Originally Posted by iahphx
...I also think it can be harmful for the airlines themselves, as it will make it hard to cultivate new customers (like college students who fly only a couple of times a year).
One has to ask how much airlines want to (or should want to) cultivate this type of customer through frequent flyer programs. Loyalty, absent elite status which such a person is unlikely to have, is transitory in this business. Becoming the favorite airline of a college student won't mean much when the student becomes a more frequent traveler (probably based in a different city, surely with different travel patterns and financial cosiderations) several years later. Offering them benefits, if they fly enough in three years to earn an award, is probably not a cost-effective strategy. After all, a frequent flyer program means what its name says.