I think the current situation is untenable mostly because of credit cards. Airlines found a cash cow at a time they desperately needed one. Now that they have figured out how to actually run their operations better - especially with respect to right-sizing capacity - while on the demand side people are swimming in miles, rewards are becoming harder to come by and often more expensive at the same time. I'd venture a guess that the liabilities on airlines' books represented by outstanding miles are at or near a high point in the ~30 year history of mileage programs, so the situation can't logically improve for travelers. Eventually it's going to get to the point where people no longer find miles worthwhile compared to cash back or points redeemable for travel a la Citi ThankYou Points. It's crossed my mind that perhaps this is what the airlines want long-term, to break the cycle of what they perceive as "over-rewarding", but whether they can do without the mileage sales cash cow remains to be seen. So I see it as a house of cards built by airlines and credit card companies. Bloggers aren't helping things by hawking travel cards but they're a cog in the machine.