Although I was unable to read this particular story, there have been others in various periodicals, and they all remind me of the story of the Three Blind Men and the Elephant.

They all seem to focus on only one aspect of the situation - some particular airline or group of airlines has raised the # of miles for a particular award.

What they all seem to ignore is that the opportunities to earn miles have increased dramatically, as the airlines seek revenue from more and more partners. As an example, affinity credit cards used to offer at most 5000 miles to sign up - now most offer 15, 20, or even 25K. And LD and wireless phone offers have also increased (remember the 40K offer from Sprint last year?).

That is why this Board has become even more valuable to all of us - there are so many offers we need each other to keep track.

In my opinion, then, the bottom line is that the increased miles required are at least balanced, if not more so, by the increased ability to earn miles.