I'm in the same boat...just booked ATL-LAS and v.v. at $19 per direction in January. Have had this come up before (can't remember if early this year or early last year). The $0 carry-on and the seat assignment I think will stick. But I don't remember the upgrade ability within 24 hours being offered. The zone 1 is tied to the bag so it'll likely remain, but having the elite status printed on the boarding pass I doubt will happen.

Dunno if the better cancellation policy will stick in case of that and something has to be done in January (no experience there). Voluntary flight changes after December also could upset the apple cart.

Yeah, having that last status-match offer applying potentially to millions and millions of flyers EXCEPT current gold elite members really grates. I had four different programs I could have done it with. The platinum-challenge also isn't helpful. I hope they come up with something better before year-end, or they'll lose a good bit of business (I need to spend down miles at other airlines, anyway).

Most of the people I see at the airport were probably baited by a fare sale and may/may not be savvy about not giving too much back via other fees, but don't seem knowledgeable on the FF-program side. I'm kinda the opposite, having been gold-or-higher somewhere since 1992 and getting cranky about things like not wanting to be put in a middle seat or limited to just the personal item (carry-on is fine...I only do checked bags on international flights).