OK, I know we all complain about rip-off Britain...
but what about mileage credit card bonuses?

The recent AA Citibank UK card offer (a rarity, since the usual bonus is only 5000 miles) gave you:
20,000 miles for a spend of £1000
ie. 20000 miles : $2000 approx at the current exchange rate (almost £1:$2)

The current US offer (which seems to be standard) gives you:
20,000 miles for a spend of $250
ie. approx 20,000 miles for a spend of £125

That's *eight times* more generous. Why?

Some possible answers:

1) Greater prevalence of FF-program membership?
More people in the USA evidently use the plane to travel due to long distances and hence perhaps more are members of FF programs. Nonetheless, many UK residents do travel to Europe on a whim since it is so close, and train travel in the UK is much more common than in the USA, but there don't seem to be corresponding frequent-train-travel programs in the UK. So perhaps there is a different reason...

2) US vs. UK attitude towards a bargain?
Maybe more people in the USA are on the lookout for a bargain and therefore more are likely to sign up for credit cards with high signup bonuses? I am slightly sceptical about this notion since it suggests that people in the UK are just willing to pay higher prices. Experience has told me that almost everyone gripes about the higher prices in Britain, and people are not willing to just pay -- witness the removal of out-of-network cashpoint fees soon after their institution in the UK (whereas in the USA, they are ubiquitous).

3) Nature of the FF program vs. the high-fares-loyalty program
More people belong to FF programs in the USA because they fly more frequently, but perhaps this greater membership is also due to the fact that US airlines run FF programs whereas BA runs a high-fares-loyalty scheme which involves a policy of crediting very few miles for discount economy tickets and even making it hard to sign up without buying a full fare or jumping through loops such as a CC application.

I don't want to start an argument here on BA-board territory about the merits of an FF program vs. a loyalty-for-high-revenue-travellers program, but I have to conclude that BA's conception of their loyalty program seems to create a knock-on effect on how generous other companies are in offering mileage in the UK in general...

When I read the AA Citibank thread in the BA forum, it seemed to me that many of you on the BA board who signed up for the card were delighted to get the benefit of the large AA mileage bonus, even if you mostly travelled in premium cabins on your company's dime and planned to use the bonus miles towards a BA First redemption (for example) on a personal trip.

Why then, I wonder, are some people so protective about keeping the BA program as a high-fares loyalty scheme rather than an FF program, when it seems to cause detrimental effects throughout the FF mileage culture in the UK and Europe that even ultimately hurts the high-fare traveller?

One could still keep strict upgrade policies (the most-often heard gripe about the difference between AA and BA's program from BA members) while rewarding frequent but relatively low-spend travellers such as someone who flies UK-US every weekend in economy.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts here...