It is a mess in the offing. The whole situation is coming apart at the seams. From a consumer standpoint, it has to be very, very troubling.

One card is physically coming apart at the seams.

This whole miles-for-merchandise mini-movement is being forced onto the airlines by their own inability to make good on the promise of free award seats.

The big issue is award availability. Whenever you have a capacity reduction, that inevitably translates directly into fewer award seats, and I have no doubt that will happen in this case.

A lot of consumers use the term 'bait and switch' when they hear this.

If the situation is coming apart quicker than expected, you can blame it on liquidity and management's inability to communicate and tell a good story.