CO was at a career event I attended recently.

First, every CO rep. knew of FT, and the Cigarman event this year. Several read it on their own to keep tabs.

Second...

One of the managers from rev. mgmt. said that she was forwarded a request related to Flyertalk and Onepass elite that had to do with mileage upgrade inventory on a specific route (not disclosing the route to keep anonymity). Flyertalkers were wondering why they couldn't every use miles to upgrade, even 6 months out.

The rep. happens to manage inventory on the route, and personally decided "no" I won't open up extra inventory, but backed it up with valid business analysis and sent it back up the line. (Basically, coined the term "business leisure" traveler to justify the decision).

So, while she didn't help us out, they took the time to direct the issue to the precise person responsible and see if a change was warranted.

Good work FT, and testament to the sense of ownership in the operation.

And...to clear the record on cases where First Class is less than full-fare coach...

Another rev. mgmt. rep. said the lowest avail. coach fare should always be less than A ,D, or Z for a given origin and destination on a flight. There is no strategy of trying to sell first class seats before coach, and any instance is an error.

I am not sure this is about listening as much as monitoring. If they really wanted tositen they'd opne up their own boards. Sounds like they are looking athe most common gripes to see if they true but beyond that....?

On the topic of FC being priced less than Y, I was at BWI flying another airline but wanted to ticket before the last FC seat was sold.

When the agent pulled up SFO-EWR and read me the price for Y 742(or something close to that) and D for 609(or something close to that)even she commented that she does not understand pricing Y less than D and called over he co-worker to show her the price difference.

Dan

I don't suppose they noticed this thread?

Anyway, seems like a good thing for us as well as a good thing for them CO gains a way to get cheap, feed back from customers who both know a little more than the average passenger. Similarly, we gain a way to help show ways and areas that could be improved.

For domestic FC being cheaper than coach (one of J.Edward's hot buttons) I'm glad to hear this is not intentional ^ Plus, that someone in the mysterious revenue management department, land of smoke and shadow, took the time to lookup inventory on a specific route and answer a question regarding reward availability, albeit negatively, would go a long way in my book (this is to say I'd think "well, I'm still bummed that I can't get a free seat -- but at least now I know why).

FWIW, I believe CO does have it's own boards (for employees) - but I'd rather have the comrodery (sp?) of posting on the Flyertalk community rather than logging into some dry corporate site. As for CO monitoring the boards, I'd have to say it's 90% good and 10% bad (and by bad I mean that they can figure out our naughty ticks and mileage runs) but in the end, I think the benefits far outweigh the costs ^ (Anybody remember the little get together last April )

We - and that's a collective 'we' of us and CO - have a way to directly benefit each other, we'd be fools not to take advantage of it.

I have never been able to pay less for first class than I can for coach, but here's how I found a first class seat for the same price as coach. On continental.com, go to the "multiple destinations" page, even if you're just doing a simple roundtrip. This page allows you to choose the class of service for each segment. Do it. That is, first get a price for coach both outbound and back. But then price it for first class out and coach back, and then coach out and first back. I did, and I discovered a return flight priced the same for first as it is for coach! Now I am going to fly first class from SJC to EWR next month for the same price as the hoi polloi are paying in coach--and I get 150% EQMs to boot!

What exactly is a "business leisure" traveler? Someone who combines business with their vacation, or vice-versa? :-)

If that's the case, this rep needs to be fired because he/she isn't doing their job.

Finding a First Class fare that's cheaper than Economy is quite easy if the circumstances line up correctly.

Why are you glad to hear it's not intentional?

If it were intentional, at least we could disagree about the philosophy or strategy behind the pricing.

Since it's not intentional, yet still quite common, that means they're incompetent at executing their own pricing decisions. It'd be sort of like agreeing to adjust the price of the Big Mac Meal to $3.99, but not finding the little plastic numbers to put up on the board.

I'm not sure which is worse.

I would think that it's someone who flies business class on a leisure (non-business) trip. Just my guess. That's what I do.

I thought it was someone who had a cushy job you know the kind of person who brings their golf clubs on on every business trip