Are frequent flyers overpaying?

Forum for airline passengers
In 1981, it seems a good idea. American Airlines starts selling lifetime unlimited AAirpasses hoping to raise millions of dollars at a time when interest rates are sky high.
Prices start at $250,000 (€194,000), while an extra $150,000 (€116,000) buys a companion pass. Older fliers get discounts based on their age.
AAirpass holders earn frequent flier miles on every trip and are lifetime members to the Admirals Club, American's airport lounges.
Gold and platinum members of Flying Blue – Air France/KLM’s frequent flyer program – can reserve seats in the so-called comfort zone, where the pitch is somewhat larger than in the rest of coach class, without paying a fee.
Recently, they got the possibility to include their seat preferences (window or aisle) in their profiles. Several members wrote us that KLM
One of them asks the...
Global airline safety performance is better than ever according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the industry's mouthpiece. This is based on "hull losses", accidents in which the aircraft is destroyed or substantially damaged and is not subsequently repaired.
However, hull loss is an insurance term that is more relevant for airlines’ balance sheets than for passengers’ safety.
A relatively old plane with minor damage, for example, may be a hull loss, whereas a new aircraft with comparable damage is not. Yet, there is no difference between the 2 cases...