The claims only need to have been true when the words were uttered, and there is no minimum quantity that needs to be offered to make the statement true. It’s the same logic as the car dealer offering vehicles “starting at $19,900,” only to find that they had exactly one vehicle at that price and it sold five minutes after the ad aired.

I strongly urge people not to expect a white knight to ride in and save the MileagePlus program from five to ten years ago. Each passenger should be evaluating their purchasing decisions regularly — and people who don’t want to invest that kind of energy should stick to cash back or convertible currency cards, purchase the cheapest sensible flight, and forget about trying to accumulate frequent flyer miles except as a happy accident of normal travel patterns.

The airlines hold the cards here; all passengers can do is choose whether or not to play the game.