Sadly, the allure of status, miles/points, and FF programs in general seems to be coming to a rapid end. In the past few years, I've seen the value of my miles deflate from 2 cents to around 1.3 cents each. Increases in award redemption costs and new surcharges on awards, upgrades, and just about anything else the major airlines offer promises to dilute the value of miles even further.

Somewhere in a long lost FlyerTalk thread I noted that at some point (when mile value closed in on 1 cent) I would need to re-evaluate my use of mileage earning credit cards as 1% cashback would be worth more than a mile valued at 1 cent. That day has come quicker than I imagined. All of my grocery charges now go on my 5% back Citi Platinum Dividend card (no annual fee) and my gas charges go the same way.

I used to have status in many of the airline FF programs and hotel programs. At one point, I was UA 1K, AA Platinum, US Gold, CO Gold, SPG Platinum, and HHonors Diamond at the same time due to special offers, extensive business travel, and mileage runs. Now I only retain AA Gold (lifetime), SPG Gold, and HHonors Diamond. In February, the SPG Gold will be gone too. Do I miss the statuses? Yes, but not nearly as much as I thought I would....frankly, I'm not missing out on much. With the dilution of benefits in most all programs and enhanced technology, airline upgrades are the only thing of note I don't have and first class is not what it used to be anyway. Leaving statuses behind gives me the freedom to book the best and lowest priced fights and hotel rooms rather than spending a little (or in some cases a lot) more to stay with a particular hotel or fly a certain airline.

Towards the end of the year, Mrs. MileKing and I will be looking at moving to a nearly full mileage burning mode. We had planned on saving these for travel in retirement (planning on retiring 10 years from now), but with devaluation almost certain to continue, the time to unload is now. The FF game is most certainly over.