I've always loved oh-so-understanding "the airline must do this to stay profitable" posts. They really crack me up. Been reading those all over FlyerTalk for years now. They usually come from current or former employees or from FTers that have become...well...cushy with some top folks at the airline. "I had dinner with Gordo last night..."

Obviously diminishing your product is not necessary to maintaining profitability. What a riot!

I've also always loved the type of posts that say we must "understand" why an airline devalues it's program. Those always give me a huge laugh, too.

Why?

Because I'm a consumer. It's not my job to be "partners" with my supplier or understand the whys of why they devalue their product. It's my job as a consumer to object to devaluations in product!! And if necessary cease to do as much business as before to object to product devaluations. It's my job to simply purchase the type and quality of product that suits my needs and satisfies me.

I sure wish I had a couple of posters in this thread as my customers! I'd love to reduce their yearly rebate with cries of "We need to do this to stay profitable" and then have them just roll over and say, "Oh sure. I understand completely. I'm a businessman too. Go ahead. In fact, I feel so sorry for you, here's a few extra orders."

Wish I lived in that world! Unfortunately, my customers have always been much smarter and demanding than that. As well they should be.

Also, I see a lot of posts about Capacity Control success percentages. Let me clue you all in on something. All it takes is for you to call to get the seat you want on the flight you want (that still has tons of seats available for sale on it), and be told "No awards. Sorry." Then your failure rate becomes 100%! Doesn't matter what percentage of the total of all SW flyers' redemption rate is. You are suddenly a 100% loser on that or those flights. And I'm certain at that point, that's all the percentage points results you'll care about hearing.