- Airlines Cash In on Loyalty Credit Cards by WSJ. Pretty surprising to see the percentage of revenue loyalty program contribute (driven by card partnerships). For Southwest it’s over 15%.
- Exciting News: New Airport Lounges for Billionaires by Will Run For Miles. Given that there are basically no details on this currently it’s hard to get excited/know what is actually being offered.
- T-Mobile Discloses Data Breach That Impacted About 3 Percent Of Customers by PYMNTS. Sadly, another day another data breach.
- Bank of America unit failed to disclose conflict of interest to customers, regulator says by Charlotte Observer. $8.9 settlement seems no more than a tiny punishment.
Deals expiring at the end of today (view the full deal calendar here):
- [Targeted] AmEx Offer: Amazon, Get Two Additional Membership Rewards Per $1 Spent
- [CA only] California Bank & Trust $250 Business Checking Bonus
- [Targeted] Barclays: $15 Bonus for Adding an Authorized User to your Credit Card
Deals expiring at end of tomorrow:
- Amex Offers: $2 or 200 Points with $5 Apple Pay Purchase – Limit 5 [Targeted]
- [Targeted] American Express: Make A Purchase Of $25 & Get $5 Back, Limit Of 3
- Citi ThankYou Points 30% Transfer Bonus To Flying Blue (AirFrance/KLM)
- Publix: $10 off $100 Visa Gift Card
- Southwest EarlyBird Check In Moving To Dynamic Pricing ($15-$25) On August 29th
- Delta Flash Sale: Round Trip To Hong Kong For 30,000 Miles + Taxes & Fees (SEA/SFO/PDX/LAX/JFK)
- JetBlue: 20% Off Award Flights (9/17 – 11/6, Excludes Friday & Sunday Travel)
Still don’t understand why airlines aren’t treating high credit card spenders as well as frequent flyers. Given that co-branded credit cards are hugely profitable, I would think the airlines would want to reward/incentivize that behavior by treating those customers well. Obviously the two categories (frequent flyers & high spending airline credit card holders) generally overlap, but why not do something like Ritz Carlton and offer a low status for holding a certain card, with the ability to earn a higher status through high spending?
Back around 2004-2005 Amex helped to pull Delta from bankruptcy by agreeing to making large Delta mile purchases.
Any idea how much the banks pay for airline miles? For example, how much does Chase pay United for each mile it purchases on an UR transfer?
According to https://thepointsguy.com/guide/best-cards-for-flying-united/ , “United miles are worth 1.5 cents each, while Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 2.1 cents.” So it probably costs Chase less for you to redeem them as United miles than it does if you redeem them as UR points.
I am sure the airlines and the banks keep this number confidential and it probably varies from bank to bank depending on the volume of miles they purchase per year from the airlines. My guess is the banks pay somewhere less than 1 cent per mile to the airlines like United and AA, and less than 1/2 cent to an airline like Delta.
The comment section of the WSJ article was funny to read. So many misguided people.
ugh, paywall for the article about airlines and credit cards.
Try googling the headline.
Best line: “It’s harder, when you have millions of people earning miles, to provide the fantasy seats that once existed,” Mr. Brierley said.
WSJ article is behind a paywall. WOuld be nice to know what the article states.
archive.is is the easiest way to get around that. Here is their copy of this article:
Airlines Cash In on Loyalty Credit Cards – WSJ – http://archive.is/DKEI4
$8.9 m or b?
Million and a pittance of a penalty when compared to so many civil penalties and fines levied or assessed by State and Federal courts for civil and criminal charges against citizens, not even a mere knuckle rap for most of the corporations, but sadly it seems that the Government just pads it coffers and customers end up pay for the penalties in the long run. While the people injured and damaged are rarely compensated much less made whole. /rant off.
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