I don't know... I'm not convinced that most people are really maximizing their collection and redemption of miles, outside of the FT community. Granted, the numbers have probably increased over the past few years with the proliferation of blogs and such. I think there are still a lot of people redeeming their miles for a flight to Disney World or maybe Hawaii, in Y.

I've come across a few co-workers who I discovered got Chase Sapphire Preferred cards and I was excited to talk to them about what they're going to use them for...one redeemed for revenue tickets and the others just got cashback.

Just my observations, I could be wrong. Though if it is the case that all of the things you mentioned have led to this, is it ultimately bloggers, or the banks & airlines that shoulder the blame? Or all of them?