I swear, I was certain you were going to focus on the fraudulent nature of the programs themselves, not occasional, anecdotal acts of fraud/deception committed by consumers. The former would be much more interesting.

So every once in awhile some hustler sells some Kellogg's certs. So what?

Much more compelling is the story of how the airlines themselves establish and maintain a culture of fraud with irrational, holdup pricing, bizarre and one-sided fare restrictions, and FF programs that promise things they don't deliver and feature miles whose value shrinks all the time. When the average consumer feels so consistently scr*wed they rationalize doing things they might not otherwise do as a way of "getting even." Write about THAT.