Originally Posted by
VegasGambler
FWIW, I don't think that this is off topic. It's exactly why this is such a terrible idea for the major airlines. They do not want to give up this secondary way of selling tickets (essentially, using awards to get revenue for space that might otherwise go unfilled).
Well, they could still do that even if the mileage part of the loyalty program is operated by someone else. Think Air Canada/Aeroplan/Aimia. There would just be a middle man (Hyatt in the OP's proposal) collecting the fees from various merchants/banks for the Hyatt points and then buying deeply discounted award tickets on the airline that no longer is running their own program.
Note that I am not saying that this is necessarily better than the current scheme (I am not a great fan of clever corporate merger/spin-off schemes that all seem to go back and forth like the tide... again, see Air Canada), but it was certainly hyped by many as a way to unlock hidden value on airlines' balance sheet (spin-off of loyalty programs) about maybe a decade ago. Just google "loyalty program spin-off unlock hidden value".
What I would like to hear more about from the OP is -- why Hyatt? (since we are here in the Hyatt forum)