Originally Posted by bocastephen

A couple things UA needs to keep in mind before rolling something out that angers the majority of customers and drives them elsewhere - and these lessons were taught to, and learned by their nemesis, Delta:

1) No airline executive is safe from the wrath of customers. Leo Mullin lost his job due in part due to the efforts of SaveSkyMiles and how the Board perceived his inability to deal with this growing movement, culminating in his mental breakdown on the steps of the Plaza Hotel during the annual shareholder meeting while trying to get the police to remove the SSM ad truck circling the building.

There were some shakeups at US over the cockroach movement as well. The airline industry created some fiercely loyal customers who don't take kindly to THEIR company kicking them in the nuts and are prepared to fight back in a public way.

2) After Delta made a number of negative changes to their program during the SSM era, people threatened to leave and go elsewhere, a threat often touted by posters on various FT forums - well guess what, they did. Delta noticed its Medallion ranks shrinking and was able to track a sizable drop in spend by its best customers - so when new management was brought in (Greenstein), the program was improved (somewhat) as was the product (a lot) and people came back and new customers were brought in.

So, given the almost universal derision of these proposed or alleged changes, except for a small minority who spends a lot and another group who appears clueless about the effect of mileage runs on an airlines' bottom line, I would say there are sufficient numbers here who would be motivated to create our own version of SaveSkySmiles, following the same formula of uniting customers together, uniting customers with employees, keeping the message logical and gradually increasing the heat until we're able to effect change and compromise.

In the meantime, adding page after page of posts filled with angst and panic over something that isn't even confirmed and has been debunked (vaguely) by two UA employees, is probably not worth the emotional spend - and I'd rather folks not get worn down and complacent and accepting of the changes if we're going to need to rally the troops for a fight and push for compromise.