Airlines make more money from mileage programs than from flying planes
> Paying for a flight or a hotel room with points may feel like a free bonus, but because credit-card-swipe fees increase prices across the economy—Visa or Mastercard takes a cut of every sale—redeeming points is more like getting a little kickback.And the ones that give a cash kickback (1.5% or occasionally more with a few specific cards) are even easier and more straightforward about this.Suppose someone wanted to reverse this trend and just make everything cheaper rather than having interchange fees of which the cardholder gets a fraction back? What incentive structure would move towards a model with goods whose prices don't need to buffer the 3+% haircut of credit card fees?