Just read this. So...the airlines sell miles to the banks because this is a way to generate reliable/predictable revenue...the banks, in turn, use the miles to create co-branded cards to attract customers who aspire to travel...then the banks earn revenue on the cards through interchange fees which are charged to merchants on every single transaction (this is the bulk of their revenue, not interest) while the customers get to (have to?) travel on jets and have an elite experience.
In other countries, interchange fees are capped and there are not points/miles/bonuses etc.
This all makes me wonder how much jet fuel has been dumped into the atmosphere just to maintain fee revenue for the banks...a revenue stream largely financed by people who don't actually have credit cards in the first place or even know anything about airline miles or bonuses, but are just making cash purchases and scraping by day-to-day.
As the author writes at the end of the story, "The poor underwrite the fantasies of the middle class, who in turn underwrite the realities of the rich."
