The US Department of Transportation is investigating airline loyalty programs on concerns the airlines are devaluing points and harming consumers. This could be the beginning of a dramatic change in the transparency and accountability standards airlines are expected to meet going forward. That could be good news for onchain loyalty programs that are far more transparent, verifiable, and secure than their traditional counterparts.

Americans value their airline points despite not knowing exactly what they're worth. The more consumers use their points, the more they care about them, and the more important it will be for points issuers to make that value clear to them.

Onchain loyalty can help by making loyalty programs more transparent about how points are earned and the value associated with them when it comes to rewards. Rather than trust the word of the point issuer, the user could see exactly how points are earned, rewards are distributed, and the total supply of points in a given program onchain. If an airline were to suddenly devalue their onchain points program by inflating the supply of points or price of rewards, customers would be able to see that and make more informed decisions about which carriers they choose to fly with.

Today, only the savviest points enthusiast knows to go visit The PointsGuy's monthly points valuation page to get a sense of what their points are worth. I wouldn't be surprised if airlines had to share this information directly on their websites in the future, like some credit cards do:

More transparency leads to greater consumer trust and can actually strengthen customer relationships with brands. That's what loyalty is all about, or at least it is supposed to be!

- bradorbradley.eth

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