Originally Posted by
freemanzhu
The gift registry was down for a long time, and then suddenly the Travel Bank was brought back online once the pandemic hit and United desperately needed cash. With the latest surge they may see a steep drop in bookings, and I expect in a few weeks or months the TravelBank will be back online to take your (well, Amex's) cash.
Airlines are always in need of cash. Airlines are banks.
I can't imagine that locking people's money up in a travel bank, making interest on it until it is spent, and forcing people to spend it on your airline and earn frequent flyer miles would ever be bad for the airline.