How easy is it to redeem airline awards on points program cards?
 

I'm thinking of signing up for the Worldperks or Eaglepoints MC/Visa. How easy is it to redeem points for an airline ticket? Are there any restrictions, or do you just call their travel agent and if a ticket is available in that price range, you get it? We fly American Airlines almost exclusively.

First of all, you're mixing two things here. Worldperks is Northwest's frequent flyer program, in which you earn miles, not points.

Eaglepoints I've never heard of, but from the sound of the name, it sounds like some points program, and from your description, it sounds like one of those many "fake miles" cards, where you can't combine what you earn on that credit card with earnings anywhere else, and they buy a regular ticket for you, as opposed to redeeming it for an award ticket.

With Worldperks, you can pretty much always redeem a ticket at "rule buster" rates. That's 50k miles for a domestic coach ticket. The 25k mile awards are more restricted, and it depends a lot on how flexible you are and how "busy" a time period you want to fly (for example, way harder to get tickets during those holidays when most people travel).

But with Worldperks, you aren't restricted to just credit card earnings, since it's a normal FF program (like American's AAdvantage). You can choose to earn miles for hotel stays, car rentals, etc, and you can choose to participate in bonus miles promotions.

With the average "fake miles" card, there's none of that. You just earn for your credit card purchases, no more, no less, and can't do anything with that until you reach a treshold.

Oh, one more thing: I've seen several "fake miles" programs (tho the ones I'm thinking of weren't tied to credit cards) go under before I could ever earn enough to get an award! That's WAY lot less likely with a major "real" miles (frequent flyer) program, even with those airlines that are in bankrupcy!

But if you fly American almost exclusively, why don't you get the AAdvantage MC? That way your credit card earnings will pool together with your flying earnings, and you'll get to awards way quicker than if you split things up. The main reason for getting into WorldPerks would be if you want to fly Northwest in the future to a destination that American doesn't cover as well (Northwest is typically better for the Orient, for example, while American is typically better for South America).

But the decision should be first whether you want to join and accrue in the Worldperks FF, and THEN whether you want to get the Worldperks Visa as ONE of the methods of accrueing there. (For example, right now you'll earn 10000 miles more if you join Worldperks first, sign up for their current Fly Free Faster 2004 promo, and THEN apply for the Worldperks Visa, and then do 5 "partner transactions" such as iDines, than if you do those things in a different order.)

And that 10000 mile bonus is a perfect example of why you need to factor in the promos that "real" FF programs have to compare FF program credit cards to "fake miles" credit cards.

Thanks for the reply. I was confusing the Worldperks program with MBNA's Worldpoints program which is what you describe as a "fake miles" card. Eaglepoints is USAA bank's version of a mileage card.

I'm already a Citi Aadvantage cardholder but the reason I'm interested in a "fake miles" credit card is that I'd like to increase the flexibility in obtaining rewards. The way these mileage cards are *supposed* to work is that you can get a ticket up to a certain dollar amount with the only restriction being a 21 day advance purchase. No black-out dates or airline inventory controls. So I was wondering if anybody had used these and could let me know if ease of redemption really is a plus with one of these cards.

Well, first let me point out that the ease of doing any kind of redemption in a non-famous program is above all related to the program still existing when you get to the point of redemption!

For example, there was some kind of points program (I forget the name offhand) a few years ago which Ralph's (SoCal grocery store chain) promoted since every purchase you made at their store using their club card would earn points which could turn into tickets. But I never found out how easy it was to redeem because this points program went poof after I got partway toward enough points for a ticket!

I also had a credit card in the early or mid 90s which ran a promo that you could sign up for where all the interest payments you made on a balance would be rebated to a large degree 5 years later. I signed up for it, but before 5 years was up, banks merged then remerged and my credit card was automatically replaced with a new one and they lost all track of this multi-year promo.

I also had a couple credit cards with various kinds of (non-mile) rebate programs where the rebates were discontinued (or suddenly greatly changed) with only a couple month warning. If I had had to wait until a 10k or more increment to redeem (as you do with most "fake miles" programs), I would have been up a creek.

The thing with real FF programs is that even if the airline goes under (a la TWA, etc), the real FF programs are valuable enough that your miles are not likely to evaporate but simply be bought by some other FF program. But these "fake miles" programs so divide up the audience with no one of them being REALLY poplular (to the degree real FF programs are), that if circumstances change

So, with all that in mind: There are rebate cards that will save you 1% or more with no big increments (for example, the Chase Perfect card rebates you in full on a monthly basis). These IMHO are way lower risk than "fake miles" cards, and you have to do the math to see how the value of them compares to particular "fake miles" cards. (The value is easier to determine with "fake miles" cards because they can ONLY be used to buy cheap advance domestic coach tickets generally. So "fake miles" cards are basically just rebate cards with the rebate limited to spending on particular kinds of airline tickets in a fairly narrow price range!) Meanwhile, they often don't let you buy tickets on low-cost carriers, and thus don't always let you buy the very cheapest tickets around! (Also, keep in mind that "21 day advance" doesn't just mean you have to redeem 21 days out, it means you have to redeem while "21 day advance" seats are still available. If everything except full fare is already sold out on a flight, I severely doubt one of these "fake miles" programs will buy you a full fare ticket 22 days out, because that won't meet their price quota of course. So what is it exactly you gain over using a normal rebate card and then buying the tickets yourself out of the rebate savings?)

Also, evaluate how long it will take you to get to an award. If it's several years, the risk of the program disappearing or greatly changing would be greater. If you'll earn enough to get an award every few months, only THEN would I say the specifics of redeeming and such would be the primary concern.

If your goal is to increase flexibility, may I suggest you consider a couple other cards:

One is Diners Club, which lets you transfer its points (in about 1000 mile increments) to almost ANY airline FF program out there. While its acceptance is rather low right now, they've announced that next year they will be accepted (at least in N America) anywhere MC is accepted, so once that happens the landscape of flexibility with a widely-accepted card will change radically.

The other is the SPG Amex, which has no annual fee the first year and $30/year thereafter, and lets you transfer into LOTS of airline programs (at 1 or 1.25 mile/$ depending on how big chunks you transfer).

... There's a typical rule that many FFers use that if the ticket price is below a certain amount (somewhere around $300ish) it's cheaper to pay cash and if it's higher than that amount it's cheaper to use miles. Well, these "fake miles" cards typically put the limit on the ticket right around that point! Something to think about...

I have had a capital one miles one card for four years now and have never had a problem getting an award ticket for the flight that I wanted. Keep in mind you need to have at least 21 days and a Saturday night stay. I know it is not the best program for earning miles. I use the card for my bussiness and I like the fact that capital one gives you a full 30 days to pay the bill helps with cash flow.

As many have said that next year diners club will be accepted in more places I may look at switching.

I have the MBNA Elite Rewards card and had no problems redeeming points for an award. The ticket you want to get cannot exceed 2.5% of the redemption level so a 25k point award permits a ticket costing a maximum of $625.

There are advantages and disadvantages to these "fake miles" cards, just like there are advantages and disadvantages to an airline linked miles card.

First, I don't share Stefan Daystrom's doom and gloom concerns about the program going under any time soon (no offense to him). I go on the assumption that if the travel program is linked to a major credit card company it's not going to go out of business anytime soon. If it did MBNA would be flooded with complaints from angry customers and would probably make some kind of alternate arrangements to at least honor existing point accumulations. There is always a risk that MBNA would discontinue the card/program in the future but they usually give you advance notice so you can cash out the awards.

With the number of airlines in financial trouble I'd be a little more concerned about a carrier going under and a person losing all miles in their FF program. Yes, in the past other airlines have stepped in and purchased a bankrupt airlines' FF program and other assets. However, there are very few airlines healthy enough to buy substantial assets from a bankrupt airline. There's a lot of talk about this on the US Airways forum.

As for the card itself, here are the advantages: flights on any airlines, no black out dates (if a seat is available you can get it), ability to earn miles for the flight on the airlines FF program, comparable points requirements for coach class domestic tickets (25k for most airlines FF programs/30k for Elite Rewards).

Disadvantages: must purchase ticket at least 21 days in advance, cannot combine miles with miles in an airlines FF program, higher point requirements for first class flight (50k for most airlines for a domestic ticket/75k for Elite Rewards), points expire after 4 years.

But there are plusses and minuses in airline programs as well. Advantages: last minute awards are possible, possible free upgrades, lower award levels for first class tickets.

Disadvantages: capacity controls for lower award value tickets, blackout dates, capacity controls, capacity controls, did I say capacity controls?


Which card is right for you depends on your needs. I have used the Elite Rewards Visa for years. I have 90k points even after redeeming 30k for a flight from PHL to JAC. Since I am primarily a leisure traveler the 21 day advance purchase requirement is not a big problem for me. I like the flexibility of using many airlines, but I am dissappointed in the points required for first class awards (85k for a ticket to Hawaii through USAirs/United's FF programs vs. 120k for Elite Rewards!! But a coach ticket to Hawaii is 35k on USAir/United and only 40k on Elite rewards--not a big difference IMO).

That being said I have recently begun using the Starwood Amex primarily because you can transfer 20k SPG points for 25k airline miles in many programs (including USAir, the program I have the most miles in already). I also like this program because of the ability to get free stays in Starwood hotels. I just hope that when it is time to redeem points for airline miles I don't run into those dreaded capacity controls on award tickets.


I hope this helps you decide which type of card to get.

The home-grown points card might make sense for you if you meet the following conditions:

(1) You plan on spending a LOT and redeeming points for tickets as soon as you reach the required levels. Why? Because these programs are usually half-baked to begin with and tend to go POOF at a moment's notice. Don't get caught with 100,000 points in the bank the morning you wake up and find a "404 - Site Not Found" message at the program's home page.

(2) You have a citypair in mind for your awards that is always expensive with 21-day-advance and Saturday night stay. If your desired award is usually cheap when you buy the most restrictive tickets, then the value of your points is somewhat less.

(3) You don't get aggravated out of your skull making old-fashioned phone calls to book awards. You will likely get put on hold, and you will likely talk to someone who is only marginally interested in helping you get your award. These programs don't typically have robust, well-thought-out websites and online booking tools. Hey, at least they don't make you use Pony Express or carrier pigeons to book awards.

Just my random thoughts on this discussion:


Has anyone really found this to be a big problem. I'm not talking about a promotion with a company like a grocery chain, drug store or other company that creates an odd pairing. I'm talking about problems with "fake miles" cards issued by large credit card companies. I have had the MBNA Elite Rewards card for nearly 4 years now and there is no sign of this program ending or being changed. Capital One is heavily marketing their miles card so I'd be surprised if it suddenly went "poof." These are major CC companies that feel they get a large benefit out of this program, just like NW, UA and others feel they get a great benefit out of their credit card programs.

Of course they could discontinue the program at any time. (I had a Bell Atlantic Visa that gave me 1% cash back that was discontinued on about 4 months notice. But I was able to cash out everything.) But NW and UA could theoretically decide to drop their credit card program at any time also. Or they could lower the earning rate (1 mile for every $2 spent?). Or they could raise the minimum miles required for an award ticket (25k miles suddenly becomes 35k miles needed for an award).

Does anyone really think that these programs issued by major credit card companies are any more likely to disappear or change than the airlines credit card programs?


I agree that if the flight is not very expensive it is better to buy the ticket. But that is true with any FF program. The 21 day advance purchase rule is an obvious problem if you're looking for a last minute ticket and don't want to pay $900 for a ticket that goes for $200 with an advance purchase. That is one of the downsides to these cards.


Yes, you have to make a phone call which takes longer than booking on line. However, when I booked an award ticket I had already selected my flights from looking on line and simply asked if they could book the tickets on those flights (even got FF miles for the flight).

I'm not saying these cards are for everyone. But I don't think they're as bad as people are making them out to be. In fact, I think they are a good idea for a leisure traveler who doesn't have a lot of FF miles in any one airline program.

I think we all agree there is a certain level of risk with any of the programs, but the home-grown programs dry up and blow away with greater frequency than AAdvantage, MileagePlus, etc. Even if AMR or UAL were to go Chap 7 sell off assets, there is enough critical mass that someone would buy the big programs. Heck, the programs themselves are tidy profit centers - no way they were disappear.

I've had three home-grown points programs either go 404 on me and change drastically to my disadvantage: an Amex Callaway program, a Sprint Points program (I wasn't doing the credit card part of this one), and I was in the old MBNA WorldPoints program when they rewrote the rules.

In addition, if you visit the websites for a lot of these programs, you will see half-baked, vague, and conflicting rules. I'm convinced that marketing people make these things up in a meeting room, turn loose two high-school web development subcontractors to put up the websites, and start issuing cards.

Having said that, I've never seen anyone advertise a program quite like Capital One. They have gone so public with their program that I would feel more confident using them than another provider.

The difference between the home-grown points and the airlines is that the home-grown programs box you in with rules that are practically at odds with each other: they have both a 21-day/Sat stay rule and a price cap. If they have a $400 max on the tickets, why won't they sell me a $380 weekend getaway to London for 25,000 (or whatever) points - departing tomorrow? Why add on the other restrictions? Just give me X cents of credit per point and give me a simple online interface to book my awards!! (Somebody help me out: does Cap One offer a flavor of their program that sort of does this? The one that says "Award flights at 9,000 points!"??")

I see the upsides of these cards as being able to earn miles on the flights and not being beholden to the 25,000 "Saver" level rules that the airlines have. If I did a very high volume of MC/Visa spending AND had a particular route that I was always paying $300+ for with a 21-day-advance, I would probably get the Cap One card.

My point was that SOME advance notice is no good if you are only SLOWLY accumulating and far from a threshold for a reward. That's what happened to me with (I think I now remember the name) Webmiles. They gave me several months to redeem, but I was only earning through grocery store purhcases, and was a COUPLE YEARS away at that rate from getting to a redeeming point (and it made no financial sense for me to do anything which would get me to the redeemable point in time), so effectively that warning was useless to me (except for the fact that it allowed me to switch grocery stores before the program went poof, if I wanted to, since I already knew I wouldn't be earning at the grocery store the program was tied to).

And I did have a similar thing happen to me with a "big name" credit card: The GM Card. They didn't go under, but they changed the award availability and took away the only awards I was interested in with again not enough warning for me to be able to get to the award level with anything close to normal or sane spending on the card. So the few months warnings again was useless to me.

Thus the point a couple other people have made that these kinds of programs are a completely different kind of risk to some who spends A LOT on the program (and thus is likely to be able to get to an award level within a few months if that's all the advance warning they get of discontinuation), but a lot worse risk for someone who can spend only modest amounts (groceries, gas, etc, but not rent or mortgage or business expenses or other BIG payments) and thus will take a year or two (or even more) each time to get to a redeemable amount of points. What good is three or even six months warning if at your maximum regular spending level you're a year away from getting to an award level??? (And thus for such people it's not sufficient to say they'll probably get some warnings, it matters whether the program will be around for enough years GUARANTEED.)

And, while, again, there's nothing really guarnateed about real FF programs, the fact is there is lots of historical precedent of FF programs being merged when airlines (well, at least, major airlines) go under, but there is NO historical precedent that I have ever heard of of credit-card-specific point programs being merged. That's because in the case of the real FF programs the miles currency is independent of any credit card product, and the database of FFers is of interest to others in the airline industry. But when a credit card's homegrown points program is abandoned, they don't want you to go to a competing credit card (they typically want you to stay within the credit card company and just switch to a different type of credit card they offer), so there's no database that anyone wants to sell, and so the points program just vanishes into midair. And meanwhile, if the credit card company is acquired in a merger, they've already got the customers, and in credit cards the points program is typically considered a side frill (as opposed to at many airlines these days the FF program is the only profit center!) so there's not a lot of thought always given to preserving the points program through the acquisition/merger, as long as the credit card customers per se are preserved (for the most part).

I can't argue with anything you say. You are correct that if people aren't going to be able to accumulate a large number of points on a credit card in a few months they could have a problem if the program is canceled. A grocery store promotion doesn't strike me as making a lot of sense to link to a miles/points program. There is only so much you could spend in a month at a supermarket. No matter how big your shopping order is it's unlikely you'll be able to accumulate enough points for an award in less than several years. That's just not practical in my opinion.

And you are certainly correct that the credit card company can end the program at any time and no one will take it over.

These are risks that a person has to evaluate. Because of this risk I'd stick to the major programs that are being heavily marketed like Capital One since they are likely to be around for a little while. For some the benefits of booking on any airline with no capacity controls outweighs any risk of the program disappearing.

Each person has to make their own decision on this. But your point is well taken and I hope I didn't offend you.

As one who has accumulated affinity points and miles with prejudice (ie I made extreme efforts to collect miles and points, not just by happenstance), for over a decade, more than 10 Million total miles/points across almost every major US domestic airline (except NWA) and about 250K in BA, and several non-airline programs (starwood's spg and AMEX's MR), let me tell you what I've recently concluded:

a) the major airlines are in deep trouble (what else is new, right), and are clearly in defensive mode now across all revenue streams, to now include their affinity programs, and IMO they collectively have NO intention of allowing "fair and reasonable" award redemption any longer. I say again - FAIR AND REASONABLE, as simply compared to my experiences of over a decade-long redemption experience. IMO, they have capitulated on their respective affinity award programs EVER AGAIN existing 1) to reward loyalty, 2) to induce future business, and/or 3) to create *real* affinity for and on behalf of the "the brand", and are now ONLY about incremental revenue and selling future tickets (redemption of which is to be avoided at almost all costs, eg Nonepass) for today income, by means of screwing both their affinity partners and ultimately the affinity collector (we ff would-be travelers). This phemonema of making award redemption essentially futile used to be only applicable Continental's Nonepass (oops, I meant "OnePass"), which was famous years ago for award NON-availability (which I also helped expose several years ago in the Continental threads) and spread to Delta, and then arguably to United, but had not (until Jan, 2004) transitioned to American Airlines, which I once thought would be the last fortress standing with respect to a FAIR AND REASONABLE award redemption policy. Well, sportsfans, mighty fortress AA just fell. Lots to be discussed and debated about AA's milesaaver in a thread I started which argues AAdvantage is morphing into Nonepass at least with respect to domestic 25K 'base level" award redemption availability. AA's trip into this dark ominous valley of betrayal for any aadvantage mile earner thinking in good faith the program really offers FAIR AND REASONABLE access to 25K base level awards...started last summer with the major re-write (AA called it "simplification" for us simpletons) of AA's international award program, and then AA added another chapter circa Jan, 2004, called milesaaver which just gutted their domestic base level award availability. You can read more about it at this URL:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ighlight=morph

So, if YOU aren't prepared to have to call multiple times and spend an hour or more on the phone chasing these ghost base level awards (oh, and you really thought your family of five could travel on 25K awards - on the same plane :( ), and/or prepared to redeem TWICE the decade-long benchmark 25K award which most people believe in GOOD FAITH is available...then you TOO should be looking at alternatives to major airline affinity programs. Stability means zilch if the airlines block us from obtaining awards (except by luck and timing and a lot of calls to your airlines' award center). So, yours truly is essentially abandoning my decade+ strategy of sticking to primarily to major airline award programs. As a lifetime (vested) AA PLATINUM, with over 5MM documented aadvantage miles earned, and a spouse also a lifetime AA PLAT, now together holding about 1.5MM semi-worthless AAdvantage miles, it may seem ludicrous to be abandoning a lifelong effort, but it is the way it is. AA's recent stealth implementation of their fiendish capacity control model called milesaaver just stuck a fork in it for me.

b) alternatives ? several.
/b1 - 3rd party "generic points" programs like Capital One's or USAA's (Eagle Points) look more appealing EVERY DAY. No, pinniped, the sky is not falling for Capital One or USAA, and though the majors may *appear* to have more stability than what you term "home grown programs", the reality is they [majors] are perfectly happy SELLING the miles, but they are now positioned to prevent redemption except at unreasonable ratios and only with unreasonable effort and time expense. So, who cares if the majors' programs are around...they won't let us fairly and reasonable redeem our miles. The trend is ominous and only gets worse year by year, no matter what the AA defenders try to claim in the AA thread. So be it. I have personally used USAA's eagle points program, 2 months ago, and it works wondrously well and offers reasonable to excellent flexibility. I now accumulate about 35,000 eagle points a mo average (for 2004), second only behind my starwood/spg accumulation rate. Citibank/AAdvantage will now, starting 2 mo ago, lose as much as 150,000 a month of my charging business, forever. I have ZERO intention of ever getting back in AAdvantage in an aggressive way until they rescind milesaaver, AND I would still burn my aadvantage balance down before resuming my aadvantage accumulation if they rescinded milesaaver today. IOW pinniped - you fear the sky will fall for these 3rd party generic miles programs...I feel 100% the sky just FELL on the majors' affinity programs, and though the airline may still be standing, their affinity program, as we knew it 2003 and before, are in shambles and represent a mere vestage in terms of what they used to stand for and represent to the affinity customer.
/b2 - starwood's spg program is still a safe haven for point accumulation, and is IMO the ultimate model for flexibility & leverage for the affinity customer. Without debate, starpoints are the most valuable affinity currency which, to date, starwood seems to be protecting. Chapters could be written on why, but I don't have the time to go deeper.
/b3 - not my favorite after years of letting their program become diluted and stale, and after failing to replace ex-partners (NWA, TWA, etc) or bring on new ones (AA, UA), but AMEX's Membership Rewards still is a marginal (but safe) depository of "generic" miles, which can be convered into a strong stable of hotels, or into an ever weakening stable of airlines, on demand. FWIW, SPG embarrasses AMEX's Membership Rewards model, which could have, with a few tweaks, been equal to or superior to MR, but AMEX has been flat-footed for years now (even as well as they've done in some respects), so what else is new ?

So, these are my new goals, in order of priority:
a) accumulate starwood starpoints as a first priority for max leverage and flexibility
b) accumulate "generic" miles via USAA's eagle points as my backup
c) capture any double miles promo when they come along. For example, for the last three months Bank One/UA has had a [targeted] double miles promo, which ended midnight last night (6/30)...let me say I've never seen a 3 months' duration double miles promo...so I suspended USAA/eagle point accumulation, made only light effort for starpoint accumulation, and went crazy collecting UA miles for the past 90 days. Though I believe UA is no saint in the award redemption area either, at least double miles gives gives me a fighting chance to get the awards I want, even if I have to burn double miles.

FWIW, I am no longer bitter about AA's moving the cheese....its all about business, as my efforts going forward will be "all about business" also. AA just lost my preferential business (paid and affinity), and now will have to compete for my dollars, and affinity dollars via Citibank, along with Airtrans and every other brand and pricing web site (orbitz, travelocity, priceline, etc). Odd that AA's "affinity" program just drove me away, for pete's sake. Same thing happened with Continental's "affinity" program a couple of years ago. hhhmmm.

And when certain AA defenders come along and claim I am cross-posting on the award availability issue, they are partly right, because award redemption issues DO in fact cross so many subjects in the affinity world. After all, in this current business and travel industry climate, to successfully redeem your hard-earned miles and points you had better be darn sure you are targeting the right program for the right reason. This thread is about alternative programs, and to understand why a 3rd party generic miles program is superior....requires one to discuss the shortcomings of the majors' programs.

Best of luck as you choose your strategy - for one, I think you will be very happy with USAA's eagle points, though I admit it is a very low-key, little known program.

(1) I'm sorry you don't think AA fairly and reasonably lets you redeem miles. I have spent about 600,000 AA miles in the past 2 years for J tix to Europe (twice) and Hawaii for two people. I always got the dates I wanted. I have about 400,000 miles left and have slowed down my accumulation greatly, but just this week I was querying some 25K awards for my wife's family and found most of what I was looking for. Eventually I plan on tapering out of active accumulation of miles - and might even pick up a home-grown points card.

(2) I don't think the "sky is falling" on home-grown points. I know for a fact that a lot of the programs are half-baked and do not have robust online search/book tools like the airlines do. We are starting to see some programs that appear to be more well-thought-out: for example, I think Orbitz has some sort of card that actually has solid process and robust thinking behind it. (Can't confirm for certain - I've simply read good reviews about it.) Eventually - perhaps - Capital One will reach critical mass and decide their program is here to stay, and then they will beef it up. If you are pushing $35,000 per month through a home-grown points program, then you are relatively safe: you earn and burn quickly, and if you wake up tomorrow and your program is gone, you've only lost a month or two worth of "work". But if you were the guy who only spends $2,000/month and was saving to hit 50K for two tickets somewhere...

I honestly hope Capital One or - better yet, because I'm a member - USAA takes their program to the next level. If I have confidence that the program has staying power, then I'm likely to come on board. Earn coach tix with home-grown points, upgrade with FF miles, hotels with SPG points.

But - here's an example problem - I just tried to pull up the T&C's for Capital One Go Miles, and the link didn't work. Then I got directed to the sign-in page for existing cardmembers. Clearly, robust thought and efficient process hasn't been invested in this program yet. Why? Not enough members? Are they going to eventually roll it into something else? Kill it off altogether? Go Miles is different from the one they always snail-mail me about. Why two programs? Or is it three programs? (There is an "Ultra" program.) Why do I feel like there is a lot of fine print and poorly organized information here?

There you have it: it depends a LOT on your circumstances, and you've just mentioned a big one that's rarely mentioned here: Because so many airlines only release a couple award seats at a time, it's always trickier getting award seats for many people on the same plane than award seats for just one or two. THAT ALONE can make a complete difference in how you and someone else views a program!

Meanwhile, the same thing could befall the "fake miles" programs, but for a different reason: "Hello, I'd like to redeem for 5 tickets from AAA to BBB in 24 days." "Well, we can only give you two tickets on airline QQ because if I try 3 tickets there it comes out well over $300 per ticket, and only three on airline ZZ because of the same problem. Would you like to split the group up between airline QQ and airline ZZ?" See, the "fake miles" programs only let you get tickets from deep discount buckets, and on high-demand iteneraries, more than 21 days out there STILL might not be 5 seats all on one plane at those deep discount levels. (And the airlines can, and at least in some cases do, do the same thing with paid tickets as with awards: Only release a few at a time, so the deep discount ticket bucket inventory can go up and down and up and down. This is easy to see if you use something like Availability Tool to research buckets for the same flight over hours and days.)

As to your latter point, I and several other people have already mentioned it in this thread: You're likely to like "fake miles" cards a lot more if you spend oodles each month (presumably because you have high business expenses), but if you're a mere mortal consumer who has no business expenses and can't even pay your rent or mortgage by credit card (or at least not without losing way more in fee than you earn in the value of miles/points), your ability to turn over awards every few months may well be limited. and in that case the inability to "pool" miles/points from multiple sources may start becoming a factor, and the danger of the program disappearing or greatly changing with "just" a few months notice becomes an issue of importance (because you don't earn enough for even ONE award in "just" a few months!).