1. "Loyalty programs" is an industry-standard name for everything from S&H Green Stamps forward. What something is called is not necessarily indicative of what it actually is. You still may "dial" a number on a phone, but where's the dial? The term is historical. A TV "reality show" is again just a name, and please don't expect 100% or even 50% or 25% reality it from it, it's just a term to contrast with 100% scripted shows. Names not being (accurate) descriptions is extremely common, so I don't know why you expect "loyalty programs" to really be just about loyalty.

2. The value of flights is easily quantifiable (ahead of time, without knowing what a given person will redeem for)? I don't understand. In some programs, you can redeem about 50000 miles for any seat on a $100 flight, or you can redeem the same 50000 miles for capacity-controlled one-way business class ticket across an ocean priced in cash at several thousand dollars. How in the world then is the value of that 50000 miles "easily quantifiable"?

3. I can't think of when toasters were given as part of loyalty programs. You're confusing loyalty programs with signup bonuses. Toasters were the "original" signup bonuses (ie, they were given when you joined a bank, as opposed to you getting toasters regularly if you were in some program).

So, yes, your brand loyalty is hard to quantify, I'm sure. It's just that the other side of most loyalty programs is almost as hard to quantify, in my opinion. (I presume straight uncapped consistent no-hoops cashback is the most quantifiable of loyalty programs, but that's not the example you chose to focus on. And, in a sense, straight consistent cashback cards impose your loyalty in that if you don't use them you don't get the cashback. Isn't that more quantifiable than your airline example?)

Ie, at the start, you tried to make your post be all about loyalty programs in general, but status programs and points programs are two very different things. It's status that gives you lounge access, not the point you earn. It's miles/points that give you flights, not status. So while perhaps airline loyalty programs combine two different "currencies" (miles/points and elite status levels), those two things work very differently, and how easy/hard is one to quantify is not necessarily the same as how easy/hard the other is to quantify.