<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by quinella66:
Also, if a single airline would suddenly end its program, they would probably get blacklisted by many business travellers who would stick with the airlines that give them the miles. So unless the airlines colluded on the matter (which is illegal) it would be pretty difficult to eliminate the programs.</font>
I agree with you on that point. However, airlines could gradually chip away at it until the FF program rewards only those who buy expensive tickets.
An airline could disallow FF miles on the lowest fare class (L and U on Delta, V and W on UA, etc.) I don't see the point in an airline rewarding the same number of miles to someone buying a $200 ticket as someone buying a $1000 ticket for the same flights.
As discussed before, back in the old days, airlines did reward their frequent flyers, although they did so subjectively if that makes any difference. Because the fares were regulated back then, a FF program based on revenue was basically the same as a FF program based on miles flown.
Today's FF programs are based mostly on miles flown rather than revenue, for various reasons. I imagine the airlines would rather reward revenue. After all, the point of the FF program is to keep revenue from going to competing carriers.
[This message has been edited by JS (edited 05-23-2002).]