Airlines Make More Money Selling Miles Than Seats (expressnews.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Does your wallet contain an airline-branded credit card? If so, your daily Starbucks visits, iTunes selections and dining habits serve a critical role in keeping the U.S. airline industry fat and happy. For carriers such as American Airlines, riding Citigroup Inc. plastic, or Delta, on American Express Co., these programs are a cash cow, a golden goose -- or any other fiscal livestock you care to conjure. Each mile fetches an airline anywhere from 1.5 cents to 2.5 cents, and the big banks amass those miles by the billions (alternative source), doling them out to cardholders each month. For the banks, people who pay annual fees for those cards in order to accumulate miles are the closest thing to a sure bet. These consumers typically have higher-than-average incomes and spend more on their cards, generating merchant fees for the banks. They also tend to maintain high credit scores, which means they pay their bills on time and banks experience fewer defaults. The airline-miles business, formally known as loyalty programs, has become a high-margin enterprise that's grown in size and value amid airline consolidation, with carriers keen to expand credit card rolls and see loyalty members spend more.

Comments

the announcements make it very clear

[nimbius]

flight attendants: "for those of you in economy class, please step forward and use the bone saw to remove your legs at the knee for storage in the overhead compartment. Pretzel dust and warm pepsi will be provided once in flight, along with the entertainment of a partially eaten magazine about our CEO's latest hunting trip in the alps. Those of you in our platinum, rhodium, saphire card club, or other rare and exotic metals often associated with conflict mining, please proceed to the front of the aircraft and take your seat stolen from the lobby of an upscale motel. You will be permitted to eat with a real fork, provided you've prostrated yourself accordingly to the TSA and said your daily supplication to the holy terror alert list. "