Cashed out my miles 4 days before what I assumed was the *real* expiration date. I knew the exact day I had flown with them and that date, plus 6 months was to be January 20. Found that at Points.com I could use my 9,160 miles for a $25 gift card.

Six month expiration is completely stupid. I have no miles with them now. My family all had their miles expire (they didn't have enough for even a free gift card).

With no miles to "support," I have just one fewer reason to ever fly with them again. Combine that with the fact that these $19, $29, etc. fares are "sucker" fares, because you have to upgrade them with "the works" to make it even marginally decent to fly with them. Its almost always cheaper at Southwest.

Further, you can earn miles a number of different ways with Southwest (Chase Sapphire, Chase SWA Card) and the miles/points will actually be *useful*. With fast expiration, I can't see the point of getting a Frontier MasterCard.

Somebody in the company must have either read or written the book "1001 ways to screw your customer and make sure he never comes back."

If Spirit is your primary competition, maybe this makes sense. But, when Southwest is your primary competition, this is just bad marketing and bad business.

If they are around in 5 years, I will be totally amazed.