Airlines make it harder to earn free flights for loyalty

Interesting article, but not really relevant to those of us in Japan. Both JAL and ANA's miles do expire after three years, and I',m not sure, but I don't know of many or any banks that offer huge mileage bonuses for signing up in Japan. Have an American friend who is a real pro at getting cards, keeping them for a year and then cancelling before he had to pay the yearly fee. Or get the company to offer another free year if he didn't cancel

ANA's miles can be converted into points and used towards payment for flights, which gets around the free flight availability problem. However, they are really stingy at giving out miles these days, with cheap fares earning few, if any, miles.

It used to require 20,000 points on Northwest to get to Bangkok, Singapore, etc. Now it's 45,000 on its successor airline Delta. A bit of inflation there, I'd say.

Sometimes it just pays to check out Skyscanner or Momondo for price comparisons.

My usual airline Asiana whch I use to fly to Europe with now charges double to fly in September as Thai Airways.

Sometimes loyalty to only one airline does not pay off.....