Why not a combination of Revenue and ACTUAL MILES (NOT American AIr's model where everything counts towards status.)

Actual Miles gets you the elite
Revenue gets you an upper tier elite and a higher percentage of upgrades and perks.

If we go to just a revenue based elite program there probably will be a small number of flyers in First/business and those of us who work for companies where the CHEAPEST ticket is the bottom stuck in coach. I know my company would rather put me in the cheapest seat possible and NOT pay four figures for a business/first ticket.

And coach is already overcrowded.

So FF programs are only a small percentage of the problem with the airlines.

Deregulation is the biggest reason for the decline in service.