essxjay

I chip in a small data point.

A friend went shopping around for me last week for a C/F award PDX-BEG with a stopover in MUC end of June/early July. UA wanted $138 while Flying Poo somewhere in the mid-$400s. Not sure what LH Miles&More wanted, or any of the other US-based airlines. But from what I gather, had the availability been AA vs. LH (for example) the cost differential b/w the US-based FF award and the non-US based award would've likely been similar.

On the one hand, the T&Cs of all FF programs are subject to change w/o notice. So what the airlines *can* do (in the contractual sense) w/r/t fuel surcharges is not really subject to debate. Of course, what a functional loyalty program could and should do is another matter. But these are not functional times for big airlines. Thus, we have a classic Is-Ought Gap problem.