In my opinion, it's not as simple as gift card. Factor in that Airlines/CC companies control the exchange rate of the points to travel. They pretty much created their own currency and set the exchange rate. Imagine if you could do that, what would your exchange rate be?

This is why Loyalty is the name of the game in the industry. Your customers are locked into your currency(by using your credit card brand to get points) and you get to tell them how much points they will need to burn to get your services.

The equivalent of those points to cash, after buying a ticket, would most likely be higher than those on, for example, expedia. The difference is you'd have outside competition if you sold that ticket for that price in cash. With points, no competition in your system.