Article on airline capacity cuts this fall
 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews

Perhaps elite saturation may not occur after all.

Lightest schedules since 2001.

Here's to hoping for a turnaround.

Unfortunately Elite saturation is completely tied to capacity and not overall trends anymore. The AL's are cutting without hesitation which means the calculation that determines elite saturation can actually get worse with fewer flights. I agree though...best way to beat saturation is for the AL to be ADDING capacity so I join you in the hope of a turn-around in the economy.

The article specifically mentions that it's business travelers that aren't flying (and let us assume sufficient fact-checking was done - it's the Associated Press, not a blog). So, apart from high-mileage leisure travelers (an area where FT is way, way over-represented compared to the general population), there will be fewer high-mileage travelers, and so fewer elites from BIS flying.

Fewer elites on fewer flights and smaller aircraft doesn't mean there won't be ample competition for upgrades and awards, however. (Yet I am over 80% successful as a mere gold YTD.)

I just do not know how they can keep the percents of elites right when they are cutting back so much.

Who cares what the % of elites is if many elites aren't traveling for business anymore.