See, the problem with CO's calculation is how can we not? Even if I keep purchasing and flying full-fare and not-quite-full-but-still-fairly-lucrative-refundable-fare short-haul flights on CO, I'm now going to have an extremely hard time reaching even the Gold elite threshhold. And if I start taking my short-haul business elsewhere, I'm going to be even further removed from any meaningful elite status on CO. So once CO starts losing me as a short-haul travel customer, it makes even less sense to continuing frequenting it on longer trips.

This whole change, at least in my case, is very short-sighted. The component of my travel, if any, CO should want to shed -- or alternatively, should not be terribly concerned about keeping -- is my deeply discounted medium and long-haul leisure travel dollars. The part it desperately should want to keep is my full-fare and nearly full-fare short-haul business travel dollar. Instead, it has chosen to keep the incentive structure in place for the former, while providing an inexplicable disincentive to the latter. Bad, bad move, CO.