Originally Posted by
MDWCommuter
At cash value for mileage tickets the earning rates will have to improve. If I can only redeem for 1c per mile, then it makes better sense to use a 2c cash back card for spend and so I won’t need a co-brand card.
Loyalty programs are limited to how much they can devalue. The only thing that keeps me going with them is the ability to redeem for much more than 2c.
airlines (at least in the US) have figured out that linking CC spend to status accrual will result in people throwing lots of spend on those cards even if its sub-optimal in terms of % returns - the "will I make silver/gold/platinum/unobtanium this year" uncertainty is a big motivator, even with the actual value of those status tiers are increasingly minimal.