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This post is from 2020 when all air travel ceased. It would be nice to see an update with the new creative airline miles schemes.

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I 100% agree I would love to see a follow-up. The post made predictions about post-pandemic air travel, I wonder if they've panned out.

As for the new miles schemes: airlines used to publish charts showing you earned for X points per mile. The shorthand "miles" referring to FF points is telling. Now airlines use "Dynamic award pricing". It's impossible to tell in advance how much your points are worth.

https://thriftytraveler.com/guides/points/points-principles-...

Could someone elaborate? What are the new airline miles schemes?

Instead of the old "fly X miles get X points", it's now "fly X miles and the airline determines at the time of the flight how many points its worth".

That trend started in 2019, but it took off as the pandemic wound down.

Maybe it's different for other airlines, but Delta shows you the miles you'll earn when you book the flight.

I'm not familiar with all airlines. The important change is that the rewards vary and the airlines can and do change them at any time, subject to whatever marketing or sales numbers they are targeting.

Instead of the old "fly X miles get X points", it's now "pay X air fare get X points".

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