You seem to be starting from a false assumption. The airlines would NOT like it if all the mileage runners started paying for status by finding a really low price per mile and just paying for as many as they want without flying to gain the status and the valuable miles / upgrade coupons / perks. Lots of people would be flying out of and into smaller airports raising the cost of flights from / to those locations due to supply/demand even if the planes are flying empty.

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