{"id":37795,"date":"2026-02-20T19:54:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/?p=37795"},"modified":"2026-02-20T15:54:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:54:55","slug":"airlines-are-credit-card-issuers-that-fly-planes-to-acquire-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/airlines-are-credit-card-issuers-that-fly-planes-to-acquire-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"Airlines are Credit Card Issuers that Fly Planes to Acquire Customers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MAJOR earning change to the United MileagePlus program starting April 2. <\/div>\n
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Reminder: Airlines are credit card issuers that fly planes to acquire customers.<\/div>\n
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You will now earn a lot fewer miles than you used to unless you carry a United card. If you fly United, you absolutely should get one of their cards, even if you never use it to buy anything.<\/div>\n
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Chart below summarizing changes-<\/div>\n
Non-cardholders’ mileage earnings drop by up to 40%, while cardholders earnings increase.<\/div>\n
Cardholders also save 10-15% on every award redemption<\/div>\n
Saver award inventory in Polaris is now locked only to cardholders<\/div>\n
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So you’d be a fool not to get one of their cards – you get a lot more miles AND those miles are worth a lot more.<\/div>\n
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There is a no annual fee Gateway card but you have to spend $10k to earn the extra miles. I’d recommend the Explorer card – $0 annual fee for first year, $150 for subsequent years but it includes a $100 United credit and 70k miles sign up bonus. I got the United Quest- $350\/year but comes with a $200 travel credit and 80,000 mile signup bonus, plus it earns PQPs toward elite status.<\/div>\n
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Some context on why United is doing this and others are soon to follow: not a single major US airline was profitable after stripping out loyalty program revenue. The big 4 airlines lost ~$10B flying passengers but made $14B in profits thanks in large part to their loyalty program & credit cards. Delta has the industry leading cobrand program – they got $8.2B from Amex last year, while United only got $3.2B… so United is playing catch up and pushing cards to do it. <\/div>\n
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I bet the other major airlines do something similar.<\/div>\n
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My referral link if you’re getting a new chase card: referyourchasecard.com\/215e\/MFGBX6RMZI<\/a><\/div>\n

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MAJOR earning change to the United MileagePlus program starting April 2. <\/p>\n

Reminder: Airlines are credit card issuers that fly planes to acquire customers.<\/p>\n

You will now earn a lot fewer miles than you used to unless you carry a United card. If you fly United, you absolutely pic.x.com\/gjTzT7pMvE<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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2\/20\/26, 11:46\u202fAM<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Chapter 1 to Chapter 14\u2019s an \u201cEaster Egg\u201d at <\/span>#ch1 to #ch14. Including #ch2 which\u2019s chapter 2 at my house in Napa California<\/span><\/div>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ejeIz4EhoJ0<\/span><\/p>\n


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On 09-09-39, “What They Will NEVER Teach You at Stanford Business School” debuts at 300 w 44th St at New York Fashion Week’s front row
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QXIaNZi3mHQ<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

What A Super Model Can Teach a Harvard MBA About Credit www.slideshare.net\/larrychiang\/what-a-super-model-can-teach-a-harvard-mba-about-credit<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

American Express hosts me mentoring you about FICO scores at New York Fashion Week
t.co\/inxTmZAj<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

My video boils down 20,000 hours and moves you to the right on the entrepreneur bell curve 
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eudADPfTWiE<\/span>
<\/span>***********<\/span><\/div>\n

Steve Jobs Texted me on 650-283-8008 in the same way that Mr Jobs called Bill Hewlett <\/span>https:\/\/x.com\/superSaiyanSkai\/status\/1941392367304761636\/video\/1<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

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<\/span><\/div>\n
Larry Chiang<\/span><\/div>\n
Fund of Founders<\/div>\n
Founding Stanford EIR<\/div>\n
@duck9 alum, Deeply Understood Capital Credit Chinese Knowledge 9<\/div>\n
Solo Founder Uber API<\/div>\n
650-566-9600 Office<\/div>\n
650-566-9696 Direct<\/div>\n
Cell: 415-720-8500 <\/div>\n

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650-283-8008 (cell)<\/span><\/div>\n

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Editor of the widely syndicated “What They Don’t Teach at School”
whattheydontteachyouatstanfordbusinessschool.com\/blog<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

CNN Video Channel: ireport.cnn.com\/people\/larrychiang<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Read my last 10 X posts at www.X.com\/LarryChiang<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Author of #WTDTYASBS a NY Times Bestseller released 09-09-09 at #NYFW on a runway under the tents
whattheydontteachyouatstanfordbusinessschool.com\/blog\/?s=Ny+times+bestseller<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

www.fastcompany.com\/embed\/c0d4562ea2049<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

52 Cards. Two Jokers. What They DO Teach You at Stanford Engineering
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vDBY0GkI3-g<\/span><\/p>\n

Emergency swings and cutting deals as an 9 year old
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OFGY7v9C4G0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter Pence shared thoughts before winning WORLD SERIES’ Game #7
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=usu0luYy9pw<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAJOR earning change to the United MileagePlus program starting April 2.  Reminder: Airlines are credit card issuers that fly planes to acquire customers. You will now earn a lot fewer miles than you used to unless you carry a United card. If you fly United, you absolutely should get one of their cards, even if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}