Airline miles have long been the secret currency of the frequent traveler—a rewards program that largely benefited well-established travelers with good credit and lots of disposable income. But for many younger adults, particularly those who are just beginning financially, these rewards have seemed utterly out of reach. That’s where Rove enters the picture. This new venture, started by Max Morganroth at age 22, is turning things on their head, allowing Gen Z to accumulate airline miles without ever having used a credit card.
Morganroth’s concept germinated after spending his junior year abroad. He had traveled to 30 nations in a single year, usually flying first or business class. He did so nearly all on airline points, painstakingly accumulated through credit card signups and strategic redemptions. But when he explained his approach to friends, he found himself against a brick wall. The majority of his peers, including some of his fellow Wharton students, weren’t eligible for the top reward cards or didn’t have the time or inclination to master the points game.
And they aren’t alone. As Morganroth estimates, roughly 70 million Americans lack the credit record it takes to be approved for premium rewards cards. Meanwhile, travel interest—particularly among Gen Z—is as strong as ever.
What ignited Rove was unexpected: Hong Kong. While traveling there, Morganroth saw how Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles scheme functioned as a second currency. Inhabitants could earn miles on nearly everything—from a meal at 7-Eleven to the signing of a bank account. Even property transactions sometimes involved miles. And everything, more notably, transpired without credit cards.
That insight prompted Morganroth to join forces with Harvard dropout Arhan Chhabra to create Rove—a one-size-fits-all airline miles platform that would provide on-ramps to travel rewards for young, credit-invisible consumers. Their value proposition to airlines was straightforward: access a younger demographic hungry to travel but shut out of legacy reward systems.
Rove’s system is a significant departure from the credit card-based model that dominates in the United States. Instead of working with banks, Rove has direct agreements with airlines and over 7,000 merchants. Users accumulate points through shopping using Rove’s Chrome extension or through online hotel bookings on the platform. Those points are redeemable as airline miles, usually with a higher value than traditional cash back.
If the setup sounds familiar, it’s because Rove borrows from affiliate models like Honey and Rakuten. When someone shops through Rove, the company gets a commission from the retailer. Instead of keeping that money, Rove passes it along to users in the form of airline miles. The hotel bookings, in particular, are a win-win—some properties offer commissions as high as 40%, and Rove turns that full amount into miles for the traveler.
Rove has also assembled a strong list of airline partners for a company of its age. Morganroth and Chhabra secured deals with the mileage programs of 11 airlines, including household names such as Air France-KLM, Aeromexico, Finnair, and Qatar Airways, after being part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 batch. Those kinds of deals usually go to large banks, and they assisted Rove in securing $2 million from prominent investors such as General Catalyst and Soma Capital.
What makes the site so appealing is that it is flexible. Users can combine miles on a daily basis, hotel stays, and regular credit card points in case they already possess those. When booking a flight is necessary, Rove assists users in finding award offers, the best, most times through partnerships that allow miles to span 140 different airlines, even though Rove only has direct deals with 11.
For Gen Z, the value is obvious. As Morganroth phrases it, you no longer need to spend years accumulating credit or hundreds of dollars a year in fees to begin racking up genuine travel rewards. Through a browser extension and some savvy buys, new travelers can start gathering miles and planning their next adventure.
Rove’s strategy is more than an astute tactic for scoring points—it’s an indication of transformation in the world of loyalty. By democratizing airline miles through daily spending, the brand is rewriting who can have access to travel rewards. And for a generation obsessed with experiences above all else, that transformation couldn’t be at a better moment.
