Loyalty programs sell members-only experiences redeemable with miles and points

Airlines, banks and hotels are transforming loyalty programs by letting members spend miles and credit‑card points on members‑only experiences such as backstage Broadway tours, exclusive dinners and V.I.P. access to festivals and sporting events. Programs now offer World Cup tickets with American Airlines miles, Broadway backstage tours with Delta miles, film‑festival parties with Chase points and multicourse dinners paid for with Capital One points or United miles.

Companies also stage attention‑getting events — for example, a Chase Sapphire Reserve roller‑skating party that drew celebrities like Cher and Sofi Tukker and was attended by cardholder Jen Espinal for under 10,000 points; she said, "It gets you adjacent to the places that aren’t in our everyday life." Rewards have broadened far beyond flights and hotel stays: members can earn United miles for taking Lyft, Marriott Bonvoy points for ordering Uber Eats or collect extra rewards for buying Starbucks on Delta flights.

Loyalty programs are lucrative — an analysis by Jay Sorensen of IdeaWorksCompany found American and Delta each received about $7 billion from frequent‑flier programs in 2024 — and major programs count hundreds of millions of members, with Marriott saying it has nearly 260 million Bonvoy members and Delta reporting more than 130 million SkyMiles members in 2023.

Key Topics

Business, Loyalty Programs, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Marriott Bonvoy