The problem is not reckon planes them selves but being stock.
I have already said that the CD of flares need a massive increase but using flares and off map not only requires a specific but also a second one for the off.
If in your opinion the problem is there is little warning from flares than simply add a warning.
The stock reckon planes multiply the effectiveness of most UKF/USF off map. One wants to use P47/Typhoon loiter ? add the reckon planes and you get both vision and more to divert AA fire.
My point is that reckon planes should not be available stock.
The strength of flares is more specific to team games. Sure, the spec ops(or brit) flares are good in 1v1s, but its in team games that they shine and I was careful to specify that. The rest of the post is made with TEAMgames in mind.
Now, I wholeheartedly DISagree with your examples. Single pass recons are NOT good with loiters. Loiters require you to maintain line of sight for additional passes. Recon LOITERS are good with offensive loiters but not single passes.
They do mean that you will always have a recon for off map artillery without having to select a commander for it as USF or UKF. This is largely necessary since both UKF and USF each only have 1 commander with recon.
But in the case of Ostheer, 10 of the 21 commanders have recon either loiter or single pass, and the best team game commanders have them. Really you should never not have a recon option in your axis loadout and there isn't much opportunity cost since the best commanders have them.
Look, in the end USF, UKF and Ostheer all have ready access to aerial recon through various means and that's fine. OKW and soviets lag behind in this regard though soviets compensate with a wide selection of land based non doc recon options(mortar flares, T70, sniper flares etc). Only OKW is somewhat lacking and that could be solved by getting the infrared halftrack fixed up.