Let's also not forget that the first baby boomers hit 62 in 2008 and 65 in 2011. We'll get a tidal wave of retirements starting in seven years or so. How many of those people had high-travel jobs where they banked a lot more miles than they spent while working? Methinks quite a few envision using them to travel in retirement, and that could be what really accelerates the airlines devaluing the miles. We already have a stealth devaluation in that "unrestricted" awards are often all that is available (a particular complaint with CO but also with others). Instead of 25/50 we'll get 30/60, 35/70, and so on (i.e. you won't get the award at 35,000 that you can't get for 25,000 today). Or they could always create the "We really mean it" unrestricted tier for 3 times the lowest amount and try to do it that way.

In any case, it'll be like dealing with an inflated currency.