Originally Posted by
jinglish
Do Golds pay more than kettles for AS tickets due to their 100% RDM bonus? And 75ks slightly more than Golds? What about double RDM promos on certain routes?
"The cost of the miles is baked into the ticket price" is true only in the very general sense that mileage redemption costs come out of airline revenues; there's no fixed mileage value either in earning or redemption. It's a nebulous rebate program.
Sure, they give a different number of miles in different circumstances, and the miles awarded per dollar spent of course varies widely on a mileage based program like Alaska’s. But it is still true that the frequent flyer miles is one of the things you are paying for when you purchase an airline ticket whether you accrue the miles or not. In that sense, paying for the frequent flyer program is not voluntary like paying for a casino or lottery is.
Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
Not to mention that airlines make money on the programs overall. The cost of the miles (in terms of what revenue AS is forgoing) is being subsidized by BofA writing checks and handing out miles.
They make so much money selling miles to BofA et al that the programs make money overall. But of course the miles have an accounting value (some multiple of which BofA pays AS for credit card miles), and there is an accounting value of the miles that AS awards for fliers. It is in some sense a marketing expense, but it’s still a cost you’re paying for whenever you buy a ticket and by not participating in the frequent flyer program, you give up some of the value of what you paid for.
Now all that said: I play the airlines’ game and find some value — sometimes significant value — in frequent flyer miles. And I agree that the OP and others accused by the prosecutor, judge, and jury airline are very unlikely to get any remedy in a real court or from a lawyer (especially after legal fees even if they do “win”). But make no mistake: it’s the airlines’ game, and there are arbitrage opportunities in part because those who (justifiably) think it’s a scam subsidize those of us who make the effort to play the game.