I hate to say it, but frequent flier programs are based on a faulty assumption...an assumption that leads to people who read forums such as this. The assumption is that people who fly the most miles, are worth the most to the airline. But that is not the case. The airlines will eventually give up on this whole mile thing, and start rewarding people based on how much money they spend, not how many miles they fly, and start rewarding the passengers who are truly worth the most to an airline. Although the flyertalk members would not be too happy. (Or would they be better off?)

I know that there may be tax consequences to this, but it seems to be the best way for an airline to attract loyal customers. The people who pay for a first class seat will be richly rewarded...much more so than the person who pays the rock bottom fare in coach. Right now both get the same miles, but the airline would probably want to award the first class passenger more.

And then this ends all this "how much is a mile worth?" question. If it was say 5% of your ticket. You spend $200, you get $10 towards a ticket. You spend $2000, you get $100 towards a ticket. And it even helps the in-frequent traveler. Because now they have a $10 coupon they can use on thier next flight, and they will stick with that airline.

Does anyone else have any ideas on the pros and cons to moving to a "dollar" based award system?

-locker1776