A few thoughts, off the cuff:

1. Could be wrong here, but I think DAL was the first to adopt a revenue based program and devalue their currency? Not an airline analyst, nor do I follow the industry closely, but DL is the best run outfit (of the legacy carriers), in my view. Mostly captive hubs, monetize F, devalue miles, non-unionized, and, very well run operationally. For me, from their shareholders' perspective, it was a huge positive when most the FT community/bloggers complained & trashed DL's transition to a revenue program and constantly debasing "sky pesos."

2. At present, in my view, ALK's management is right on not following the herd, since this sort of behavior always ends up badly. It's better to stand out and do things differently by offering an alternative; of course, ultimately, the endgame will be devaluation, as is the case whenever more of any currency is printed.

3. I wonder, if they could do it over again, would they still have offered to buyout VA? I'm undecided on this one and would find views on this extremely interesting.

At present, there exists a pretty wide spread on F TPAC redemptions. Usually, in a free market, arbitragers will close this very quickly, but this spread has existed for 5 years? While anything is possible, I just can't envision a scenario where this can continue in perpetuity.