Most loyalty program members don’t maximize their miles. I think that’s good.

After reading a piece over a View from the Wing that summarized a number of 2018 loyalty statistics from Alaska Airlines, it struck me that most frequent fliers are quite poor at redeeming their miles. By far the most common use of Alaska miles was for domestic coach travel, something that does not offer the best value for your hard earned miles (SEE: The folly and fallacy of using miles for economy flights). I found this perplexing.

If these were Delta miles, I might think differently, as Delta more generally offers award prices that correlate with cash prices. But these are Alaska Mileage Plan miles, a program with a good number of decent to excellent options for premium cabin travel. Why aren’t people maximizing…