In one of the posts regarding the CO DO someone noted the upgrade % that CO cited for Plats last year as about 98% .... yeah right. Let's see what it is this year. Several years ago CO used to send each Elite a newsletter showing how many flights you took and how many upgrades you got.....probably won't be seeing that anymore.

Anybody who subscribes to the theroy that we shouldn't be complaining about the lack of EUAs and upgrades is just plain wrong as this was the main reason why myself and many others bought into their program and stayed.

Just venting.

If that quote is correct, I am sure that in "corporate speak" Continental exec's meant that 98% of Plats. got at least 1 upgrade during the year. Not wrong factually, just not informative or applicable.

My upgrade % this year as a Plat. is 20%.

SunLover

That's not what that slide said. It said that 98% of the upgrades awarded to Platinums were to bona fide Platinums (those who earned it). The remaining 2% went to comped or promotional Platinums (those with the "wallet candy").

Aren't there just some routes where CO will delay the EUA hoping to sell more A, Y and H fares? Especially LAS routes and transcons? And usually the EUA does not run until 3 days before?

CO will not release F seats via EUA until it is pretty sure that it won't be able to sell them to someone. On EWR-LAS/SFO/LAX routes this pretty much guarantees that EUA won't upgrade you at the opening window,if at all. The DL Stupidfares which offer F for a fraction of what it used to cost don't help too much in this regard either.

I think its actually that plus more. While my experience is limited, I feel that CO deliberately leaves quite a few seats empty and not available for EUA at the 5 day/3 day points (unless one is on a high yield fare (YHK?), so that they can upgrade people at the airport who paid the most for the tickets. It is kind of a backdoor way of upgrading on the basis of the most money paid, but as Larry said, he really wanted to get people who paid a lot of money into a FC seat. I can understand this philosophy, even though I may not like it.

Didnt CO lose like 3mm a day in February or something? Look, I love an EUA as much as anyone else, but I cant fault an airline thats losing (or was losing) millions a day for holding back expensive F seats on a very popular route.

You're kidding? When I first read the upgrade numbers on another thread, I was under the impression that it meant that Platinum upgrade "requests" were successfully filled 98% of the time. I didn't believe those numbers because the Gold and Silver %'s were nearly the same. It just didn't make sense. Now I see why.

I can't believe CO brass actually presented that slide! Those numbers mean nothing! Did anyone question why they were presenting this?

My recollection is the same as Channa's.

No one questioned it. I beleive Larry prefaced the slide by saying that there was a myth that a lot of upgrades were given to Plautinums that were comped versus earned. He was showing that 98% went to those that earned it. There has been a lot of griping on the boards that CO was comping away a lot of upgrades. This was his way of dispelling it. Of course, it would be nice to know the actualy numbers.

I do remember Larry adding that if they get a shot a corporate contract that they think is good for CO, and that one of the stipulations is "X" number (reasonable) of Platinum cards, they will go for it and give the comps. I think he said that their historical data indicates that those comped cards are not used that heavily.

Those numbers mean exactly what the CO folks say they mean.

The myth under discussion at that point in the presentation was that earned elites lose out on upgrades to wallet candy comped elites. There have been plenty of comments here on FT by people claiming that this happens all the time. The numbers presented certainly back up the CO point that it does not.

Would I be considered a "compted" plat elite?

OK, I got it. That wasn't clear from the discussion here. The presentation sounds like it certainly refuted that idea.

What exactly is a "wallet candy comped elite" or a comped elite?

• Comped elite -- Someone who has status because it was given to him, not earned by a butt in a seat.
• Wallet candy -- the elite status card given to a comped elite

The wallet candy makes the comped elite feel important even if he never uses it. Airlines often strike deals with companies and throw in status for a certain number of people as a deal sweetener.

one of those elites that's never flown CO before but gets status due to CO giving it to them (as mentioned, to close a deal or something like that)

IF, those wallet candy elites get 2% of the upgrades, and they fly 1/10th as much as a real elite, then they're 20% of the platinum population, and that's pretty damn high O(10k) comped elites.
While real elites get the vast majority of upgrades, 2% of the total upgrades is a lot for people who aren't flying CO day in and day out.

Its easy to massage numbers to give the message you want them to give.
Like the example of BF rewards, up 17% relative to 2003, but we didn't inquire as to if its # or #/available seats. because the # of available seats has gone up 20%, and then you're down 2.5% or so Y/Y