Airline executives have hinted in recent years that frequent flyer programmes, particularly in the US, are profitable. It took a global pandemic to reveal just how profitable.
A quartet of US carriers — American Airlines, United, Spirit and most recently Delta — have put up their customer loyalty schemes as collateral for large quantities of new debt needed to see them through the crisis. Others may soon do the same.
Documents sent to creditors contain a trove of information on the size, margins and valuations of the programmes, from American’s AAdvantage to United’s MileagePlus and Delta’s SkyMiles, with hundreds of millions of members between them.
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