Critic
How We Loved Frequent-Flyer Programs to Death
Why consolidation, competition, and cold calculation diminished the magical, flexible travel reward until it was worth little more than a penny.
Illustration: Jaci Kessler Lubliner
In 2013, I redeemed 70,000 United MileagePlus miles to fly Lufthansa from New York to Frankfurt, then on to Bangkok on Thai Airways—all first class.
My Lufthansa seat, one of just eight on the top deck of a Boeing 747-400, included a spacious armchair and separate bed. On Thai, I remember being handed a glass of 2004 Dom Pérignon before I’d even settled into my seat. Had I paid for it, the ticket would have cost me almost $10,000.