I know we have another thread that discusses who is leaving or staying and we have a few threads discussing the various product issues that are devaluing our Elite experience, but I'd like to propose organizing a grass-roots movement of loyal, Elite customers who plan on staying and who are willing to push back against some of these product changes.

It's becoming quite obvious that the "new changes....and you'll like them" portion of the security video was not directed at frequent fliers - so far, there is very little for us to like.

Yes, 2011 will bring us regional upgrades and additional system-wide upgrades and we appreciate those enhancements. However, we're seeing a consistent erosion of core hard product benefits as well as a very poorly implemented buy-up program. There are likely additional product changes yet to come which might continue the unbundling of even more Elite benefits to be sold off, further diluting the value of our program.

I believe our first call to action is against the selling of ELR seats before OLCI. Firstly, I don't see how this program produces any legitimate incremental revenue over the previous version where these seats were opened for sale during OLCI - certainly nothing that would offset the impact to Elite customers who are finding access to the best ELR seats harder to come by, especially when booking close to departure (which, ironically, means higher paid fares are getting the worse seats).

US had the Cockroach movement, while Delta loyalists challenged and reversed many of their changes through SaveSkyMiles. Both movements were successful and resulted in a better airline and product for loyal customers.

I don't have a name or branding yet - but at this point, I'm looking to find out how many folks are interested in joining such a movement. With Larry gone and Cigarman no longer active in our forum (and he is missed), we need to self-organize with the goal of educating non-FT Elites, expanding the movement and pushing for change. The big DOs are gone, and the new leadership is rather cold to interacting with us.

As I wrote in another thread, I'm not against CO finding ways to generate incremental revenue. I've even made suggestions on where such revenue can be generated. The issue is the dilution or loss of important Elite product benefits when CO unbundles and sells these benefits to non-Elite customers on a fee-based basis. We need to find some middle ground - help CO find the right mix/timing of these ancillary services while preserving complimentary access to these services for the company's best customers.