How to get iTunes to keep playlist created on iPhone I am running iTunes 10.5.2 (11) on Lion 10.7.2 and I have an iPhone 4.  Several times now I have created a playlist on my phone and the next time I sync to my mbp, itunes blows away the playlist on the phone.  I had expected that iTunes would copy the playlist to the computer.  Is there a way that I can prevent these playlists from being deleted?
It sounds like you have 'playlists' ticked in your syncing preferences and that iTunes is overwriting your playlists with no playlists as it syncs from the computer.

First thing to do is to check that Playlists are not being synced under the device in iTunes and Music. Uncheck "sync playlists" and try again.