Unfortunately I must agree. I keep statistics on my flights; here is my top-ten carrier list:

1 Etihad Airways 220 flights 25,9 %
2 easyJet 91 flights 10,7 %
3 Lufthansa 80 flights 9,4 %
4 Gulf Air 50 flights 5,9 %
5 Ryanair 39 flights 4,6 %
6 Oman Air 39 flights 4,6 %
7 Qatar Airways 24 flights 2,8 %
8 SWISS 24 flights 2,8 %
9 British Airways 16 flights 1,9 %
10 Aer Lingus 15 flights 1,8 %

I am Platinum on EY and Gold on Star Alliance. Note that when I'm in Europe I am not loyal to anyone - I buy the cheapest fare available (easyJet, Lufthansa, Ryanair, etc.). However, when I fly GCC or long haul, I clearly choose Etihad much more frequently than Gulf, Oman or Qatar - because of the FFP.

FFP has to offer a certain level of privileges to work, which I don't get out of LH, for example. On LH I get lounge, which is generally rubbish (it's much more pleasant to sit in the public area at MUC than it is to sit in the lounge, for example), and there are no upgrades. Result? The FFP program doesn't really work to attract my business - as you see from the numbers above, I tend to fly more easyJet than LH, even though I'm Star Alliance Gold.

For GCC, I fly Gulf Air almost as much as I fly EY - because I have Gold there too and their tickets are cheaper.

Of course the people making decisions at Etihad Guest must know this, but it does pay to spell it out again on here. The less benefits you give an FFP elite member (and by that I mean people that are really doing all the flying, not the occasional person that takes a trip once a year and redeems 2,000 points for something in the reward shop), the more reasons you give your best customers to shop around.

As I see it now, if I can't upgrade any more, all that my Platinum status and loyalty is worth to EY is lounge. At that rate there is no point in keeping all my flying with EY - better to split it out 50/50 on EY/EK for example, keep Gold on both programmes, and then cherry-pick the lowest fares.

All I've ever wanted out of an FFP is to be put in a better room at the airport when I'm waiting and put in a better seat on the plane when it is empty. EY has been pretty good at that, which is why I've taken 220 flights with them. Take those opportunities away, as you continue to do (no more First Class lounge, no more upgrades on competitive fare buckets), and I'll go away. Pretty simple.