How Travel Loyalty Programs Cost the Environment: New Skift Research
Skift Take
Travel loyalty programs really are frequency programs. As frequency is directly linked to emissions in travel, how can travel companies find environmentally friendly ways to reward its most valuable customers?
Travel loyalty programs are big business, even over the past year when people were forced to travel less.
At the start of the pandemic, major airlines used their loyalty programs to raise billions of dollars. In effect, its loyalty members saved the airlines by continuing to spend on their airline credit cards, even when they were not allowed to fly.
When raising funds during the pandemic, American Airlines’ AAdvantage was valued at $24 billion, and United Airlines’ MileagePlus at $22 billion, far more
