Analytics Report

OFOP Profitability Analysis

Understanding the true economics of Original Form of Payment refunds

Feb 2025 - Jan 2026 Author: Merritt Aho Date: January 21, 2026

Executive Summary

$1.35M
Total OFOP Revenue
Since launch
10,518
OFOP Purchases
Growing
30%
Redemption Rate
Cancellations only
18-78%
Effective Margin
Depends on assumptions
Bottom Line

OFOP profitability depends on moral hazard. OFOP purchasers cancel at 3x the rate of non-OFOP purchasers (30% vs 10%). If this is pure selection (uncertain travelers buy OFOP), margin is ~78%. If OFOP causes incremental cancellations, margin could be as low as ~18%. Truth is likely somewhere in between.

OFOP Revenue & Trends

OFOP (Original Form of Payment) allows customers to receive cash refunds instead of flight credits. Launched February 3, 2025.

Key Metrics

Metric Value
Total OFOP Revenue $1,353,247
Total OFOP Purchases 10,518
Average OFOP Price $127.58
Average Booking Value (OFOP transactions) $495.66
Current Attach Rate 0.60%

Monthly Trend

OFOP adoption has grown steadily, with attach rate increasing from 0.17% at launch to 0.60% by January 2026:

Month OFOP Purchases Revenue Attach Rate Avg Price
Feb 2025307$33,1300.17%$107
Mar 2025372$54,8550.19%$146
Apr 2025150$15,6370.08%$104
May 2025839$102,0000.41%$121
Jun 2025907$112,5440.45%$124
Jul 20251,132$136,0930.49%$119
Aug 20251,077$130,6890.50%$121
Sep 20251,186$149,9960.54%$126
Oct 20251,013$129,2160.45%$127
Nov 20251,180$162,6960.57%$138
Dec 20251,256$176,8200.59%$140
Jan 20261,139$149,5710.60%$130
Growing Adoption

Attach rate has grown 3.5x since launch (0.17% to 0.60%). Average OFOP price has also increased from $107 to $130, suggesting customers are willing to pay more for refund protection.

Redemption Behavior

When OFOP is redeemed, customers receive their booking value back as cash instead of flight credits. Note: Analysis filtered to true cancellations only (excludes adjust-journey/modify flows).

Cancellation Rate Comparison

OFOP Purchasers Cancel 3x More Often

This is the key finding for margin analysis:

Booking Type Bookings Cancelled Cancel Rate
Non-OFOP Bookings 2,701,862 271,235 10.0%
OFOP Bookings 10,526 3,201 30.4%
Differential - - +20.4pp

The 20.4pp gap could be selection (uncertain travelers buy OFOP) or moral hazard (OFOP makes cancellation easier). Likely a mix of both.

Redemption Summary

Status PNRs Percent
Not Redeemed (flew or future trip) 7,325 69.6%
Redeemed (cancelled to cash) 3,201 30.4%
Total OFOP Purchases 10,526 100%

Lead Time Analysis

OFOP purchasers book with similar lead times to non-OFOP customers - slightly more last-minute, not less:

Lead Time OFOP % Non-OFOP %
0-7 days24%21%
8-14 days14%14%
15-30 days21%21%
31-60 days20%21%
61-90 days9%10%
91-180 days11%10%
180+ days2%1%

Margin Analysis

The true margin on OFOP depends critically on whether OFOP causes cancellations (moral hazard) or simply attracts customers who would have cancelled anyway (selection).

Economics Framework

Key insight: When a customer with OFOP cancels, they get cash back instead of flight credits. Without OFOP, those flight credits would eventually become revenue for Breeze:

So each OFOP redemption costs us the breakage revenue we would have recognized (20% × $435 booking = $87).

The Moral Hazard Question

The cancellation rate data raises a critical question:

If we assume... Then the cost of redemption is...
Pure selection
All 30% would have cancelled anyway
Lost breakage only = $87
(They'd have gotten flight credits)
Full moral hazard
Only 10% would have cancelled; OFOP caused the other 20%
Mix of lost breakage + full booking value = much higher
(We lose flights that would have flown)

Margin Sensitivity Analysis

Three Scenarios

All scenarios use: OFOP price $119, booking value $435, breakage 20%, OFOP cancel rate 30.4%, baseline cancel rate 10%

Scenario Assumption Effective Margin
Pure Selection All cancellers would have cancelled anyway
Cost = lost breakage only ($87)
78%
50% Moral Hazard Half the gap is OFOP-caused
10.2% incremental cancellations
48%
Full Moral Hazard All excess cancellations are OFOP-caused
20.4% incremental cancellations
18%
Most Likely Reality

The truth is probably between pure selection and 50% moral hazard. People who buy OFOP are likely more uncertain travelers (selection), but having OFOP probably also makes the decision to cancel easier (some moral hazard). Best estimate: 48-78% margin.

Calculation Detail

For 100 OFOP purchases under the 50% moral hazard scenario:

69.6 don't redeem $119 × 69.6 = $8,282
20.2 would have cancelled anyway ($119 - $87) × 20.2 = $646
10.2 OFOP-caused cancellations ($119 - $435) × 10.2 = -$3,223
Total value $5,705
Margin $5,705 / $11,900 = 48%

Customer Retention Impact

Do customers who get cash refunds via OFOP come back to book again?

90-Day Repurchase Rates

Refund Type Users Repurchased Repurchase Rate Avg Days
Flight Credit Refund 155,183 55,099 35.5% 26 days
OFOP Refund (Cash) 1,952 550 28.2% 27 days
Difference - - -7.3pp +1 day
OFOP Refunders Less Likely to Return

Customers who receive cash back via OFOP are 7.3 percentage points less likely to book again within 90 days compared to those who receive flight credits. This makes intuitive sense: flight credit holders have "Breeze money" that incentivizes rebooking, while cash refunders have no lock-in.

Implications

Insights & Recommendations

Key Takeaway

OFOP is likely profitable, but margin depends heavily on moral hazard assumptions. Best estimate: 48-78% margin. The 3x higher cancellation rate among OFOP purchasers (30% vs 10%) is the critical uncertainty.

Recommended Actions

1 Validate breakage rate - Confirm 20% assumption with finance data on actual flight credit expiration. This directly affects margin calculation. Finance
2 Investigate moral hazard - Survey OFOP purchasers who cancelled: would they have cancelled without OFOP? This is the key unknown. Research
3 Consider pricing adjustment - If margin is toward the lower end (48%), higher OFOP pricing could improve economics. Test elasticity carefully. Pricing
4 Monitor cancellation rate trend - If OFOP cancellation rate increases over time, it may suggest growing moral hazard as customers learn the product. Analytics

Caveats

Technical Appendix

Methodology

Analysis used GA4 event data from BigQuery. OFOP purchases identified via item_id = 'OFOP' in purchase events. Redemptions filtered to true cancellations only (path contains /cancel/), excluding adjust-journey and modify flows which represent flight changes, not true cancellations.

Data Sources

  • breeze-airways.ga4_outputs.ga4_events - Purchase and refund events
  • Date range: Feb 1, 2025 - Jan 21, 2026
  • Refund path filter: path LIKE '%/cancel/%'
  • Excluded: /adjust-journey/, /modify/, /reimburse/ (IROPs)

Key Definitions

  • OFOP Redemption: PNR with OFOP purchase that later appears in a refund event on the cancel path
  • Cancellation Rate: % of bookings that result in a refund on the cancel path
  • Breakage: Flight credits that expire unused - recognized as revenue (assumed 20%)
  • Moral Hazard: When OFOP causes cancellations that wouldn't have happened otherwise
  • Selection: When uncertain travelers are more likely to buy OFOP (correlation, not causation)

Margin Calculation Assumptions

  • OFOP price: $119 (average)
  • Booking value: $435 (average)
  • OFOP cancellation rate: 30.4%
  • Non-OFOP cancellation rate: 10.0%
  • Flight credit breakage: 20% (assumption - needs validation)
  • Cost of redemption if would-have-cancelled: lost breakage = 20% × $435 = $87
  • Cost of redemption if OFOP-caused: full booking = $435

Limitations

  • GA4 data only - no direct reservation system integration
  • Cannot directly measure moral hazard - the 3x cancellation rate could be selection, moral hazard, or both
  • Breakage rate (20%) is an assumption that significantly affects results
  • Repurchase analysis (7.3pp gap) not included in margin calculation but noted as additional LTV impact