OK, I'll bite....
My crystal ball says EMs: a) are here to stay, b) will count towards MM, and c) will count towards elite status at any level.
As long as they're priced correctly, the net revenue generated by an EM purchase is >>> to the airline than having that person "earn" the same amount of PQMs by actually
flying for them..
Consider two "end of year" scenarios...
Buy 4 Transcon mileage runs at $250 each. Airline "earns" $1000 for your purchases MINUS the costs associated with your actually being
transported on those flights, and you get enough PQMs to requalify. Net profit to the airline is clearly << than the $1000 paid.
However, for someone
buying the equivalent amount of EMs, the airline immediately a) "earns" the full amount immediately upon payment, b) has
no transportation costs associated with your buying them, c) has no future 'liability' that might results from not being able to transport you timley on all of those flights (e.g., oversells, MX, compen$ation, etc.), AND d) still has your 4 MR seats available to sell to someone ELSE for additional (and perhaps even
higher incremental) revenue.
The whole
concept of EM sales is just plain crazy... A transportation company actually getting a subset of customers to pay for NOT actually being transported!!!
When priced correctly, EMs are a
windfall of cash for the airline from the few people that are willing to "pay the going rate" to get them....
No matter how small, the revenue is still net-positive on the balance sheet, and thus EM sales aren't likely to be ending anytime soon...
Say it with me... "WINDFALL!"
