Amber Epp, associate professor of marketing in the Wisconsin School of Business, quoted: “Whether the airlines or consumers benefit most depends on how the programs are structured (e.g., blackout dates, types of rewards, points expiration, reward structure). For airlines, the profits are not so much related to the business they gain directly from consumers, but rather from the money they make on selling miles to other companies (e.g., credit cards, restaurants, etc.) for consumers to cash in as rewards.”
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