Elite upgrade annoyance aside, I think the reduced first class cabin is harming the equity of premium service that CO has/had.

When I'm sitting in F in these 737's, you hear endless comments from passengers as they board in disbelief of the tiny cabin. "CO must be having problems", "ohh this must be part of their cutbacks because they're going broke", "the cabin is gone, so I guess meals are going next", "no need to save miles for a 1st class ticket on this carrier", "now I see why they give away elite upgrades, there's not much to this cabin", "I would never ever pay for a first class ticket anywhere this airline flies if the cabins are this tiny" are the types of remarks you hear from passengers heading to the back.

Whether what they're saying is true or not, the fact that they leave the CO flight with an impression that's more negative when they first board must have a long-term bad impact for CO.