The Times, London has a page today on miles.
Main article 'Turbulence threatens currency of the jet set' reports on how miles schemes have been affected by recent developments and how today's miles are as likely as not earned on the ground as in the air.
Link
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspap...tml?gavalidate may or may not work - The Times requires international readers to pay £39.99 a year for online access, UK readers have only to register for the present.
More miles issued, fewer seats available, but this may only be temporary as the industry adjusts to recent events. Randy Petersen is quoted, saying 'on average, only about 2 per cent of miles awards actually displace paying customers'.
Separate article 'Selling gimmick turns into US obsession' is apparently not available online. It mentions Pudding Guy and describes how US collectors can collect miles on almost everything. (Why only US collectors?
)
Separate feature 'Soaraway air miles face crash landing' (also not online, it seems) provides info on the history of air miles schemes and has associated info.
Apparently, such schemes are the only remaining profitable part of many airlines, generating $4bn revenue this year by selling miles to card companies and other firms.
There are an estimated 8 trillion unused miles. The average collector earns 11,364 a year (not around FT
) and there are 107,000 frequent fliers with over 1,000,000 miles.
The average cost to a credit card company of buying one mile is estimated at 1-2 cents.