U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is calling on the Department of Transportation to review the consumer complaints about FFPs and investigate whether airlines are engaging in deceptive business practices. Schumer called for the DOT to review the growing number of complaints by members of frequent flyer programs who are losing millions of frequent flyer miles because of confusing program terms and conditions.

Schumer says that rules are necessary to protect consumers, who he suspects are essentially paying for the programs through airfares and fees. He said, “We cannot let airlines and credit card companies continue to fly off with hard-earned frequent flyer miles. When a consumer accumulates valuable frequent flyer miles, they should not have to constantly worry that they are going to expire with little or no notification from the airline.”

While Senator Schumer’s intent may be seen as positive, efforts in the past for similar oversight on these programs have gone nowhere. And do we really want the government to be running frequent flyer programs?