If I wasn't clear on this, there are two different constituents here. Premium fare paying passengers of business class and coach flying FFs with lots of miles wanting an upgrade (I will ignore the small intersection for the moment). I fall in the latter category. For the former category, loss of services is a big concern. If upgraders are complaining about the degradation of services in UA business class imagine what the premium fare paying travelers must be thinking. If there are no corporate constraints, I can see these people migrating to CO if it offers a better value for their money. It is my assertion that UA cannot continue to satisfy both constituents with the same class of service.

As I am in the upgrader category that will rarely buy a business fare I would rather have a intermediate upgrade that I am more likely to get without silly rules than have a "pie-in-the-sky" promise of an upgrade into the current business class with fare rules and capacity controls that leads to more disappointments and lack of loyalty than satisfied FF customers.