This month's InsideFlyer magazine posed the theory that DL and CO had given away their elite status so much in recent years that their elite member size swelled and the mileage program couldn't support the benefits they were supposedly offering, particulary in terms of upgrades (when's the last time a CO silver got an upgrade on an EWR transcon?).

The theory goes on to say that the punitive program changes were designed to "thin the ranks" to get back to a point where the mileage program works.

I don't know. Maybe that's a spin. Personally, I think CO did this as a revenue generator (to depend on higher fares). Both theories could hold when examining why CO started HoKeY (which I'm still bitter about).

I just hope that UA and AA don't find themselves in the same boat (and especially not at the same time).

It seems like the newer staff hired at UA "gets it" in terms of how to make the Mileage Plus program exciting.