Sadly they don't care about you or your friends. Here are two reasons why:
- Elite fliers make up 6% percent of passengers but can account for as much as half of all airline seat-mile revenue. Most of the rest are "commodity customers" who are on board because the airline had the lowest base fare. Guess which category of customers the airlines feel are more expendable? Your value to AA as an occasional flier is insignificant.
- The fee you've described falls into a category known as "ancillary revenue" to the airline accountants. In 2009, domestic airlines raised $7.8 billion in ancillary revenues alone. As you take your less than 16,000 mile per year travel revenue to another carrier, you will find that similar fees exist with the other guys too. Sure, they may not be in the form of this exact frequent flier fee, but if not they will be equally annoying. Unfortunately ancillary fees are not going away anytime soon, as they are a big reason why many airlines have begun to turn a profit.
Happy flying!
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