Originally Posted by fastair

/agreed. Let's look at it from another perspective. As a UA employee, I used to get NRSA F if it wasn't bought or paid for with cash, the finite miles, or finite certs earned at a rate that ensured people would use them judiciously. I heard no cry's of "Hey, UDU isn't fair to the truly LOYAL employees of UA who have not dedicated only some of their flying to UA, but their entire career. Why should UA give infinite upgrades to frequent flyers in exchange for the loyalty that they had before and nothing more, at the expense of their employees?"

Not once did I hear that. I did hear some sympathy, but no one felt it was wrong for UA to coax some potential incremental revenue from ticket sales over the loaylty of employees who are, almost by definition, more loyal to their career than a silver/gold flyer is to any particular airline.

But alas, they sold the loyalty you all tout (of the employees) out in exchange for potential revenue, and that, is OK and fine. Now CO does the same thing to you LOYAL flyers, selling out your free premium seats for some potential incremental revenue, and it isn't fair!

I smell a little hypocrisy in those that think potential revenue > loyalty on one hand, but when they are on the short end of that equation, feel that loyalty > potential revenue. Here is the cake, and here is a fork to eat it. Choose one, but one doesn't get to have the cake and eat it too all the time.

Cash is king, anyone in business knows that. Cash is real $$, "loyalty" is potential money, and it may still be there, but new cash in the pocket is always an instant boost to the bottom line.
Perhaps everyone will defect from NW and DL. Perhaps eveyone will defect from CO/UA. Perhaps AA's labor costs and inefficient fleet will be replaced and AA's stock performance may get somewhere near even the worst of the other carriers with all the DL/NW/UA/CO defectors. Perhaps not. Perhaps the schedule of flying by the new mega-carriers is enough to win the $$ of the corporate travel dept, as they care about getting you to your meeting more than they care about your perks. Convenience to them is cost savings to them. Your exit row to them is not near as important as their bottom line when paying for your time. Perhaps with scheduling options a price is to be paid, and that price is the profitability of the carrier that wins out on the scheduling game, which is UA/CO and DL/NW, not AA.