Actually, gutting the FFP is wise if you expect your clientele to fall in line, which is what the others do and succeed it. So many flyers have been complaining for years but they are still flying AA. And for every flyer who is complaining and saying they are going to Delta, there’s a Delta flyer who is complaining and threatening to go to UA, while UA has a flyer planning to move to AA.

At the end of the day, AA doesn’t see as much value in its FFP providing more as it does in providing less. It is a hard sell when your competitors are providing much less than you are. Eventually, everyone will get used to it and suck it up when they realize they cannot just move to another carrier and use a feature similar to AA’s SWU and go Y to J, for example.