Initial skeptics of the CARD Act predicted lower reward offers due to stringent regulations that will presumably cut down the profits of credit card companies.  A good six months after the implementation of the CARD Act, this largely hasn't happened.

Frequent flier cards are among the most popular reward cards available.  They seemed to hold a continued interest in providing captivating reward offers to cardholders in order to encourage the use of their cards.  David Gold, senior vice president with Chase Card Services commented, "with Continental, our cards are doing very well.  Over the years, the frequent flier mile has been pretty valuable. The value is there."

Market analysts suggested that the Credit CARD Act has little impact to frequent flier cards because those cards are typically held by wealthier consumers with a good credit scores.  Frequent flier credit card issuers tend to make a profit through annual fees and generous use rather than from high interest rates and late fees. 

Even so, the industry sector has been somewhat restricted by the Credit CARD Act in the type of rewards they can offer to their customers.  A survey conducted by Aite Group in 2009 showed only 47 percent of people were interested in travel miles versus other incentives such as cash back, rebates, points, and gift cards. 

Another study by IdeaWorks in 2010 showed that rewards from airlines are often hard to use.  According to the study, award seats provided by Delta and US Airways were unavailable eight five percent of the time.  Because of the difficulty involved in redeeming these air miles, consumers are less enticed by their offerings.  Airline reward cards are mainly targeting consumers who are already part of a frequent flier program.  As a result, frequent flier credit card issuers are competing over a small customer base.  A financial services analyst with Aite Group, Ron Shevlin said, "from a new acquisition and growth perspective, it's challenging.  It's not easy to get them to switch."

On the bright side, this competition is leading to better rewards for the cardholders.  Both Continental and Delta Air Lines have recently included free checked bag benefits to all members of their frequent flier programs.  Most airlines are also providing platinum incentives which allow the cardholder access to airport lounges, ticket discounts, mileage bonuses, and expedited boarding.

The continue issuance of rewards to airline credit card customers shows the CARD Act had little impact in this regards.  "The immediate knee-jerk reaction a year ago was: 'We'll have to cut back on rewards programs,'" Shevlin says. "What card issuers finally came around to realizing was that was the wrong reaction. ... We'll continue to see a lot of this rejiggering of reward programs and card features."