No, it doesn't.

Silver elites still get the short end of the stick.

Why should they have to wait until 48 hours out to find out if there's a decent seat available for them? And I'm supposed to sweat it out as a Platinum until two days before the flight to find out if my wife can sit next to me?

If I was a Silver instead of a Platinum, I would still want to take my business elsewhere. As it is, I specifically book flights that have the seats that I want open and avoid others that don't.

The solution, as I said before, is to continue to allow all elites to choose the seat that they want -- subject only to a prior claim to that seat -- at the time of booking. If NW wants to charge its infrequent customers for the privilege of reserving a better seat to raise revenue, then so be it. But no elite should be adversely effected by the "Coach Choice" program.