Originally Posted by
Sandeep1
Access awards are an absolute last resort, and represent a pretty terrible value. Could I redeem 320,000 miles for SIN-SYD in F, sure, but do I want to? Of course not. What is that - 3 cents per point? Not good value.
Just because I can redeem a certain number of miles doesn't mean I want to. The glory days of the U.S. miles game was a decade ago. It's gotten a lot harder and so replenishing a balance isn't as automatic as it use to be.
SQ alone won't kill the game. But you made the point that other programs were already restricting.. Lufthansa, Emirates, Air France, Swiss, now Singapore. If enough do it (frankly if JAL and ANA did it), that might do it. People aren't going to be racking up miles only to be told sorry, it's economy for you.
As far as why shouldn't loyalty programs restrict awards? They can do whatever they want but then their credit card partners need to make it known that F isn't going to happen.
I think what Sandeep1 is talking about is a sense of shifting goalposts. Collecting miles takes time (for most people), and it may feel like a bit of a "con" when after all that effort, the "chance" to get X practically only translates into Y (at the marketing stage, didn't airlines and banks dangle specific rewards, even if not promised?). By then it's too late, as the miles have been generated, money has been spent, and money has been earned by KF. I empathize with that feeling. The shadow money of miles works just like other cash and assets in the wider economy. Capitalism is elitist.