I'm quite staggered at how people have bought into the idea that status with the airline is the correct way for them to decide how to treat you - and even more by the arguments that this is simple market forces.

Any MBA worth his or her salt would know that there are many ways to define customer importance - the fact that the airlines choose to use last year's travel patterns is a mess thy have gone themselves into and that they should get out of - it is not the only way it can be.

I am a 1K, but I have a junior colleague who travels more than me, but has not yet acquired status with any airline since he is fresh out of school. He has already decided to never fly UA unless he has to because of they way he has been treated as a general member (and now Premier). His future potential revenue for UA ways exceeds mine and yet the treatment he gets from UA absolutely stinks.

Of course, GS and 1K's should be treated well (and they already are, I would argue) but this should never permit the treatment of general members to sink below an acceptable level.

And if I were running UA I would actually ensure that everyone (including general members) occasionally got the GS treatment - double upgrades, etc. I would positively encourage the GA's to give op-up's to young general members (nothing else is likely to such an impact on their loyalty) - just like McDonalds give toys to children (win their hearts when they are young).

This kind of change won't be easy for UA to do (and they don't seem interested at the moment), but if UA continues the way it is going we will wake up one morning and all the GS and 1K members will have retired and they'll be non-one else left on those planes!!