Originally Posted by mitchmu

If they started flying SFO-HKG and SFO-NRT and SFO-LHR, I'd be there.

The most optimistic and hopeful notion I can come up with is: They start running some numbers over the next 4 weeks, discover that the number of disappearing elites is far higher than they ever imagined, and they hire a new finance intern who discovers that those elites were actually worth having, then they grant "same status as 2012" to everyone who didn't re-qualify at the same level for 2013, recognizing the negative impact that the long list of failures has had on us. Until this week, such a notion would have been unimaginable. But, if Smisek actually fired the guy who was responsible for the war on elites and replaced him with a respected UA veteran ... it could be possible.