Another good reason for the airlines not to give frequent flier miles to people who buy a ticket and don't fly on it is that there are people like myself who are less crazily addicted than others on this board. I would at least consider paying $109 to collect 12,000 miles on the Delta LAX-BOS-LAX fare (worth $240 at the oft-quoted 2 cents per mile) without actually flying it, but I would never consider it if I had to actually fly it, since (a) I would have to add a SFO-LAX round trip, which would chew up most of the $240(value)-$109(cost) differential; (b) I don't have the time to spare to sit on a plane for 10+ hours without spending some worthwhile time at the destination. If I value my time at a low $10/hr, that's about $150 in my time (15 hours would include the time to get to and from and park at the departure airport and the layover time at Boston's Logan Airport; that's not even counting the additional time the SFO-LAX round trip would add).

Also, allowing customers to pay $109 solely to get 12,000 miles would negate the point of Delta offering this special promotional fare, which is to get travelers who really are traveling between the LA and Boston markets to at least think of Delta when planning future travel between the two cities.

Old Gold: I definitely would have taken the $400 for 3 hour delay if I had been in your shoes. But to each their own.