Publications
Publications
- November 1991 (Revised June 1993)
- HBS Case Collection
Accounting for Frequent Fliers
By: William J. Bruns Jr.
Abstract
Airline frequent flier programs offer members the opportunity to earn free flights by accumulating mileage. Accounting and reporting the obligations of airlines and the cost of frequent flier programs raises difficult measurement issues. In 1991, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began to require airlines to disclose the number of free flights program members took. The case allows estimates of the cost and obligations of the United Air Lines program.
Keywords
Citation
Bruns, William J., Jr. "Accounting for Frequent Fliers." Harvard Business School Case 192-040, November 1991. (Revised June 1993.)