Any situation where the customer is forced to buy a product in anticipation of future benefits is definitely ruled by the laws of economics. Assets like loans, bonds etc are all affected by economic indicators like interest rate, inflation , supply, demand etc. Hence we see index based bonds, floating rate loans etc in the market. Frequent flier program is one such case of availing the air service today in exchange of an anticipated return of goodies in the future has also been effected by the demand glut. In the current scenario of lot of people having been accumulated flier miles , they are faced with a situation of not finding its use as the airlines with its limited capacity are unable to satisy the goodies promised .Unless the airways take proper care of the situation, these type of programs can result in a lot of customer dissatisfaction, ultimately leading to a massive atrophy of the customer base. Link: Fliers Find That Mileage Points Go Only So Far