For many years airlines have focused on what they can do to keep their passengers loyal. One idea that has arisen is to offer more than tickets in exchange for frequent flyer reward points, and that is something many people find very satisfying.

Hotel rooms, car rentals, restaurants and electronics are just some of the extras offered by Delta, United and AirTran as rewards in their frequent flyer programs. Over 70 million people alone bvelong to the Delta SkyMiles program..

The expansion of the program to offer rewards other than flight tickets is seen very favorably by the airlines and passengers alike. The airlines see its benefits as them having more open seats to sell. The customers see the advantage of being able to select what they want in exchange for their loyalty to the airline.

Many passengers have expressed that the feel the exchange rate for flights was much too high. In some programs it takes 20,000 points or more for a domestic round-trip ticket. It may take up to $2,000 in actual paid flights to equal that amount of points, making the reward ticket’s value $2,000 as opposed to a normal ticket price of between $300 to $500 if it was paid.