"If" I ever find an award ticket available, I imagine I will be happy to pay $50 to use it. I cannot fill up my car for $50, so a fuel sur-charge does not seem unreasonable to me. "If" I am ever able to use an award ticket, I am confident that the fuel sur-charge will appear like a bargain. My problem with award tickets is finding any to begin with. The fact that they seem so scarce seems to me to be almost as deceptive as adding a sur-charge, and it also seems to me that DL has a perfect way to control whatever economic problem caused by award tickets, simply by making them scarce.

I do clearly understand that it appears deceptive for DL to market that award tickets are available free for 25,000 ff miles. It does appear to be a issue not unique to DL. Are not all the legacy airlines charging fees for award tickets now? Advertising for participation in ff programs certainly never makes it clear that locating such a ticket is almost impossible.

I was most interested in the reassurance of a previous poster that these "fees will be reduced or eliminated if fuel prices ease." I find it difficult to believe that anyone thinks that this oil "crisis" is something that is going to magically go away. Unfortunately I do not think we will ever see oil selling for much less than $140/barrel, and I hope that I am wrong. In the meantime I am trying to adjust to the substantial changes that the price of oil is making in every element of my life. In that respect a $50 charge for a "free" ticket still seems like a good deal.