I'm sure savvy members of FT, primarily people on company dime, are free to be free agents as they can work on another corporation's lifetime. This does not negate my point that by offering lifetime, corporations hook in more people than they otherwise wouldn't without it. Remember, not all of the business travelers out there are as dedicated and knowledgeable as most people on FT. Just using most of the people I know in my corporation and others as antidotal evidence that I'm probably the "most dedicated" person in seeking to figure all these things out on FT (and by FT standards I'm very basic). Most people I know in and out of my company at my position (Senior Management) or lower (our assistants, other mid-managers) are happy to simply stick with one brand to achieve lifetime and enjoy the benefits. The idea of restarting from the bottom working back towards the top, getting to know a completely different culture, sets of rules and operations of another corporation, dedicate another 5 years trying to make another lifetime, just don't entice them that it's worth the trouble.

While I recognize most people on FT are really dedicated to all this and really made it an art and can practice it with grace and ease, but the reality is most people don't want the headaches and enjoys the simplicity and predictability. That's what corporations understood - most of their clients wants simplicity, enjoys predictability, don't like change, and lifetime gives them all of that.