I don't THINK I'm a cynic, but...it seems that any of these promotions (the ones where you get a piece of technology or some other non-mileage or voucher, etc.) simply do not make economic sense. For this one, the Sony player is fairly inexpensive, but to get it I have to forego my usual $300 coach fare (which has always been upgraded) on the P.S. flight to pay a fare difference greater than the value of the Sony. Similarly for the Blackberry promo, you better be planning on buying one of these (outdated) Blackberry devices already and be committed to T-Mobile service (debatable) to make it worth anything. Otherwise, you/I/we are falling prey to a classic decisionmaking fallacy of overvaluing an object and undervaluing what we must do to get it. Don't get me started on the academic literature supporting what bad decision makers people are in such circumstances

Okay, rant over - I know UA and other loyalty marketing specialists (yes, I have done consulting work for those folks...full disclosure) will be happy because the program works, but the cognoscenti in this forum ought to know better.

Phew, now I can relax...