Originally Posted by TripleD

FF programs will not be near useless. They modify customer behavior. I quite recently flew Delta in paid business class to Japan instead of ANA, even though ANA is both better and cheaper for business class, because of the FF program at Delta. My travel to Europe has been modified. I will consider a change of planes on Delta rather than a direct flight on another carrier because I will get an upgrade. Your point is that the plane will be full anyway, but you miss that it will be filled with passengers who pay less than I do. Load is one factor. Route maximization is the other. If Delta is reading this, they need to understand exactly what they say on that darn tape "I have a choice in air travel." I could just as easily take an earlier flight on American, a better flight on Emirates or a cheaper flight on Southwest.