Originally Posted by
Firewind
Sadly, this has been the case since almost forever with (pm)UA, and not just for the premium cabins. At the beginning of the Mileage Plus program, it wasn't so, but immediately, HNL etc. were the highest demand award travel. First, they increased the RDM requirement, then they added availability restrictions. An early frequent flyer Pogo situation. Alas.
same reason devaluations happen. airline cobrand credit card competitors offer larger sign up bonuses and multipliers, everyone on a macro level gets more points, everyone spends the points, points systems get devalued. then the cycle continues.