I agree that $200 is a bit much. I know, I know. CO is in this to make money, yadda, yadda. But I just don't care whether they make money or not - I'm not stupid enough to invest in the airline industry. $200 for the privilege of switching to either a higher fare or a less full flight is definitely not customer friendly. And besides, when did this site turn into the CO cheering section? I sure care more about the systemic, anti-consumer issues with CO (50% EQMs, poor reward availability, high change fees, awful legroom, $10 wines in BF) than I do about whether a Gold happened to get upgraded before a Plat in some unverified, probably isolated incident.

And besides, given the financial mess that the major airlines are in, how can one be so flippant when someone suggests that their business model isn't necessarily the best one? I am not saying that there is a 1:1 causal connection, but the only consistently profitable airline has the most liberal refund and re-booking fees, as well as the most transparent pricing model. Oh, I know that the CO business is "different" and that the Southwest model won't work for a full-service, international, hub and spoke model...

But, given the minscule profits CO eeks out, despite having what might be the single most valuable hub (EWR) of any US airline, I just don't understand why one would assume that every move they make is the right one. There are a lot of reasons why CO might find it worthwhile to lower their change fees - customer loyalty, increased loads, possible premium pricing. I conceed that there are plenty of reasons why they may not find it worthwhile, but I just don't think it is so clear cut that lower change fees would hurt CO.