Summary Airlines are using loyalty programs as essential revenue-generating businesses. Regulators are investigating airline loyalty program devaluation and restriction practices. The DOT may require airlines to return to clear point requirements and eliminate dynamic pricing.
Airline loyalty programs, since they were first introduced decades ago by American Airlines and the now-defunct Texas International Airlines, have rapidly grown and expanded into multi-million dollar organizations that are often more valuable than the airlines themselves . For years now, carriers have thrived by using their loyalty programs as crucial revenue-generating businesses, far removed from the punch-card style loyalty programs that once existed. Cobranded credit card partnerships, agreements with hotel chains and rental car companies, alongside status that grants access to exclusive lounges have become the lifeblood of commercial airlines.
Over and over again, we have seen carriers expand their loyalty offering to include even more exclusive benefits, while also making it harder and harder to achieve the highest tiers of status. Get all the latest aviation news on Simple Flying! While airlines have long enjoyed the ability to wield influence over both partner companies and the consumer through these loyalty programs, regulators at the United States Department of Transportation have finally started to take notice. A new investigation spearheaded by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has .