Once upon a time, ROP was one of the best FF programs around. Rules were flexible, all paid THAI tickets gave 100% miles. Miles lasted a long time. There were triple mile deals, birthday month deals, real credit card benefits, low taxes on award tickets, great lounges, wonderful service...and more.
THAI had problems even then (lots of bigwigs getting free tickets for themselves, families, mistresses and sycophants). But THAI was basically a healthy company, with cadres of frequent flyers who were really loyal. Instead of zeroing in on the real problems, THAI chose to gradually eviscerate its ROP, and squeezing their own frequent flyers. Gold status got more and more difficult to achieve, as most tickets no longer gave 100% miles. Award tickets were burdened with "taxes and fees" that had no basis in reality. Lounges were less attractive. The result, frequent flyers (myself included) began joining other programs and accumulating miles there. Naturally, this often meant that they no longer chose THAI as a matter of course. But *A Golds still preferred to buy Thai tickets, at least domestically.
Today, I took a THAI SMILE (100% owned THAI subsidiary) from CNX to BKK, and tried to get into the little THAI lounge, which was virtually deserted. I should add that in the last seven visits to that lounge, the Internet wasn't even working! Despite a big sign in front showing STAR ALLIANCE GOLD, I was not admitted as I had bought a ticket on THAI SMILE. The result will be that I will choose Bangkok Air or some other alternative, next time. THAI AIR never learns! - even in a time characterized by route cuts, planes sold, personnel discharged or not replaced. How will this end? Maybe some professional airline will buy this once proud Thai fixture.