True, but that was a loser of a policy for the airlines, and if they had stuck by it, the programs would be much smaller than they are today. The non-flying revenue wouldn't have taken off, and LCCs would have been able to hurt them even more than they already have.

I think they're trying to fix something that wasn't broken here. U.S. Airways clearly wants to use its 18 months to prod people into doing its bidding to keep the miles going (I received an e-mail to that effect). I think what it'll actually do is to get the "slow accumulators" and infrequent travelers to give up on that idea and buy based solely on price.