文章揭示了航空公司利润的主要来源并非机票销售，而是信用卡奖励计划。这些无形资产的价值通常不在航空公司财报中体现，但可以通过多种途径估算。例如，在新冠疫情期间，联合航空和美国航空曾将奖励计划作为贷款抵押物，并公开了其评估价值。咨询公司On Point Loyalty在2023年和2020年发布的评估报告也佐证了这一点。进一步分析美国主要航空公司的市值发现，其奖励计划的价值在某些情况下甚至超过了航空公司本身。这意味着，机票销售实际上是航空公司推广其核心业务——销售里程——的“亏损前置”策略。美国消费者的信用卡消费，通过支付交易费用的约15%给航空公司以换取奖励计划福利，间接补贴了整个航空业的运营。

✈️ 航空公司利润核心：文章指出，航空公司真正的利润增长点并非传统的机票销售，而是其精心设计的信用卡奖励计划。这些计划通过吸引消费者使用联名信用卡，为航空公司带来了可观的收入。

💰 奖励计划的价值估算：虽然奖励计划作为无形资产通常不直接出现在财务报表中，但其价值可以通过贷款抵押物披露（如联合航空和美国航空在CARES法案下的申请）以及第三方咨询公司（如On Point Loyalty）的独立评估来量化，这些评估显示奖励计划的价值可能超过航空公司本身。

💳 消费者补贴航空业：文章强调，美国消费者每次使用信用卡消费，都会间接补贴航空业。约15%的信用卡交易费用（interchange fees）最终流向航空公司，以换取其忠诚度计划的福利，这意味着消费者在购买机票之外的日常消费也在为航空公司的运营做出贡献。

Published on October 2, 2025 5:55 PM GMT

It turns out that airlines largely do not make their from from selling tickets. Instead, airlines are primarily in the business of selling credit card rewards.

Rewards programs are intangible assets, so the financials statements of major airlines do not generally give valuations for them. However, there are a couple public sources for how valuable these rewards programs are:

During COVID, many US major airlines applied for loans under the CARES Act. Some of them used their rewards programs as collateral for these loans, and both United and American publicly disclosed their reward programs' appraised values for this purpose.On Point Loyalty, a consultancy firm focused on loyalty programs, published appraisals of most airlines' rewards programs in 2023 and in 2020. Their methodology is proprietary and it is unclear what data their numbers are based on, but the estimates agree with the CARES Act disclosures.

Major US airlines also trade publicly, so we can see what portion of the airlines' valuation is due to their reward programs. Here's a chart of the EOY 2023 market cap of the top six US airlines, their On Point reward program valuation, and the difference between those two amounts (figures in millions of USD):

It turns out that the rewards programs are, in many cases, worth more than the airline that owns them. The entire business of selling flight tickets is actually a loss leader for the airlines' real business of selling miles.

It's not just On Point's valuations being wrong either, the United and American CARES Act filings tell the same story:

In fact, the only reason airlines can afford to operate the way they do is because American consumers subsidize the industry every time they make a credit card purchase. About 15% of US interchange (the fee that businesses pay in order to accept card payments) is ultimately paid to airlines in return for loyalty program benefits.

You pay for your flights with every purchase you make, not just when you buy the tickets.

Discuss