Free agency is great, if for no other reason than all these programs are a race to the bottom.

Setting aside the redemption devaluations, a move to basing elite qualification based on revenue rather than distance flown is going to be appealing to many. I left AA because a bulk of my flying with them was on short, expensive domestic routes with very little to show for it. However, any benefit to earnings is probably going to be cancelled by a slaughter of the partner award chart.