IWhilst I'll continue to be platinum next year (due to going for plat for life), all my flying will be on NW/DL/CO (if CO are still part of skyteam). It's a pity for AF, as this year all my longhaul European flying was on them. In the end, no op-ups, little recognition and overly cramped cabins in the back with the new 3-4-3 configuration make me run to any other alternative.
Exactly my feeling. I would also add, with regards to those who have suggested here that it makes sense
not to necessarily give upgrade priority to the most frequent flyers because they could chance it rather than pay for business, that the maths on that one is far from simple. Of course, by definition, a FF can be assumed to be 'faithful', but this is a relative value. On several Y trips to Australia/NZ (from the UK) I chose to fly on AF/KL tickets which were about £300 more expensive than the competition. I like the miles but can get (fewer) if I fly BA or UA, so a big part of my decision was due to 'hoping' that statistically, I used to be upgraded, say, every 8th or 10th long haul flight by AF/KL. The occurrence has gone down drastically, and for my next trip, I'll fly another airline. Over the past five years, my annual total budget for AF-KL tickets has been around £12,000/year. If this goes down, say, to 8,000 because I lose hope in the op up system (I'm not saying it is due to us everytime, just that if we knew we were top of the list as Plat members, the chance to be upgraded has a value in itself, and that if we are nearly never upgraded, this value disappears), and you multiply this by all the rest of us disillusioned Plat/Gold members AF, will lose quite a bit of money, probably more than it will have gained by upgrading the odd traveller who might have become faithful to AF but takes one or two trips a year...