One other thing that they could do which would go a long way towards cheering me up about these changes is to increase the monthly gold bonus from 25% to 50%. I have given up the 100% bonus that United would give me as a 1P, and credited all my star alliance flights to DC on the basis that the benefits outweighed the costs, only to see the most obvious benefits become more or less useless; an increase in the mileage bonus might sweeten the pill for many gold members.