Appears to be an Auction War - no matter how many miles you have or metallic status - the one paying the most gets the seat.
Or put into another contex - "If you want the First-Delta One-Business cabin seat "BUY IT" otherwise it goes to the highest bidder !
No bids - N/Rs may still get the seat but unlikely - International and Delta One flights excepted !
And the new Comfort + Economy seat ('W' fare class) is not being given away so easily to the 'Elites' making a better seat available
to N/Rs - but don't depend on it ! I would suspect that Gate Agents are being given more tools to clear the standby list faster thus
resulting in an "On Time departure - with less musical chairs (seats) scenarios - You with the money you get the seat no matter how
many miles or metallic Frequent Flyers status one has - gavel slams the podium - auction closed - seat sold to highest bidder !
All that much better and even better when it comes back to haunt American Airlines the instigator of the Frequent Flyer program circa 1981.
There were other programs prior to this but AAs was the first to award upgraded tickets from frequent "Y" class passengers to "F" class.
Well it is not so much an auction but someone with more miles and metallic status paying for the least expensive ticket is not getting the
'F'ront Seat when there is another having paid more for say a Comfort class seat and is eligible for the upgrade.
*** Metallic Status = Silver - Gold - Platinum - Diamond
Why the Airlines could not have left well enough alone instead of all this grief #$@%& !
And why of course I am prejudice in this matter as a N/R - airlines tinkering with my SPAV seat - selling it to the highest bidder ! LOL !
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