Frequent Flyer Miles in Jeopardy?

Do you save up frequent flyer miles for a dream trip? Are you loyal to one airline so that you are eligible for flights and space-available upgrades? Do you use a credit card (left) that gives you miles for charges? I do all those things, and in terms of my balance in those mileage banks, I'm a rich woman. But my thrift, and that of other fequent flyer program members, could be in jeopardy.

Until it stopped hubbing in Denver, I flew Continental all the time and enjoyed Silver Elite status in their OnePass frequent flyer program. Redeeming miles was easier then, and I often used my miles for my son when attended school in New Hampshire. Now, I fly United enough to be a Premier Mileage Plus member. It gets me a seat on the front of the plane, which I love, but I still keep racking up more miles than I have been able to use. I also have accumulated miles in the fequent flyer programs of American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and Virgin Atlantic.

Miles have become increasingly difficult to use any time I want to travel. My husband and I had hoped to fly to Munich for a wedding in May on United or Lufthansa, one of its Star Alliance partners. Not only were we unable to obtain tickets in any class of service on Lufthansa's convenient Denver-Munich non-stop, but we were unable to fly that route on any class of service on United or Lufthansa even with multiple stops. Therefore, the miles remained unredeemed in my account.

Airlines view people like me as liabilities, and stockholders are reportedly getting restless with liabilities. "Investors Press Airline to Spin Off Frequent Flyer Programs," a disquieting report in USA Today, in which reporter Dan Reed wrote, "Airlines are feeling pressure from aggressive investors and a slowing economy to boost their sagging share prices and raise cash by selling or spinning off some assets, including their prized frequent flier programs."

Examples? Reed reported the the investment group that is American's second-largest stockholder " is publicly urging the company to spin off its pioneering AAdvantage frequent flier program, which it estimates is worth about $6 billion on a stand-alone basis. AMR's total market capitalization is only about $5.5 billion. A spinoff would involve distribution of new, separate stock to current AMR shareholders."

He quoted a United spokeswoman who "confirmed that her company's board discussed 'portfolio optimization' at its annual strategy meeting this week in San Francisco, including the possible sale of the frequent flier program. She declined to say what the airline will do or when."

US carriers might be following the contrails of Air Canada, which " spun off its Aeroplan frequent flier plan in 2005. Since then, Aeroplan's market value has nearly doubled to about $4 billion."

I would love to use up lots of my miles, but the airlines, which understandably prefer a revenue passenger to a for-free flyer, make it so hard. I recently gave my son 40,000 miles so that he could fly to New England for a friend's wedding, and it hardly made a dent in my accounts. In the long run, I'm suspicious that these spin-offs, should they occur, will be yet another way to make air travel less about satisfying passengers and more about satisfying investors.

K-ching. K-ching. K-ching.