I agree with JAWS, the reason being that anyone who flew at least 50,000 elite miles in 1998 automatically qualified at the Platinum level for 1999, but to maintain Platinum status into 2000, you had to have flown 75,000 elite miles in 1999. Now, of course, there were more opportunities for CO elite miles in 1999 with the NW alliance, but going from 50,000 miles to 75,000 miles (or 60 segments to 90 segments) is a pretty substantial jump.

I do have this to offer though. Since CO consistently is highly rated by business travelers, I would suspect that more and more biz travelers are switching their allegiance to CO. Further, CO continues to add capacity at EWR, providing yet another group of FFs the opportunity to rise to Platinum status. Of course, these two groups will slightly dilute the Platinum pool.

And yes, that should definitely make it easier for Platinums to upgrade next year, and IMO, slightly better for Golds overall as well, but not necessarily the 2000 Golds who were 1999 Platinums.