@Molson_Hart Can you find what the source was for the roads stats? It has to be so wrong that it's either a hallucination or bad source. Definitely more interesting way to compare economies though
@DellAnnaLuca Even Singapore sees some level of censorship as useful internally so they and others likely wish it for friends. But the others make sense
@MehtabKarta I'm fascinated to see how it plays out under Arnault's children. Totally different scenario where the brands are built slowly over 100+ years then are put in every big mall around the world over a few decades. Maybe the huge brand accessibility will make up for less mystique
@Molson_Hart Check out Australia's stats. Nanny state in other ways but then allows a huge gambling culture online and offline. "Only 241,000 poker machines worldwide are in non-gaming venues, with the vast majority of those – 183,000 – in Australia’s pubs and clubs."
@jeffrey56222295@benmarrow For sure they'd feel it. Still not sure why this article seems to be suggesting the airlines have tiny operating costs on these deals which doesn't make any sense
@jeffrey56222295@benmarrow There's no way Amex is agreeing to give Delta a massive profit margin when sending them $8b of business. Airlines have small margins and Delta made $6b profit in that period, so surely the bulk of that had to come from their standard cash/credit seat sales
@jeffrey56222295@benmarrow The airlines won't know without stopping points sales to find out. But the author is making the case like there would be no overlap when there would be a lot. Some cash seats are profitable and others aren't and I bet it's similar for the points seats - it's a mix
@jeffrey56222295@benmarrow Yeah it would mean there's more revenue for airlines/hotels than without points, but nothing like Delta getting $8b of purely bonus travel spend. A lot of people never have to pay for a flight because of points, so all of that spend is lost as they'd still travel without them
@jeffrey56222295@benmarrow I think the term is used interchangeably so FF miles/points that are earned by card spend, not by flying loyalty. People can use points for other things, not only flights but in the end the airline is still being paid cash by Amex to fly passengers
@Bannedforself@Molson_Hart There is now a difference as what was maybe single figure % of goods value collection is now many times that. So at some % it becomes profitable to have people doing a lot of auditing and protecting the legit importers