Originally Posted by
jsloan
For me, personally, the aspirational value is a big deal -- I've used miles for things, like LH F, that I'd likely never pay for. The closer MP moves to a pure cash rebate play, the less exciting it is, as I, personally, am willing to sacrifice schedule and convenience for this type of experience.
Ditto. Literally dozens of trips in Y/C/F domestic/international TATL/TPAC/Mexico/Hawaii over the past 3 decades. Short notice (funerals) long notice (family vacations) and everything in between. But if miles are now worth <2 cents we will simply use 2%+ cash rebate cards and try to credit BIS miles to programs like AS until they destroy the value too.
My family will be unhappy as they will be sitting in E- more often on non-UA planes. But no need to favor UA anymore (except when nonstop routing is competitively priced) as the value proposition has disappeared. We will also save some time/money by eliminating domestic positioning flights for awards and can be more efficient with vacation traveling by paying cash to fly on weekends instead of S/M/T/W which are sometimes the only days when saver space is available.
Expect we will see a lot of interest now in threads like "Which *A program should I credit miles from my UA flights?"