Banks, hotels & a few airlines let you convert points to gift cards but the conversion rate for miles in particular is trash (less than $0.01 / mile).
Using them for an international business / first class flight can easily pass $0.05 and often $0.10 or $0.20 per mile, but this makes it easy for the airline to cancel & return the miles unless someone is flying same-day.
Yes. They can be turned into gift cards and resold online. I remember reading somewhere that most of an airline's profits come through their loyalty programs.
