SeaBrookFlyer,

Aside from your current benefits, Gold won’t get you any noticeable increases in upgrades, unless you book the Y fare seats. Connecting to / from EWR, CLE and IAH, I get upgraded about 30% of the time as a Plat.

While you’ll likely see many more upgrades on other carriers, you’re probably going to notice a sharp decrease in the level of service. I matched on US to Plat, and got upgraded nearly all the time, but they provide nightmare service, and their club is nowhere close to CO’s. So the constant upgrades were nice, but I really don’t need anymore stress that I already have.

I would suspect that Kellner, Smisek and co. will eventually begin to see a latent decline in revenue from disgruntled elites who jump ship, but the question is whether or not they have already accounted for this, and anticipate increased revenue from the ‘paid’ F fares…