As a lowly silver, I've been fortunate enough to get plenty of T-24 upgrades this year. However, I have noticed that since CO started selling upgrades, they seem to be holding back on processing the EAUs, perhaps in hopes of selling the upgrades at check-in to non-elites.

DH received his upgrade LAS-IAH at the gate last week, and I am currently looking at my PHL-IAH flight tomorrow afternoon and it shows the coach cabin nearly 100% capacity, but totally open in first. I am sure there are plenty of plat and golds on this flight, who should have received EAUs at 3 and 5 days out....

Anyone else notice this trend?

Sorry, but this makes no sense. If the elites are on the plane, even in the back, then CO isn't selling the buy-ups. They are selling more Y seats and hoping to sell more Y or B fares for Y-ups - a good thing IMO for elites who are buying last minute as they have a chance at getting an F seat for their money. And if they don't sell then CO upgrades the elites in order based on status, fare paid, etc.

But holding back EUAs doesn't enable them to sell more upgrades.

There is no such thing as "should have received" in this case. They are prioritized and when the inventory opens they'll get the upgrade.

That's the way it's supposed to work.

Color me skeptical, based on anecdotal evidence from other threads over the last several months.

Exactly. I really find it hard to believe that there are no plats or golds on my PHL-IAH flight tomorrow, out of a 95% full flight. Wouldn't they have already been upgraded? First shows completely open, not a single seat filled

Color me skeptical too...

I disagree. Holding back EUAs does allow them to sell more upgrades in the form of Y/B-Ups, mileage awards and fare upcharges.

It's CO's prerogative to do this of course and one would think that it would make sense for them to pursue whatever strategy allows them to maximize their revenues.

But at the same time if Larry states the "cornerstone" of the OnePass elite program is upgrades, and then in turn undermines the ability for elites to score those upgrades, it makes me wonder just how valuable CO considers elites. It's the constant what have you done for me recently vs. what are you doing for me now debate <shrug>

Again, not saying one way's better than the other -- just that holding back EUAs will make elite upgrades harder.

Maybe I should call them up and say "DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM????? I'M A SILVER ELITE! WHERE'S MY FRIGGIN' UPGRADE, DAMMIT!!!??????"

LOL, I hate when people pull that crap. Of course, I do enjoy the upgrade, but on my $177 RT out of CLL, I consider myself lucky to even travel across the country for such a small amount of moola.

There have been very few confirmed cases where upgrades were being sold and they shouldn't have been. The couple I am aware of where further investigation was performed actually all came out clean.

I'll take real stories over anecdotes any day of the week.

Who says there are no plats or golds? My guess is that there are a few. But that doesn't mean that F should be filled. CO is hoping to sell walk-up fares and be able to upgrade the elites in those cases into F seats. I have no problems with this at all.

There are also a few known scenarios where a particular FFer on a flight has actually broken the EUA system for that flight. So even though there were EUAs eligible to be handed out they never happened. The correct folks eventually got the upgrades at the gate rather than in advance.

I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but I just don't see one with this program, other than the impact it has on the potential for companion upgrades.

Since mileage upgrades "R" bucket is the same inventory as EUA - then with no EUA there is no option for mileage upgrade. Unless CO switches R off and on at EUA time - but I have not seen that lately.

I am seeing more hold back for Y and BrUPS.

As CO Insider has indicated - buy ups are only released when there are more F seats then the number of eligible elites on the flight. But this does affect companion upgrades.

Hopefully the instant EUA processing when R bucket inventory is released will help to solve the problem - but we have yet to see instant EUA implemented.

I cannot imagine that they would do this. Have you heard it suggested that they will? Where?

I'm not really suggesting a conspiracy theory, but an observation. CO certainly has every right to manage their inventory and revenue generation in the way that makes the most business sense, and since upgrades are complimentary, it is not an expectation. Just something I'm observing of late.

Since there are no bodies currently assigned to first on this flight that is just over 24 hours from now, and no one on the waitlist, it would "appear" that there are no plats or golds, since they {customarily} upgrade 5 and 3 days out.

Still, keeping fingers crossed that this last MR of the DEQM promo will bring me a pleasant surprise at T-24

I assume you're on the 3:40? Yes, it is odd to see zero PAX in F on the day before travel. However, there are some exit rows taken up, and my assumption is that those are Plats and Golds....

I would go with what sbm12 said - they are holding them back later now, in the hope of selling upgrades.

and from an elite's perspective the best outcome is no-one takes up CO on their offer (EUA rates would remain "normal") with the worst being every F seat is sold and no EUAs are performed.

Don't know which one is better, but the answer to the question "are there less EUAs now that CO is selling (as in actively promoting) upgrades" is yes.

I am flying EWR-CLT next Tuesday. Yesterday morning (T - 5.2 days), there were 4 FC seats open. At T-5 days (almost to the minute), I was upgraded. When I went in to pick my seat, ALL 4 previously open FC seats had been filled. So, no chance to change seats. All 8 out of 8 were filled at the T - 5 day mark.

So, I can't see where CO is holding seats for sale, at least on this flight. Not even one was held for a B-up.

The bolded (by me) phrase is the key. The holding back of seats is typically flight dependent, in my experience.