A policy I agree with as it preserves the value of the forward section (and by all accounts it does have inherent value in a way the legacies' F cabins do not).

But there's no doubt Elevate is dead in the water. The only airline partners are the other Virgin-branded airlines, and you can't even redeem on V Australia or Virgin Australia. The rules and vocabulary are different from traditional FF programs and hard to figure out. But there's so much uncertainty around the value of an Elevate point, it's simplest to dismiss them as worthless.

With so many aggrieved DL and UA customers in the mood to experiment, now would be a great time to revamp Elevate and make it competitive. You don't need elite tiers or free upgrades to F, but a more intelligible earning plan and more redemption partners are vital. You could boost people into Main Cabin Select for a few points without violating the integrity of F, which would make sense because VX has done a terrible job of explaining the value of Main Cabin Select anyway. In the west coast corridor Elevate's competition is the AS MP which permits redemption on QF, CX, KE, AF, BA, KL, you name it. With Elevate AFAIK you have to redeem on VX (not sure about VS). The program's a total non-starter.