Any time you see a points scheme telling you of 'New opportunities / Changes / Improvements / New / Sparkly / etc' - you can expect your exisiting points to be degraded! Usually by the simple method of jacking up the number of points needed for a flight. Also, there is the hidden aspect that you never know how many 'reward' seats are available on a given sector. If they only allow 4 seats for redemption on a 250 aircraft - once booked then it is 'full'.