The "House of Lies" title of the VFTW post was childish and unprofessional. Disagree with the methodology and conclusions, fine, but the name calling is ridiculous.
I don't think VFTW's article was any more insightful or helpful than the D&T study. At least D&T has some consumer data to go on, as opposed to one man's opinion. VFTW misstates the D&T paper in some ways, for example
The point is that claiming most regular business travelers are a member of more than one program says nothing whatsoever about their loyalty, whether they choose one brand or another when they can, whether they’re willing to pay a little more or choose a hotel that’s a little less convenient to stick with their preferred brand.
D&T didn't make such a broad conclusion (from what I read) based on the number of program memberships (though they do discuss the number of program memberships). Their survey info is broken down into categories including high-frequency business travelers, so one can and should analyze and debate the particulars.
Check out especially, exhibit 2 of the study. Only 32% of Business Travelers and just over half of High Frequency Business Travelers agreed/strongly agreed that their preferred airline has the best loyalty program. And HFBT are the most desirable market segment. That's just one example but the very broad brush with which VFTW rants against the study makes that post pretty worthless. One wonders why VFTW has such a visceral reaction.
FFPs really don't matter to a lot of people, hard as that is for points bloggers and FTers like us to grasp sometimes. I don't know whether the programs are "failing" or not, though.
One aspect that doesn't get discussed much is travelers, especially many corporate and gov't workers, who often have little to no choice in what airline they fly for a given trip. One person may be "loyal" to AA because that's who their corporate contract is with; another may not get a chance to be loyal because their travel department books solely on who is cheapest for a given trip.
Personally, I would love to see a customized elite program where I could pick a benefit or two to receive, perhaps annually. Maybe one year I know I would get more out of lounge access, another time I might make better use out of generous RDMs instead of EQMs, etc. No idea how many other people would feel that way, but seems worth exploring.