Originally Posted by RustyC

Lest we forget, with the 1995 changes that brought in SkyMiles, DL separated old miles from new miles and, for a time, allowed old miles to be redeemed on the old chart, as they knew they were somewhat vulnerable to claims that people who'd accumulated miles under one system were being essentially baited and then switched.

The fairness part hasn't changed, but rather the expectations have. More-conservative courts and a more laissez-faire mentality are easy to see, even though for consumers it's generally been just a long, slow march downward on that path. We also tend to hold individuals to much higher standards now than we do businesses (If I tried to do what AIG did on an individual basis I'd be arrested for fraud).

Having been part of the "class" on a number of class-actions I know well first-hand about lawyers dividing big pots and people not getting much on settlements. But the DETERRENT effect is still very important, as settling is expensive to the company as well. And the behavior that leads to the class action is typically easily avoided and most often a company going out of its way to do something anti-consumer and get small amounts of extra money from large numbers of people. Companies tend to behave much better when that's a possibility.