Originally Posted by
mother-
nsx, no offense, but Southwest fliers have almost nothing in common with "elite" legacy carrier customers.
On the Southwest forum you will find unanimous agreement that top elite status on a traditional carrier beats top status on Southwest hands down. However for a short-haul nonstop flight at top fare the Southwest program is competitive even for these top elites. For lower fares, connecting flights, or longer flights, it's no contest: legacy elite status wins.
I think Southwest did as much as it could for HVCs with RR 2.0 within the limitations of its hard product. As you note, that's not enough except in special cases.
I'm here not to tout Southwest for HVCs but to share the experience we had during over one year of anticipation and dread of Rapid Rewards 2.0. Virtually all the informed speculation here on FT about those changes proved to be correct, all without any inside information! Underestimate the perspicacity of FTers at your own risk.