Amex Pays Delta 3.8 Cents Per Dollar Charged—Why Banks Pay More For Miles Than You Do

American Express paid Delta $8.2 billion in 2025, roughly $38 for every $1,000 charged to Delta cards. There’s a common assumption that banks must buy miles dirt cheap. You can buy miles from some programs for 1.2 to 1.8 cents apiece during a sale. American Express, Chase and Citibank buy billions of them, so surely they’re paying less? The bank’s total payment can work out higher per mile, because they’re buying more than the miles. They’re paying to put the airline’s name on the card, market to its customers, and they’re buying offer benefits that keep people using it. I’ve written about why the usual guesses about bank mileage prices miss this. Some public disclosures let us get much closer to how the economics works. Delta keeps saying spending on its American Express cards is approaching 1% of the entire U.S. economy. I’ve been skeptical of their rounding, and in June I used Amex’s disclosures to estimate about $217 billion in annual spending. American Express says Delta cards accounted for approximately 13% of its worldwide billed business in 2025. That total was $1.6698 trillion. Multiply the two, then compare the result with Delta’s $8.2 billion in Amex remuneration: 2025 measure Amount Amex worldwide billed business $1.6698 trillion Delta cards’ share Approximately 13% Implied spending on Delta cards $217.1 billion Delta’s Amex remuneration $8.2 billion Remuneration per $1,000 charged $37.78 Using 2025 annual U.S. economic output, that spending was about 0.71% of the economy. “Approaching 1%” is heavily rounded. And 3.78 cents per dollar is a much bigger number than many people imagine when they think about the value of SkyPesos. But it isn’t 3.78 cents per mile. Accelerated earning categories and bonuses increase the number of miles issued. Delta’s annual filing lists the accounting categories they use for Amex revenue (which lets them recognize most of it immediately rather than deferring it as a reserve against future transportation commitments). Those include brand use, customer datafile access, baggage benefits and lounges on top of the miles (and they’re also providing miles as part of Membership Rewards transfers from other Amex cards). The relationship even includes Delta’s own Amex purchasing card for jet fuel and crude oil, with a $1.1 billion credit limit (reportedly the highest Amex card account credit limit in the world). Say card spending and bonuses generated an average of 1.5 miles per dollar, dividing the broad payments by those miles would produce about 2.52 cents apiece. That’s still not exactly right but suggestive of much Amex pays to buy the business of Delta loyalists. Obviously at these prices this isn’t being funded exclusively from merchant swipe fees. As I flagged over the summer, Delta cards represented about 21% of Amex’s worldwide cardmember loans against that 13% share of spending. They are buying consumer revolve. The new SeatMaps.com Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue from IdeaWorksCompany sent me back to a revealing Sun Country contract. Their old agreement with First National Bank of Omaha spells out what the bank paid on different purchases. Purchase category Bank payment per $100 spent Card-earned points per $100 Ordinary purchases $1.78 100 Eligible grocery and gas purchases $2.00 200 Sun Country purchases $3.00 300 The underlying rewards schedule required points redeemed by activated consumer cardholders to be worth a penny apiece. On ordinary purchases, the airline collected 1.78 cents while awarding one point worth a penny toward travel. There were separate account acquisition payments as well. The airline also funded rewards beyond that. Qualifying customers earned 10,000 anniversary points after $10,000 in annual spending. A customer spending exactly $10,000 entirely in ordinary categories could earn 20,000 points, while generating $178 in spending payments. That’s 0.89 cents per point before separate account payments. Sun Country purchases also earned additional airline points beyond the card points in the table. This is why I’ve long distinguished acquisition bonuses from ongoing mileage purchases. The airline has a reason to help fund the bonus: it gets a stream of payments if the customer keeps using the card. There isn’t necessarily one price covering every point that lands in an account. United laid out an example of how expensive these deals can be – and they’re constantly complaining about how little Chase pays relative to competitors. Its 2020 MileagePlus financing presentation, page 11 showing a customer spending $10,000, earning 15,000 miles, and a partner paying $300. That’s 2 cents per mile and 3% of spending. Hotels sell the same combination of rewards and customer access, but their card revenue often leaves out much of what the bank pays. IHG explains the bank buys points, “paying a margin above the redemptive value.” That margin makes up most of IHG’s corporate co-brand revenue. The remaining sales value and redemption cost run through the System Fund that supports its hotels and loyalty program. So their $78 – 80 million of 2025 corporate co-brand revenue isn’t the total Chase spent buying points, it’s their assumed margin on the points. Marriott reported $716 million in 2025 co-brand fees. That’s their royalty revenue. Other payments fund points and benefits. Their February forecast of roughly 35% growth in 2026 card fees partly reflected Marriott retaining a larger royalty share of card issuer payments. Hyatt’s Chase renewal announcement projected roughly $50 million of 2025 profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from credit card programs and similar third-party relationships, rising to around $105 million in 2027. What hotels do disclose helps explain why banks pay so much. In May, I covered Hyatt’s report that its cardholders spend 28% more on their cards than holders of comparable travel co-brand cards. I’ve argued that Delta’s Los Angeles strategy has to be understood partly through American Express spending, the same way they actually say their Austin and Raleigh plans are. Flying to more places makes their card more relevant to people living there. A route can help them win a customer’s spending on groceries and restaurants, along with the tickets for their next trip. Topics on this page