Agreed. And, the conventional wisdom (NOT to say the conventional wisdom is correct, but FWIW,) is the non-expiring miles make the miles marginally harder to use as every human that’s ever earned miles has them available vs. the current system. This has been stated internally when the issue comes up.

The close-in fee will be going away soon, same thing in a way— not good for elites trying to use their miles, necessarily.