Originally Posted by
kokonutz
You are absolutely correct that in a revenue-to-discount 'rebate' type system an award booking service would go the way of the buggy-whip.
Maybe, maybe not. I could see an award booking service still being useful if the airlines switched a revenue-based system without also updating their websites to make actually finding and booking an award ticket in their particular airline alliance easy and straightforward.
I also agree with you that anyone who has not learned that the FF game is rigged and a long-term sucker's bet has not been paying attention.
I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. Better to say that people need to understand that FF programs (like any merchant's rewards program) are not "something for nothing" deals. If you want aspirational awards, you need to be prepared to either spend a lot of time (playing the manufactured spend/CC churn game) or a lot of money (on airline tickets or CC spend) to get them.
The best advice anyone can give to someone with points or miles is: "Smoke 'em if you got 'em." They will only go down in value over time. And they WILL go down in value.
Truer words have not been spoken! Isn't the entire POINT of earning points/miles to spend them? Cash them in at least every two or three years, and get the value out of them while you can!