Originally Posted by
deeseeel
Since the context seems to be accounting liabilities here, its a value should be terms of cost to the company to fulfill the obligations rather than value in terms of revenue coming in or missed.
Bingo. The liability is what it will cost AA to fulfill the future obligation. It's also worth noting that AA makes a considerable amount of money on expiring miles, which are carried as part of the liability but are factored in to the calculation (i.e. AA estimate how many of the outstanding miles they expect will be redeemed, and then estimate how much it will cost them when they are), sort of like an "allowance for doubtful redemptions".
