Robert, I disagree with much of what you say, especially the commodity part. It is absolutely a commodity has been at some time and priced as such, this is not new. The "worse" it gets the more valuable FF programmes are to airlines as it is what differentiates them. Regrading fees and the like, the will reduce as oil goes back between $60-80 over the next two years (see previous thread where some predicted $200 by now, when in fact its fallan under to under $126 in four days). Ultimately if a fare goes up by $400 plus a charge, and the FF fare goes up by miles just the charge, then the FF is still ahead. Also consider that there are a bunch of us very FF transoceanic travellers that almost never use our hordes for tickets, but just for upgrades in any case.