Loyalty Programs Now Pay Big Spenders More. What It Means for You

On September 1, 2026, Carnival Cruise Line replaced its VIFP Club, which ranked guests by days at sea, with Carnival Rewards, which awards points and status by dollars spent. The same day, Carnival and Barclays launched a Mastercard that earns status credit on everyday purchases. Two guests on the same sailing can now move up at very different speeds, depending on what they paid and which card they used. Carnival follows Starbucks, which split its rewards program into spending tiers in March, and United, which cut miles for members without its credit card in April.

Company documents show these programs are being redesigned to pay more per dollar to bigger spenders and co-branded cardholders, and some executives say so openly. What no company has published is audited evidence that members spend more because of it. And not every program got stingier: Hilton lowered its main status thresholds for 2026.

Key takeaways

Carnival Rewards, live since September 1, 2026, earns 3 points and 3 status "stars" per dollar of eligible Carnival spending, replacing a system based on days sailed.
On United tickets bought since April 2, 2026, general members without a United card earn 3 miles per dollar and nothing on Basic Economy. Primary cardholders who pay with the United Explorer Card earn 9.
Starbucks Rewards now earns 1, 1.2 or 1.7 Stars per dollar depending on tier. Green members' Stars can expire six months after the month they were earned.
Delta Medallion status is priced only in dollars: Gold takes $10,000 of qualifying spend, and spending on Delta's Platinum and Reserve American Express cards counts toward it.
No federal rule caps how far an airline or store can devalue points it has already issued. No public findings from a 2024 DOT inquiry into airline programs had been published as of October 10, 2026.

What it means for you

Coffee and restaurant app users. Starbucks now pays its heaviest customers up to 70% more Stars per dollar than its lightest, and occasional members' Stars can expire. See How the math changes for you.
Flyers who don't carry the airline's card. On United you earn fewer miles than before, and none on Basic Economy unless you hold Premier status. Delta's Basic fares earn no miles either. See What changed, and when.
Cardholders and status chasers. Status at Delta, Carnival and partly Hilton is now earned with dollars, and card spending can count. The worked example shows when a card's fee pays for itself.
Cruisers. Carnival told VIFP members they had to opt in by August 31, 2026 to carry their status over, Cruise Hive reported. Earning now follows spending, not nights.
Anyone holding a points balance. Programs can generally change their terms at any time, and your protections depend on where the points came from. See What regulators have done.

What changed, and when

Changes below come from each company's announcement or terms, checked October 10, 2026. Earning rates apply to the base fare or price, before taxes and fees.

Program and date	What changed	Who gains	Who earns less
Southwest Rapid Rewards, early 2025; bags from May 28, 2025	More points on Business Select fares, fewer on Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus; announced variable award prices; checked-bag fees for most travelers	Buyers of pricier fares; A-List members; cardmembers, whose first checked bag is free	Cheapest-fare buyers without status or the card
Hilton Honors, January 2026	Gold drops from 40 to 25 nights, Diamond from 60 to 50; new Diamond Reserve tier needs 80 nights and $18,000 of eligible spend	Mid-level travelers, who reach status sooner	Top-tier hopefuls: Diamond Reserve requires spending, not nights alone
Starbucks Rewards, March 10, 2026	Green, Gold (500 Stars a year) and Reserve (2,500 Stars) tiers earning 1, 1.2 and 1.7 Stars per dollar; new 60-Star, $2-off reward	Frequent customers	Occasional Green members, whose Stars can expire
United MileagePlus, tickets bought from April 2, 2026	Primary cardholders earn up to twice the miles of non-cardholders and get at least 10% off awards	Cardholders, especially Premier members	Members without a United card; general members on Basic Economy earn nothing
Carnival Rewards, September 1, 2026	Status by dollars spent (3 stars per $1), not days sailed; new card adds stars on everyday purchases	Big spenders on board and cardholders	Guests who sailed often on low fares

The sources: Southwest's March 11, 2025 announcement and April 28, 2025 cardmember release; Hilton's November 18, 2025 release as published by Lodging Magazine; Starbucks' January 29, 2026 release and Rewards terms effective March 10, 2026; and United's February 19, 2026 release. United's old rate of 5 miles per dollar for general members comes from AwardWallet's before-and-after chart.

For Carnival, the earning rates come from the Carnival Rewards program page: 3 points and 3 stars for every $1 of eligible spending with Carnival. The same page says points don't expire as long as there is eligible points activity every three years, and a status level, once reached, is guaranteed for the next two years. The launch date comes from Customer Experience Dive's report on the launch. The card terms come from the Carnival and Barclays release of September 1, 2026: no annual fee, 3 points per dollar from the card on Carnival purchases on top of up to 3 from the program, up to 4 status stars on Carnival purchases when combined with program earning, and 1 status star on other purchases. The release does not say whether that last star is per dollar or per purchase.

Delta's December 2025 update kept the dollar thresholds for 2027 status unchanged. The bigger shift came in 2024, when Medallion status moved to Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) as the only measure. For 2027 status, Silver takes $5,000, Gold $10,000, Platinum $15,000 and Diamond $28,000. Card spending counts only on the Platinum and Reserve American Express cards, personal or business: each gives a $2,500 MQD Headstart a year, plus $1 MQD per $20 of purchases on Platinum and per $10 on Reserve.

What companies say they want

Some companies state their goals directly. Southwest titled its March 2025 release "Southwest Airlines outlines changes to drive revenue growth and reward its most loyal customers." United introduced its changes as three new reasons to "hold and use" a United card. Its chief commercial officer, Andrew Nocella, put it this way:

"The best way to get the most value from the MileagePlus program is to have one of our credit or debit cards." (United Airlines, February 19, 2026)

At Starbucks, CEO Brian Niccol said on the company's April 2026 earnings call, as reported by Restaurant Dive, "We had to stop doing all that discounting. This needed to be about engagement." According to the same report, he said the new 60-Star, $2-off reward had become the most-used benefit, and Restaurant Dive put its share at about a third of all redemptions.

The money is public. Delta's full-year 2025 results report that American Express paid it $8.2 billion in 2025, up 11%, "driven by double-digit growth in co-brand spend." The trade group Airlines for America says on its Protect Our Points page that 57% of all frequent flyer miles issued in 2023 came from credit card use. Card issuers buy those miles from the airline, so a card swipe earns the airline money even when the cardholder never flies.

Where the evidence stops

These documents support one claim: programs are being redesigned to pay more per dollar to big spenders and cardholders, and less to everyone else. They don't show that customers spend more because of it, and no company has published such data. Niccol's statement that more customers now visit four or more times a week is a company claim, not an audited figure.

The trend also isn't uniform: Hilton cut its night requirements, Delta froze its thresholds, and Carnival's card has no annual fee. A more accurate summary is that rewards are being repriced in dollars, and frequent but low-spending customers lose.

How the math changes for you

What matters is the cents you get back per dollar spent:

value per point = cash price of the reward ÷ points needed
effective rebate = points earned per $1 × value per point

The cash price of the reward is what you would otherwise pay for the item or flight. Points earned per $1 is the program's earning rate for your tier, card and fare. The examples are illustrative, with assumed prices. This is general information, not financial advice, and card terms change, so check the issuer's current page.

Illustrative example: a Starbucks drink

Assume you redeem 200 Stars for a drink that would cost $6. The terms let 200 Stars cover a handcrafted drink or hot breakfast item up to $10, so a pricier order raises the value. Each Star is worth $6 ÷ 200 = 3 cents. A Green member earning 1 Star per dollar gets back 3%, a Gold member 3.6%, and a Reserve member 5.1%. Using the 60-Star, $2-off reward instead gives 3.3%, 4% and 5.7%.

Reaching Gold takes 500 Stars within 12 months, about $500 of spending or roughly $10 a week. Reserve then takes 2,500 new Stars in the 12 months after you reach Gold. At the Gold rate that is about $2,083, or roughly $40 a week.

Illustrative example: $2,000 a year on United

Assume a general member spends $2,000 a year on United base fares and values a mile at 1.2 cents.

Situation	Miles per $1	Miles a year	Value	Rebate
Before April 2, 2026	5	10,000	$120	6.0%
Now, no United card	3	6,000	$72	3.6%
Now, paying with the Explorer card	9	18,000	$216	10.8%

The card doesn't come free. Chase lists the Explorer's annual fee as $0 the first year, then $150. Subtract that and the card nets $66, a 3.3% rebate, which is slightly worse than having no card at all. The 6 extra miles per dollar are worth 7.2 cents, so the miles alone cover the fee only above about $2,083 a year in United fares. The free checked bag, award discount and miles on other purchases can change that, if you use them.

Illustrative example: a higher bar, or a pricier award

Delta Gold needs $10,000 of MQDs. A member with the Delta Reserve or Platinum card gets the $2,500 Headstart and spends $4,000 on qualifying fares. The remaining $3,500 takes $35,000 of Reserve card spending at $1 MQD per $10, or $70,000 on the Platinum card at $1 per $20. When an award's price rises from 25,000 to 30,000 points, each point loses one-sixth of its value, about 16.7%, and a 6% rebate becomes 5%.

What regulators have done

On September 5, 2024, the Department of Transportation ordered American, Delta, Southwest and United to hand over records on their rewards programs, according to DOT's release, preserved by the Internet Archive. The inquiry covered four concerns: devaluation of earned rewards, hidden or dynamic pricing, extra fees, and reduced competition and choice. The release is no longer on DOT's website. No public findings or enforcement from the inquiry had been published as of October 10, 2026.

The DOT matters because states have little room here. In Northwest v. Ginsberg (2014), the Supreme Court held that the Airline Deregulation Act preempts state-law claims that would add obligations beyond a frequent flyer program's contract. It pointed to the DOT's power to investigate complaints as the safeguard. Claims that an airline broke its own program terms can still go to court, though: the ruling repeats an earlier decision, American Airlines v. Wolens (1995), that allowed breach-of-contract claims but barred state consumer-protection claims over devalued miles.

For credit card points, the CFPB's Circular 2024-07 of December 18, 2024 warns issuers that devaluing earned rewards or revoking them under vague conditions may be unfair or deceptive. It is guidance, not a rule, and remained posted on October 10, 2026. The American Bankers Association asked the CFPB to withdraw it in December 2025.

New York's General Business Law § 520-e covers credit card reward programs only. If a card's rewards program is modified, for example by reducing point value, or is terminated, the issuer must notify the cardholder within 45 days. The cardholder then has 90 days to use points earned before the change, except in cases of fraud or misuse. Store programs follow their own terms. Starbucks', for example, say changes take effect immediately and that members waive specific notice.

Frequently asked questions

Do my Starbucks Stars expire?

For Green members, yes: Stars expire six months after the calendar month they were earned. A purchase, a reward redemption or a Star-earning digital reload of $30 or more in the month before they expire extends them by one month. Gold and Reserve members' Stars don't expire while they keep that status, according to the Starbucks Rewards terms.

Does an authorized user on a United card get the higher rate?

No. United's release limits the higher earning to primary cardholders. AwardWallet's reading of the new chart is that authorized users earn at the rate for their own Premier status, or the general rate if they have none.

Does a Delta Basic Economy ticket count toward status?

No. Delta's Medallion page says Main Basic tickets earn neither miles nor credit toward Medallion or Million Miler status. Main Cabin and higher fares earn MQDs on the ticket price, excluding taxes and fees.

Do Southwest cardmembers still get a free checked bag?

Yes, under the rules Southwest announced in 2025, for flights booked from May 28, 2025; check the current terms before you book. Southwest's April 2025 release gives Rapid Rewards credit cardmembers their first checked bag free, along with up to eight other passengers on the same reservation. Its March 2025 release gives A-List Preferred members and Business Select fares two free bags, and A-List members one.

Is a federal law coming to stop airline mile devaluation?

Not soon. Sen. Dick Durbin reintroduced the Protect Your Points Act in March 2026. It would require a year's notice before devaluations and ban mile expiration. Payments Dive reported that it had no cosponsor or House companion. Congress.gov lists the bill, S. 4244, as referred to the Senate Commerce Committee on March 26, 2026, with no later action.

Before your next purchase or trip

Run the formula above with a reward you actually redeem and your real yearly spending.
Before you open a co-branded card, divide its annual fee by the extra value it earns per dollar, written in dollars (7.2 cents is $0.072). In the United example, $150 ÷ $0.072 is about $2,083. If your yearly spending with that brand falls below the result, the miles alone won't cover the fee.
Don't stockpile points without a plan to use them. Many programs reserve the right to change terms at any time, Starbucks' terms say changes take effect immediately, and Green Starbucks Stars expire.
Before booking Basic Economy at United or Delta, check whether it earns anything for you.
If a credit card issuer devalues points you already earned, file a complaint with the CFPB. For airline programs, complain to the DOT.