eyechip, consider that the only reason most people fly so much these days is because it's cheap to do so. There is a price to pay for those cheaper tickets which make it easier to earn all those miles... that price is that it costs more to get a free ticket, and availability is lower. If you want to regress 10 or 20 years when "discounted" transcon economy tickets cost $1000 instead of $250, then you'll find that the problem is even worse, namely that the rich can afford to fly often while the rest cannot.

Personally, I'd rather have cheaper airfares with higher redemption levels than regress to the "good old days" where flying was a luxury rather than a commodity.