Originally Posted by deepdishus
So in effect what you're saying is that each person who pays for an airline ticket, regardless of whether he or she is a frequent flyer member with that airline, shares the cost of supporting that airline's FF program?
Consider this:
#1. You go to the grocery store. You buy $100 worth of food. You give the cashier $100. Net result -- you get $100 worth of food and you're out $100. End of story.
#2. You go to the grocery store. You buy $100 worth of food. You whip out your credit card and pay for it. At the next billing cycle, you pay the $100 cc bill. Net result -- you get $100 worth of food and you're out $100 (which you paid at your convenience)
and you got 100 miles or 500 hotel points or whatever.
Who pays for those miles/points? The customer that pays cash, that's who. The store's agreement precludes them from offering a cash discount, so in effect your mileage-earning is subsidized by the cash customers.