Originally Posted by
Clincher
Reward programs are certainly not in the customer’s control. Airlines have long had these clauses in the rules:
“The Program is offered at the discretion of United and United has the right to terminate the Program…with or without notice”
“Delta reserves the right to terminate the Delta frequent flyer program with six month notice”
“American Airlines may, in its discretion, change the AAdvantageŽ program rules, regulations, travel awards and special offers at any time with or without notice.”
Do you think airlines might actually consider ending the frequent flyer programs in the near future?
No, and the reason is that there are way more than 3 airlines that have frequent flyer programs. There are many dozens of them worldwide, and there's even way more than you listed in the USA.
So one reason they won't get rid them anytime soon is because they don't want to drop something that the competition has, and nobody wants to "blink first".
It is so much easier for them to change them than for them to completely get rid of them.
Also, those legal statements are more for mergers and acquisitions reasons than anything else. Northwest Worldperks did end, and while members were moved into Delta Skymiles, it did not work the same, and that clause at Northwest allowed Delta to not have to continue every benefit that Northwest Worldperks had. Same with the similar clause at Continental (which merged with United), and US Airways (which merged with American and kept the American program despite US Airways being the official buyer), and Virgin America most recently (which was bought by Alaska Airlines).
The other reason they exist is in case of an airline going "poof", to not have any legal baggage with the frequent flyer program. But it's not likely that any of the US3 will go "poof" anytime soon, if it's an airline with a frequent flyer program that goes poof in the near future, it's likely to be one outside the USA or one of the smaller USA airlines that might not even be on your radar.