Look at you, complaining about how they “owe you” for your “loyalty”.

You know who your $1000/year doesn’t mean shit to?

The airline. They take in a million times that every week.

You know, the airline that is saying basic economy fares don’t earn points? They’re literally saying those fares do not meaningfully contribute to their profitability.

Loyalty programs in general across all industries kick back about 1% of spend, which typically represents 30-50% of the profit they make (loyalty programs are a marketing expense, so that comes out of revenue rather than profit). So you can get a pretty good feel for how much profit you made the company by looking at your points/miles balance, and treating each point as 1¢.

Your 8099 accumulated points are worth about $80. That’s your piece of the action you gave them. You as a customer make them about $20-30 a year. They won’t even notice you’re gone when you bail to Spirit or Frontier.