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Frequent Flier Miles: Who Needs 'em?

The San Francisco Chron checked up on the various schemes to transfer frequent-flier miles to other people, and what it saw wasn't pretty. The money graf, though is about how pointless these programs are for most people:

Frequent-flier programs are, as you probably know, called "loyalty programs" inside the industry. But everything I hear about frequent-flier programs these days reinforces my view that the only loyalty the big airlines really want is the loyalty of travelers who fly a lot and buy expensive tickets. For the most part, that means frequent business travelers whose trips are paid for by their employers or clients. Airlines don't give a tinker's dam about loyalty of occasional leisure travelers -- or, for that matter, travelers from small businesses who buy cheap tickets whenever they can.