zkzkz

Why would you keep flying a route that you regularly don't sell out?

I think this is the main driver of the FF devaluation. The programmes existed to give away some of the excess inventory in a way that extracted some minimal value in the form of future purchases. As the businesses have gotten more efficient there's less excess inventory. We're reaching the light where there's really no significant excess inventory. Airlines have such meagre margins that they can't afford to keep flying routes with any empty seats.

So any award seat now represents forgone revenue. Any accounting system that doesn't represent that will lead airlines to issue points they can't cash and force them to devalue.