As always, and I think airlines are pushing people to this mentality more and more, is for people to make their purchasing decisions based on price and schedule and convenient and product, not because of their loyalty program. The "loyalty" programs are no longer there to try and attract business and keep you there to go out of your way to use them, but instead are more like a rebate scheme if you hit certain revenue/spend levels. The paradigm shift of course is painful for people who have optimised their purchasing patterns around a program over immediate product.

It might be heresy for a community like Flyertalk, but I think people should ignore loyalty schemes and book for the offering instead and be happy that you get a rebate at the end of it. Airlines want a history of revenue and profit from you (and I can't blame them), instead of trying to lure people who promise some nebulous "future business" if they get pandered to.