It’s not the "promotions people" taking the seats, or forcing you to pay for an upgrade - it’s the Airlines.
They determine which seats get placed in their planes how far apart, and how those seats are allocated. They could easily allocate seats with extra legroom based on height, or make it universal should that be in line with their goals. Instead a little artificial scarcity, and people start buying upgrades.
And now they’ve found that adding promotions focuses their customers rage on other customers (and not the airlines). The whole setup is a win/win for the airlines - and I suspect promotions are here to stay.
The promo mentioned here was in the 90s and there have not been any of the "500 mile" coupon promotions for AA in years. They now cap any sort of promotional EQM (status miles) at 10k on a credit card that requires $40,000 a year in spending and a $495 annual fee to receive.
These promotions died specifically because of these long tail passengers.
They determine which seats get placed in their planes how far apart, and how those seats are allocated. They could easily allocate seats with extra legroom based on height, or make it universal should that be in line with their goals. Instead a little artificial scarcity, and people start buying upgrades.
And now they’ve found that adding promotions focuses their customers rage on other customers (and not the airlines). The whole setup is a win/win for the airlines - and I suspect promotions are here to stay.