[ilikehurdles]

You're probably right about that not being "financial engineering", as I wasnt familiar with the term prior to this article.

But other than airline rewards being generally valued more than store rewards, how are they different? I guess I can always tell the store worker "no thanks" before they start the annoying pitch, while the loud sales pitch on airlines is unskippable, blasted through everyone's audio system, and often happens when people are trying to sleep.

[rolltiide]

just more fungible and improve travel experience and status. the cards themselves are more prestigious too and also accepted everywhere. not too much of a difference after that.

consider noise cancelling headphones that aren't connected to the airplane media system