S02E38: Ganzos Trucos
Tonight’s Tarot: STRENGTH
Freaks of Hazard:
Tjunta $3.33
Crazy Steve $5.51
Foxfur $5
Nam for the title
Spencer, Laurien, NAM, KR, EricPP, and RevDoc Phifer for boosting
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IN THE SKY! A SCAM!
Airlines - What Are They?
Flying sucks these days. Commercial air travel is stressful, physically demanding, unreliable, dangerous, frustrating, and expensive. The average person shells out big bucks for even the cheapest airfare, and basic amenities of years past disappear more and more. Seats shrink smaller to fit more bodies and more revenue. Less food, less drinks, less comfort. Yet somehow the plane is the best part of an experience that begins and ends with the authoritarian dystopia of getting through an airport.
The Airline Industry has always been complicated and volatile. Commercial air travel itself is merely a hundred years old at best, and in many ways is still experimental. The world’s first passenger and commercial airline began in June 1910, operating Zeppelin airships. American Airlines began in the 1930’s after the original company bought up at least 82 other smaller airlines. Today, the airline companies themselves are strange behemoths who don’t seem to take any joy from their primary purpose. Similar to Apple becoming a lawsuit company that also makes phones, airlines today are turning into banks that also fly people.
The government lockdowns of 2020 crippled (and in some cases destroyed) every facet of society at the economic level, and airlines as a rule took one of the hardest hits. To weather the bureaucratic storm, airlines began searching for loans to support them while everyone was being detained at home. One such instance was United, a publicly traded company. 🧑✈️
✈️ Airlines 1 - The Early Days
In 2020, these airlines had a market cap of…
United (UAL) ~ $10 billion
Delta (DAL) ~ $20 Billion
American (AAL) ~ $6 Billion
As of August 2025, they now have a cap of…
United ~ $33 Billion
Delta ~ $39 Billion
American ~ $9 Billion
In 2020, United was valued at 10 Billion. However, through public declarations having to do with securing a massive loan, their loyalty program was shown to be worth $21 Billion. So the value of the actual airline was less than the value of their loyalty programs. Therefore…
✈️ Airlines 2 - Airlines Are Worthless
The cost of flying people is too expensive to make a profit
In 2018, American Airlines made 14.42 cents per passenger flown / 14.85 cents operating cost per mile - losing about half a cent per flyer
One commenter on YouTube had this to say…
“I work for one of the big three airlines. During our last bankruptcy they liquidated our pension. They said they had no assets of value to keep it funded. Our union pointed out that the loyalty program was worth billions. They disagreed saying it had no value that they could use to leverage any money from. Flash forward to 2020 and it is somehow now worth enough to secure billions in loans!”
✈️ Airlines 3 - Airlines Are Banks
Thankfully, their 4.2 billion in frequent flyer revenue saved them
Priority lanes, exclusive lounges, and curated airport experiences are now the norm, with flight attendants hawking airline credit cards for commission
Tokenizing of points, giving them monetary value, creating them at will and selling them to the public for “real” dollars. Issuance and control of a monetary token, much like the Fed or crypto.
This begins in the 80’s…
✈️ Airlines 4 - Airlines Are Monetizing Points
Frequent Flyer programs become possible in 1978 with the deregulation of the aviation industry
Slowly, the major airlines adopt the systems. American is the first
The true monetization of loyalty points begins with Hertz partnering with American and American figuring out how to sell those points to Hertz
The average domestic flight in 1982 was about $15
✈️ Airlines 5 - Airlines Are Not Taxed
✈️ Airlines 6 - Airlines Are Points
Exploits for the little man once existed
✈️ Airlines 7 - Airlines Are Not Exploitable
They exist no longer
✈️ Airlines 8 - Airlines Are Crafty
The airlines eradicate the last of the exploits
✈️ Airlines 9 - Airlines Have Options
Nowadays, the big airlines all have exclusive deals with major credit card companies
However, there are far more banks/credit agencies than there are airlines
Because of this, the airlines are put on a pedestal and the banks compete for them
✈️ Airlines 10 - Airlines Are Unstoppable
Thankfully the airlines are forced to continue providing air travel services for passengers
TL;DR
Airlines are credit agencies (banks) who issue their own digital currency while dodging taxes. Flying passengers is a side hustle.
How Airlines Quietly Became Banks
👩✈️
Intermission A
Intermission B
Bowl After Bowl - Wish Pigs Had Wings - Pink Floyd Medley
PRESHOW
Neo Soul x Jazz x Hip Hop
TAKE THESE, IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE!
