But my take is that Oscar has seen the light that driving away elites did not help the bottom line.

They have to know (Delta certainly does...) the problems created by lack of award availability, and I just don't see the current management team (after the massive cuts under Smisik) cutting the bond between 25K miles and a free ticket, or raising the already very high price of *A seats, nor for UA's BF seats. I don't think the blow back would work well for them, with an already restive (and we now know badly leaking) elite base.

I do think that upping the RDM by 1 mile per $1 spend at each level would not cost United a lot (since availability remains the same) but would allow them to distinguish themselves from OALs, so don't see that as out of the cards.

Color me optimistic that Oscar is not going to further cut benefits. [And yes, I know the recent status bumps was a huge cut, but I honestly don't think they understood/through through what they were doing.]