Perhaps this is one reason that we now see no-annual-fee AA and DL cards that earn 1 mile per dollar, and free (or low fee) cards that earn more than one transferrable point per dollar? Think of award tickets in terms of the amount of spending required for a ticket, rather than the number of miles.
Yeah but if the airlines are aiming for redemption rates of one cent per mile, then you might as well just get a cash back card (where 1% back is the absolute minimum) and not be locked into one airline.
FWIW, I just downgraded my AmEx Delta Gold card to the free Blue card since I’m just going to buy the cheapest first class domestic tickets from now on and don’t need the Gold card’s “priority” boarding and free checked bags. I doubt I’ll put any spending on the Blue card, but I figured it’d be better to keep the account open on my credit report.