Originally Posted by
bocastephen
I'm fairly certain the entire travel industry would, if it could, eliminate reward programs altogether and get out of the miles/points business, offloading it to credit card partners....
Everyone in the middle, especially status members of the FFP, are annoying overhead they would rather either unload, or strip away benefits.
Originally Posted by
raehl311
No airline can do away with their "frequent flier" program. Selling miles is worth too much money.
You're both right, at least when it comes to the big players. After all these mergers, with so much less competition and choice, Smisek likely thinks: why do I have to reward most customers at all? Comcast has no loyalty scheme, after all. And only a sentimental fool would worry about customer dissatisfaction as long as they keep buying tickets.
(United is making money -- despite horrific operational reliability, particularly erratic international ops, and an FF program that's a pale shadow of its 2010 self. So... why invest any unnecessary dollar in "loyalty"?)
The mileage programs are profit engines, though, and the genius part is they get people to hand over real dollars today in exchange for theoretical, uncertain, subject-to-change benefits in the future. I think at some point those members of the 99% who still play the game will realize it's no longer worthwhile, and the miles "currency" will crash. A currency stays afloat through faith and confidence alone -- if you stop believing, walk away, or sell your stake to a bigger sucker, it's no longer viable.