For years I was a Premier Executive on United. Then I found out that American would let you upgrade an international ticket from any fare so I switched to AA (at the time I traveled international often). I quickly became a Platinum flyer on AA and then WHOOSH>>> AA started charging a co-pay to upgrade from any fare but full fare economy. This practice made the upgradeable fare more expensive then UAL's upgradeable fare. And guess what? I switched airlines. To Southwest. WOW... Southwest 2 years ago was like Shangri-La in the air. (Granted they don't fly international). Some of the things that got me to fly Southwest were low airfares, checked baggage allowance of 70 lbs times THREE and the open seating policy. Even if I had to fly to BWI and CNH to get from FTL to LAX. But now with this change why fly Southwest. I am one of the 2 percent that checks 3 bags. I just canceled my flight from LAX to SFO and instead will be flying Virgin America. I can check 1 free bag up to 70 lbs and the second bag is only $10. Since my three bags combined weighed 120 lbs I will be OK. It seems like a lot of work and potential loss of revenue for 2 percent of travelers.
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