I had a feeling that post would elicit some howls!

Punki: The full fare traveller falls into the category of the salesperson who makes the million dollar sale every month. (S)he is consistently generating more revenue for the airlines.

Rudi: The model for airline programs is different, because the cost of sale is no different for the full fare traveller than the lower fare traveller. And the risk of a full fare traveller switching programs is no higher than a lower fare traveller.

PremEx: Loyalty in terms of number of flights or amount of money spent? It's all how you look at it.

pgupta011 and johna: From my point of view, the current model is broke. I have to buy full fare tickets regularly, yet I am treated the same as someone who spends much less with the airlines but logs more miles. TWA is the only program that's got it right.

Beckles: Good points!