The whole system is becoming a farce. There are more and more miles chasing fewer and fewer seats.

CO can't easily force outside vendors to pay more for FF miles because OnePass miles compete in a market place with other FF miles.

Frankly, the system begs for consumer protection via regulatory oversight that would mandate award transparency (what game theorists call "perfect information"). Airlines should be required, by law, to reveal the number of seats available for reward redemptions on any given flight so that FF fliers can make informed choices in the marketplace about which program is most competitive. As it stands now, consumers are effectively kept in the dark--"imperfect information" almost invariably impedes consumer decision making and works to the seller's advantage. These regulations should prohibit airlines claiming the availability of certain awards unless there is a minimum percentage of these rewards available on all flights (thus preventing the classic "bait and switch" that is the modus operandi of standard awards today)

These changes would faciliate market responses to airlines that offer too many miles chasing too few seats, and it would limit their ability to devalue miles by offering virtually no rewards. With clear and uniform data we could know if, say, AA offers more rewards than CO and the flying public could make its buying decisions accordingly. These changes would make it more difficult for the airlines to gain advantage by flooding the market with miles.

As it stands now, airlines make lots of tantalizing teasers of free trips and upgrades which are effectively false promises that rest upon a lack of information among consumers.