Small little rant
 

Hey everyone,
I just have a minor complaint and was wondering what other people think about this. Last night I was flying on a reward trip. One of the legs, IAH-SFO had 4 open first class seats after everyone who was allowed to be upgraded was upgraded. Now I know that I cant get the upgrade because my trip was a reward ticket but would it be too much to add elite members on reward travel on the standby list even if they have the lowest priority? It was really annoying sitting in coach looking at all those rare open first seats when they had their nice dinner! This is more of a rant then anything but I don't see the big deal why Elite members on reward trips shouldn't be upgraded even if they are at the very bottom of the priority list (after everyone who paid for their ticket was upgraded).

Thoughts?

I know this is sacrilege on FT, but I think that upgrades need to be more restrictive, not less. If the goal is to fill the premium cabin, why stop with reward coach tickets. Why not upgrade anyone who looks like they could use the extra space (elderly, tall, obese).

No one will buy the cow when the milk is free. In your specifc case, they wanted you to burn 50K miles vs. 25K to sit in one of the four empty seats. What would prevent you from burning only 25K every time, hoping for a last priority upgrade.

I was denied a domestic F seat on a BF reward where only my Intl Segement cleared, they refused to put me on the upgrade list even though I redeemed for BF and was allowed to be up front for the domestic leg.

Reward tickets have no business getting an upgrade. I agree with the current policy and it should not change. If you desire a FC seat so much, then you need to pay for it. Your rant is silly nothing more than that. :td: :td:

I'm sure the people who work at CO would enjoy a chance to sit in FC. If reward ticket holders were giving an upgrade, then the people who work for CO would NEVER have a decent chance at FC.

Reward ticket holders ARE paying for their coach seat, except they have paid with miles, instead of cash. Elite cash customers who have paid for a coach seat are upgraded all the time, and elite customers who pay with miles should be treated the same way. I agree with the OP.

You are right on the mark, as the currency used happens to be earned miles rather than cash currency. A ticket is a ticket regardless of how it was paid for. NW allows Platinums to EUA for on award travel. I believe the interval is 1 day, and I was thrilled to be the beneficiary on occasion.

CO does aim to fill the front cabin with paid tickets as evidenced by R fares and reasonable YUPs. However in the case of this example no demand existed for the last 4 FC seats and the effectively spoiled.

I would agree there's little harm to upgrading an elite, on an award, at the gate, after all other eligible persons have been considered (displaced FC passengers, upgraders, EUAs, employees, etc.)

Actually CO encouraging people not to redeem FC awards would allow them to have more inventory open until the flight in which time they could a) sell the seat for cash, b) charge a paying customers miles for an upgrade, c) upgrade a fare paying elite.

You forget to mention as long as CO should copy NWA that CO should also do away with the Entertainment systems and food at meal times

BTW Id be very surprised if DL keeps this after everything is merged

I agree. I will also point out that other airlines allow their elites to be upgraded on reward tickets, so that is one reason it should at least be considered. Northwest will even allow Continental elites to be upgraded when on a Northwest reward flight purchased with Continental Onepass miles.

Incorrect.

No customer or employee has any business displacing a paid F/J customer. Once it is know the F/J seat will spoil (i.e. 30 mins before the flight) it is a moot point and upgrading a customer (or employee) will foster goodwill and loyalty for a non-material variable cost.

I have no doubt CO would be happy to take their money for a confirmed FC seat.Missed the point, the OP is complaining about FC spoilage, not the fact an employee was seated in F.

Based on feedback from this thread, CO just announced that they will remove 2 rows of FC on each domestic aircraft and replace with 3 rows of coach, because some of their passengers are upset to see empty FC seats. Except for the 753s, which will lose 3 rows.

"We have too many FC seats for the current economic conditions. And people love our competitors like Virgin America which has only 8 FC; or Jetblue and Southwest, which have zero," a CO spokesperson said Tuesday. "No Southwest customer ever rant about empty FC seats on Flyertalk, and it will be less an issue for us after the switch".

"We are also considering selling our 738s and 739s with 16-20FC seats, while keeping our 735s, which will have one single row of FC after the reconfiguration".

;)

LOL :D:D
Very good.

They are also adding SRO in the back of all their widebody fleets,but only on Monday,Wednesday and Fridays.

Too funny. :D

Sorry, I wasn't referring to amenities, rather to policies.

I would agree that DL will likely nix it.