July 1988 — United Mileage Plus introduces capacity controls and blackout dates to its frequent flyer program; other airlines quickly follow.

July 1989 — Eastern Airlines awards its 1 millionth passenger, Richmond Flowers, with 1 million OnePass miles. In addition to being Eastern’s 1 millionth passenger, Flowers is also a former All-American track star at the University of Tennessee and professional football player with the Dallas Cowboys.

July 1990 — Air Canada Aeroplan becomes the first Canadian program to offer members the option of purchasing miles. The Aeroplan Mileage Purchase Plan lets members buy up to 10 percent of the reward mileage level requested. Miles can only be purchased in 500-mile increments at a cost of $10CAD.

July 1993 — Notorious as one of the few regions in the world without frequent flyer programs, Asia enters the fold with the launch of the Passages program (available to travelers on Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Malaysian Airlines) and the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus program.

July 1995 — Hyatt launches an online site with CompuServe. Within four weeks of launching the site, 622 new Gold Passport members sign up for the program via the Internet.

July 1995 — United Mileage Plus runs a unique promotion, allowing members to bid miles for the opportunity to have their names painted on a United airplane for one year. Bidding started at 500,000 miles, and 10 “prizes” were awarded.

July 2004 — AirTran’s A+ Rewards program becomes the first in the loyalty industry to offer award tickets on competing carriers. Though the carrier’s own network is exclusively domestic, members can have the program buy an international ticket on another airline for enough credits.