Reward travel for airline loyalty program members has gotten significantly more expensive since 2019, according to a report from IdeaWorksCompany, a consultancy. Key findings of the research include:

• Prices of rewards (in miles or points) have increased significantly since 2019; they have risen by seven points above the rate of inflation for the same period.
• Reward payback for 2024, which measures the reward value provided per dollar spent on base fares, dropped overall more than half from 2019.
• Basic economy fares are disrupting the value provided by frequent flyer programs through policies that reduce or eliminate mileage/points accrual.

The survey assessed six US airlines and repeated the methods used in 2019.

Basic economy fares have been embraced by major carriers as an important source of revenue and new customers, according to the report, and yet airlines actively discourage sales with policies designed to deter consumers from buying these fares. For example, basic economy is nonrefundable and often does not accrue miles/points in the same manner as other fares.

Southwest Airlines, according to the research, leads US airlines with the lowest overall average reward price. The airline does have an inherent advantage because it focuses on short- and medium-haul routes and frequent flights, according to the report. Reward prices tend to be lower for shorter flights, and demand is more readily met with more flights.

The report also said that while the programs in the past had been used to encourage customers to buy more tickets and fly more often, “that logic seems lost in an era where the loyalty factor has been disrupted by the rush to generate billions from co-branded card portfolios.”