Peter Greenberg on AA's Bankruptcy Filing: Miles Program Is More Valuable Than Airline

The interesting takeaway was this paragraph:

The bankruptcies of Delta, Northwest, Continental, and United all proceeded without any impact on their basic flight operations or their mileage programs. Since the mileage program at American makes more money (and is worth more money) than the airline itself, I have no concerns about its viability as a financial and operating entity.

There's a lot of miles in AA's program yet to be redeemed. And, if as Peter suggests, AA must become a smaller airline, that means fewer seats available for miles redemption. We've been here before with all the other airlines. Still, with AA no longer the sole holdout for bankruptcy, there might be a bit a panic for all those holding significant frequent flier balances.

In other words, the smart thing may be to cash in soon.