I reckon this is the most suitable place for this question.

Flying used to be fun. You could show up 10 minutes before a flight - smoke a cigarette during the flight - keep your shoes on when you went through security.

I find flying pretty dismal these days - but airline companies are still trying to figure out how to rise from being perhaps the least profitable industry in the world over many decades to second or third from last place.

And I think they're starting to get some traction.

One of the things that has to be curtailed is overly generous FF programs except for the absolute best passengers (you million mile or 50+ flights a year people - you know who you are).

I've been doing FF stuff for maybe 20 years now - and it has gotten harder and harder in recent years IMO for normal people like me. Who have branded credit cards and perhaps fly max 25K miles a year (usually a lot less). And whatever rules exist today - I don't think I can count on them to be in effect 2 years from now.

Anyway - I used to be able to count on getting good rewards tickets. Those days are gone IMO for average travelers - even those who spend a lot of branded credit cards.. What do you think? Robyn

Are frequent-flier programs losing their luster?

Just quietly... since you mentioned it... IMO the ban on smoking is the biggest improvement since the jet engine....

Let's see what we have here:
- You say that overly generous FF programs should be curtailed except for the very best pax.
- At 25K miles, you are at best a modest traveller. Certainly not one of the "very best" (by your definition).
- You complain about not being able to count on getting good reward tickets.

What do I think?
- By your criteria, you don't deserve ready access to award tickets.
- Flying is infinitely more pleasureable now that smoking has been banned in airplanes and most terminal areas.
- I'm just glad that Richard Reed tried to hide explosives in his shoes and not in a suppository.

Yeah, flying was a whole lot better when you could smoke your cigarette, walk out onto a tarmac, and board a prop plane that had a better than negligible chance of crashing.

Oh yeah, FF programs have jumped the shark (hey, thanks for the retro use of a term nobody's used since 2000). Because nobody gets to fly anywhere, anymore on any FF program. I mean nobody's interested in FF programs at all.

Oh, wait, there's at least one internet forum that appears to be devoted to discussing in minute detail how to get FF miles? And a ton of blogs? And every time a credit card company puts out an offer more people jump on it?

As the eminent hipster Emily Litella used to say, "Never mind. . ."

I had to look up what jumping the shark meant

Maybe Henry Winkler should re-jump it for all the kiddies.

Are you claiming that the phrase "jumping the shark" has jumped the shark?

Already discussed here.

In regard to the OP, yes, FF programs have jumped the shark. You should tell everyone you know that they have jumped the shark and aren't any good anymore. Seriously. I would appreciate it if you concentrated on how much AA miles and SPG points are worthless.

Mike

I don't know if they've jumped the shark. The redemption issues started with the consolidation of airlines made worse by the current economy and cutting back of flights.

While never easy, I used to have a much easier time using my miles and now I'm finding I'm paying more and more with upgrades becoming increasingly scarce.

In the past, I would mostly pay for hotels and use carefully collected and hoarded miles for the air. I've begun to think about doing it the other way around, at least until availablity gets better.

I don't think showing up 10 minutes before the flight, smoking, keeping shoes on, etc., really has anything to do with FF programs, so take those off the table. The decline in the flying experience is a topic on it's own.

In terms of FF programs, I will say that I earned 700,000 points in 2002 by simply signing up for promotions targeting frequent fliers and taking about 90 flights. I was also tempted with status matches by other airlines. I used them to fly F and Y throughout the world with very little concern over availability.

I didn't have to sign up for credit cards, join a gym, buy coins, or go through S.P.A.M. machinations. I didn't need to pay to sign up for a "challenge" to get status. I didn't have to learn a foreign airline award tool to find awards, or deal with 20-30% award availability.

I've also been doing this for 20 years and agree with the viewpoint that FF programs have gone downhill *for frequent travelers*. Kettles certainly see the programs as better because they used to get nothing, now they get something.


side notes:
A forum to discuss in details the minutia of FF programs existed in the late 1990's. It was called Flyertalk.

Being told that FF programs haven't gone downhill over the last 10 years by members who joined FT 8-9 months ago kind of reminds me of my kids telling me how Justin Beiber has to be better than what I listened to, because Aretha, Stones, Zeppelin, etc., don't have 3D movies on DVD

Emily Litella is older than jumping the shark.

Like CPRich, I agree that FF programs have gone downhill for frequent fliers. We're at a point where taking a dozen paid flights earns less miles than sitting at your home computer for 10 minutes filling out a credit card application.

The Flyer Talk boards will really light up when inflation of miles shows up, as it inevitably will. Will award mileage increase? Will availability become tougher for those who don't have status? Will fees increase? I don't know but my guess is yes to all of the above.

I also agree with the comment about what FT used to be before it devolved into a twitter substitute: "Gee, I sent my app in 15 minutes ago. Do you think I should call to see what the hold-up is?".

I've only been playing this "game" for a year now and at times I've been happy to find some rewards (for example I'm flying to DC in late October from Omaha and got flights for the 8,750 mile promo from AA with TONS of availible times on that rate) but even almost a year out I can't get to Orlando without paying 25,000 miles each way.

I would think as more people signup for FF programs and all the information about them, redemption is going to be more difficult. Before all the information on the Internet and knowledge, I wonder what the numbers of people enrolled looks like compared to 10 years ago?

I have NEVER been able to redeem miles to MCO, and I go a few times a year.

It's a very popular route people are more than willing to pay for. If you can get the reward for 25k miles, then I would grab it.

I have probably missed when airlines turned into non-profits and started thinking about your pleasurable experience more than they think about returns to their shareholders.

Whether you like it or not, but airlines are out there on the market place to make money and maximizing the inflow of miles into their FF programs while minimizing opportunities to redeem them feels like hell to you but feels like heaven to airlines' shareholders