The partner that AS teamed up with to build the subscription service describes it here (in a pitch to airlines, not travelers):
https://www.caravelo.com/travel-subscriptions/
Modernize and increase your revenue streamsIf you work in travel, you have a choice. You can focus on individual bookings and constantly re-acquire customers, or you can create a healthy mix of individual sales and subscribers that will book automatically every month.
The choice is simple, and it’s why so many industries have integrated subscription models into their sales strategy.
Isn’t the loyalty program supposed to solve the customer re-acquisition problem? Do they think there is a big market of people who weren’t “loyal” to Alaska via MileagePlan and now sign up for this new scheme?
Frankly, most subscriptions for products that historically weren’t subscription-based because they were more of a product purchase model (software licenses, for example) tend to be great for the company but not so good for the consumer.