[loganu]

There's also the signal to the market that this flight is in demand. If you're only on the flight for points, (not the utility of the actual flight) then you're making a purchase without it actually being in demand. How this plays out - the airline seeing demand and adding another plane, or having more passengers so they can drop their rate to cover marginal costs and encourage even more passengers... I don't know. No judgement, just saying there's more to it than the jet fuel.