MilesBuzz! - Credit-worthiness of airlines issuing FF miles

So like many others here I have a stash of miles on various airlines. I was also lucky to book some premium cabin TPAC flights for November, and also the UA SFO-AKL C-class deal for February.

Given the current financial situation of the various US airlines, is anyone worried that their tickets 11 months out will be worthless if the airline in question ceases operations? Also, what good is a squillion FF miles on an airline which no longer exists?

Should people who have tons of miles lying around be spending them asap? I guess one doesn't earn interest on miles, and I'm not sure how award travel inflation works.

(on the same note, it amuses me to read about those who have "lifetime elite status on xxx airline", since the airline's lifetime may well be significantly shorter than the PAX's)

I am certainly not the first to say that miles are for using ASAP, not for saving. Burn, baby, burn!:)

More seriously, although so far miles have more or less come through mergers and bankruptcies unscathed, I have to wonder, along with OP, if this will continue to be so.

Although, for the moment, the airlines appear to be doing relatively well.

I am certainly not the first to say that miles are for using ASAP, not for saving. Burn, baby, burn!:)

More seriously, although so far miles have more or less come through mergers and bankruptcies unscathed, I have to wonder, along with OP, if this will continue to be so.

Although, for the moment, the airlines appear to be doing relatively well.

Miles would have to carry over on any merger. Not doing so would severely piss-off the entire elite / FF customer base of that carrier. You're not gaining much if you lose all the customers of the airline you just bought.

No one lost miles when any of the legacy carriers went into BK for the same reason.

Yep, it hasn't happened YET.

Although I am sure not getting the same value on AA for the few TWA legacy miles I still have which were transfered into the AA program.

Remember how worried folks were about Delta miles?

The airlines industry in the US does not have a good business model. I only wish it were otherwise.

Don't take it from me. Take it from Warren Buffet:

"I made the comment that if a capitalist had been present at Kittyhawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright. He would have saved his progeny money.

But seriously, the airline business has been extraordinary. It has eaten up capital over the past century like almost no other business because people seem to keep coming back to it and putting fresh money in.

You've got huge fixed costs, you've got strong labor unions and you've got commodity pricing. That is not a great recipe for success.

I have an 800 number now that I call if I get the urge to buy an airline stock. I call at two in the morning and I say: "My name is Warren and I'm an aeroholic." And then they talk me down."

Conclusion: Use miles while you can. :)