I've heard it for awhile, and it would be a more welcome improvement. Believe it or not guys, many travellers (especially US based ones) do not fly BA (on premium tickets) because they see the benefits as inferior. UA has been chipping away at BA lately, and I believe that it is obvious to just about everyone that the way that BA has been conducting its business over the last three or four years has been disastrous (remember that even before 9/11 BA has been on a slippery slope for several years -- the same years when just about every other airline was booking record profits).

As for the tier point thing, I would welcome its demise. I have been screwed many times by its nuances and it is already a totally inept system as getting and/or retaining gold ranges from 400-1700 points depending on where you are from.

Scott, sorry to say it but BA comps all the time all the way up to Gold and there has been much discussion of it not too long ago. It may not be as simple to get done as it is on other carriers, but it has been almost commonplace for awhile (although I will concede that Gold is much more difficult than Silver). Upgrades are a very desireable perk that would be appreciated by the majority of BA EC pax. The problem of course is that BA has had such a prohibition on them (with the exception of NA) that they are afraid of the demand, especially on long haul.

They would however have to seriously improve CS no matter what as it has been abyssimal.