Green Stamps lasted a lot longer than some of its customers expected, but eventually they became mainly irrelevant except as an example of how a loyalty program and its currency can lose all its clout.

The price per mile sold by the US3 airlines is definitely not something that has been rising in real terms compared to how it went for the better part of the last 20-35 years.

What AA has been doing — in following DL — with regard to mileage ticket pricing will eventually undermine the real price and pricing power the airline has in selling miles. It’s a matter of when, not if.