<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Shareholder:
Why would CIBC be so willing to up its stake in a program that would stiff millions of Canadians? Why did so many other banks want to get in on Aeroplan? Why does Amex want in? Why does Onex still want to keep its deal on the table?
Surely these businesses do not see Aeroplan's future being solely tied to AC, and recognize it can still meet its obligations for "free" travel. Otherwise, they too would be liable for misleading us. But the FF programs of most other carriers are owned and operated as divisions of those airlines. So if UA went down, so would Mileage Plus, as would AAdvantage if AA folded.</font>
No, several airline groups have their "loyalty" product as a separate enterprise.
UA has been given a big pile of money by Jamie Dimon and his company, Bank One - the same bank that issues the UA credit cards. Why? Because affinity cards, such as the UA cards or Aerogold, have a lower churn rate, lower marketing costs and make a significantly higher contribution to the bank's bottom line numbers.
The world does not revolve around Aeroplan, and if anything, there is the real danger that the companies involved are going to inadvertently strangle this golden goose by overextending it away from its core - by charging so much to redeem a ticket, for instance, that the points are seen by the average consumer to be practically worthless - AeroMiltons, as it were.