Having a few hours to calm down and think it through, I have my personal plan for the upcoming changes. First, to address some posted comments, let no one succumb to the delusions that seem to have taken over poor Gordon Bethune. By making these changes, CO will not be attracting enough high fare passengers to make up for the lost revenue of defecting Elites, simply because there aren't enough of these high revenue fliers to go around - and the high fliers that exist, generally fly AA and UA, with some on DL...not CO. DL will also learn this lesson come January when the 80% of its Elites who are not aware of the program changes suddenly find out, and they end up deciding to sweeten the pot or revese course altogether.

Every top executive and upper manager at the Fortune 50 company I work for, flies AA...not CO...AND they fly on the lowest fare available for their dates/times of travel less our substantial corporate discount (or deeply discounted business class on AA for overseas trips). Case in point, I can buy H class on DL for $125 less than the general public on my routes. DL treats this H fare as a full Elite mile earning fare, yet it's almost as low as their 50% elite mileage discount fares.

So, rather than get into a huge fit over this, I am accepting the following facts:

* Gordon Bethune is not Leo Mullin. Where Leo Mullin is a befuddled and confused executive, clearly out of his league and carrying a basket full of dumb ideas and bad habits from his former employer, Gordon Bethune is cold, calculating and knows this business inside out. He will not listen to our complaints, disappointments or emails. If anything, he will thrive on the discord that ripples through the Elite ranks. As far as he is concerned, not only would he be thrilled to get rid of all QTLS elites, he feels that the HKV elites should be paying more too. He is not going to listen to us, nor will I expect these changes to be rolled back, unless there is a quantifiable impact on their revenues, which wouldn't be felt for quite some time.

* The best plan of attack is to forget about arguing the case with CO...that will go nowhere. We need to attack from the flank...meaning, talking to Congressmen, Senators, and government officials who handle anti-trust cases - complaining that this entire alliance is a clear anti-trust violation that will remove competition (now almost 80% of the passenger traffic at FLL is DL/NW/CO), and the alliance was done in clear defiance of the government's ruling. Even the temporary settlement has now been violated with this alignment of the FF programs. To make matters worse, after defying the government, the leaders of these airlines still have the gall to come to us, the taxpayers, and demand free money to make up for their losses. Put pressure on the system to break up this alliance and send these three carriers their separate ways. Will it restore OP? Maybe not...but it will send a strong message and force them to all compete against each other in a fair arena.

* So my go-forward plan is thus: I have already qualified for '04 Platinum, so next year is done. To take care of '05, I can book all my travel on co.com and fly from Jan1-Jun30, tossing in a mileage run to NRT, HKG or SIN as a good safety measure (I wanted to visit there anyway)...then fly normally from Jul1-Dec31. I can do some travel on DL in my company's H class rates for full credit (only $20-30 more than CO's L class) also. I should be OK for Platinum again in 05. By that time, two years will have passed, and the entire format of the industry (and OP) could have changed at least a couple times over yet again. If OP is changed for the worse again this time next year (more restrictive upgrades, higher mileage award levels, more fees, etc.), I won't bother requalifying for 05, and just try either AA or US.

I think a 'saveskymiles' style compaign is worthwhile to try as well (just don't expect too much from CO corporate like I said above), but it is my personal opinion to focus our attention on persuading the government to break up this alliance. With the rumored takeover/buyout of KLM by Air France, it might even give the European regulators enough jitters to trigger more investigations over there as well.

This change is bad...it is annoying, and even insulting...but remember, it is nothing near as bad as what happened over at DL. We still have our unlimited upgrades...we now have Elite Access (for what it's worth)...and until NW announces any changes (which they might not), we still have one other airline that will reward Elites with upgrades and status on any fare...and might entertain some type of comp or challenge if enough of us approach their program leadership asking to move over. Also, check your fares...sometimes V is not that much more than Q or T. For my regular city pairs, it is very painful, but there are other places I can fly to from FLL on V, which is not that much more than QTLS. I am not at all apologizing for CO, or agreeing with what I see as a very stupid move, but take the emotion out of this, and analyze the real impact on your flying and expenses before running to jump ship.