The day after the American Airlines earnings call, executives held a question and answer session for employees. One question came up about mileage upgrades and how elite members were getting passed over – because waitlisting for an upgrade takes away the option to pay a discounted cash upsell amount – and so non-status members buying cheap upsells are trumping elite customers.
The company’s Vice President of Revenue Engineering took that question, and shared more than he was supposed to because they’re planning an announcement for a couple of months from now. I now have the full detail of his answer.