> But FC does earn revenue for the airlines....paid fares, paid upgrades, > and mileage redemptions. Paid upgrades do not earn as much revenue for the airline as selling the ticket for full price. Mileage redemptions are not a source of revenue for the airline since all of those miles are a liability on the airlines books. By allowing the use of miles for upgrades they are simply decreasing that liability. > > > > > I don't hate first class. I > > > > just think the airlines would make a hell of a lot more money if > they > > > forced > > > > people to pay for their premium product instead of giving it away. > > > Uh, they're already charging what used to be FC rates for Y these days > (or > > > at least before mid-2001). > > > > And if you pay full Y you get First Class on a lot of airlines. > Northwest's > > YUP fares spring to mind. If people were paying for FC then the airlines wouldn't have to try to bribe people to at least pay full Y. As I mentioned in a previous post, people aren't even paying Full Y these days. > > > > Filling that First Class Seat costs them more money. > Costs are greater, but apparently so are the revenues, and by a larger > margin. As I said earlier, mileage upgrades are not a source of revenue > > > Poor upgrade policies on one airline's part is no reason to throw out the > baby with the bathwater. If it was just one airline I might agree with you. You are supporting my point that upgrade policies are poor. > > > I'd be willing to bet 50% - 75% of upgrade eligible FFs with average > segment lengths over 1 - 1.5 hours would switch immediately. It might be > interesting if you were to try a poll on that subject over on > www.flyertalk.com sometime. Perhaps there is a cultural factor at play as well. I am speaking from a Canadian perspective and you are speaking from an American perspective. > > > > You don't think TAs buy the tickets? TAs buy them on behalf of the > customer > > and if the customer doesn't have a preference for carrier you can be > damned > > sure that it's the travel agent who is deciding what airline the > passenger > > travels on. > General travel, yes. Corporate travel? More likely either the passenger > or the company will dictate the choice of carrier. Yes corporate travel. There are many small to medium size businesses that don't travel enough to qualify for a "deal" from an airline. Many of those people don't care what airline they travel on, they just want the best price. Mark