Of all the things Tristan invested in, he didnotinvest in commercial airlines. Not only were the stocks too susceptible to the whims of the economy and the political and natural world, crashing at the slightest whiff of a downturn in air travel, but airline corporations often lost money for no discernible reason. Commercial aviation was just a perilous industry and perpetually on the brink of collapse. Tristan didn’t see how they were still in business.
Kind of like GameShack.
Huh.
Back at the airplane, Jian was taking a nap, though he half-woke when Tristan walked in. Anjali and Colleen were sitting at one of the tables and talking.
Tristan updated them on their imminent departure and met the two pilots who’d been sent over by the jet leasing company.
The older woman grinned at him. “GetJets pulled us off a flight for one of those spoiled-brat Hollywood types who wanted to go to Thailand ‘for the weather.’ The last time someone took him to Thailand, he tried to convince the pilots that the five kilos of white powder he was trying to sneak back into the United States was sand from the white sand beaches. So thank you for getting us out of that.”
Tristan sat down next to Colleen and entwined his fingers with hers under the table. “I’m surprised you’re not taking a nap, too, Anjali.”
“Adrenaline,” Anjali said, tapping her fingers on the table. “We were sleeping when the kidnappers broke in. I can sleep when the plane gets up in the air. I noticed that there is perhaps a shower back there?”
“Yeah. There’s a shower and dressing room opposite the bathroom.” Anjali’s credit cards were scattered on the wood tabletop. Tristan asked, “What’s going on with these?”
“I am not sure where we’re going. I also just want to leave Phoenix and the United States.” Anjali held up her cell phone. “I am checking my frequent flyer miles on my airline credit cards to see if I can get a free flight to India yet. I am thinking about going home to India for a few months until fall semester.”
He nodded. “India might be a good place to lay low. You should take Colleen and Jian with you.”
Anjali glanced down at her long fingers. “If I take Jian with me, my family will insist we get married immediately. I am not sure how they will feel about Jian. I wouldn’t want to subject him to them yet.”
Tristan chuckled. “Oh. Well, in that case, maybe you two could hide out with his family in Malaysia.”
“They would definitely insist we get married, too, if we are traveling together and bring someone home to the family.”
Two strikes.“Or maybe you three could go to Paris. But wherever you go, you don’t need to use your frequent flyer miles. I got you into this problem, so I’ll be more than happy to buy you and Jian first-class tickets anywhere you want, separately or together, and make sure you’re set up for a couple of months. You might want to stay with your family in India. You should definitely take Colleen.” He turned. “Colleen, wouldn’t you like to go meet Anjali’s family in India?”
Colleen was watching him carefully, a scrutiny that felt like sunburn. “Yeah. I’d love to.”
Anjali frowned. “I would not like to go without Jian. And you do not have to buy tickets for us.” She tapped her Monumental Airlines credit card. “I have enough frequent flyer miles for two tickets to India. Plus, if I book it on the credit card, we each can check two bags free instead of paying sixty dollars for each bag. Their luggage fees are ridiculous.”
“You know, it’s funny how airlines operate,” Colleen said, her voice melodic like she was remembering something funny. “Their primary business isn’t actually flying people around.”
Tristan joked, “They sure have a lot of airplanes for a company whose primary business isn’t flying people around.”
Colleen shook her head. “I was just reading an article on them a few months ago. Monumental Airline’s net worth is fourteen billion dollars. But when they had a cash flow crisis and had to ask for a huge loan from the government, they put up their frequent flyer program as collateral, not the airplanes. Because it was the government, their loan papers were public. The cash value of their MileagePlus program was twenty-seven billion dollars.”
Tristan frowned. The muscles in his forehead were getting sore from frowning so much the past few days. “But, back to plane tickets to India or Malaysia—”
Anjali tapped her credit card on the table. “That only adds up if there are negative numbers involved.”
Colleen nodded. “So, if part of Monumental’s business was worth twenty-seven big ones but the whole business together is only worth fourteen, then they have a thirteen billion-dollar sucking black hole in their company. That’s its airline business. All those airplanes, maintenance, jet fuel, and everything else don’t pay for themselves. They lose money on every passenger-mile they fly.”
Tristan got swept up in spite of himself. “When you look at it like that, they’re not an airline. Monumental is a credit card company with a very expensive perk program.”
“And that’s why they make you get their credit card to even check your luggage,” Anjali said. “Because the whole point of their company is to make you use their credit cards because that is where they make their money.”
Tristan nodded. It was good to sit and talk with other people in his field. Sometimes, not being able to talk about coding or finance with the people around him felt isolating. “Lots of other companies do that. You can make the argument that McDonald’s is a real estate holding company. McDonald’s doesn’t make hamburgers. They own the land under the McDonald’s restaurants and the buildings, and the people who buy the franchises pay rent to them. McDonald’s money comes from rent and fees paid by franchisees who flip the burgers.”
“Or Amazon,” Colleen said. “Everybody thinks that they sell books and stuff, but the vast majority of their money is made by their web services, where they rent internet server space to everyone from Airbnb to Netflix, NASA, Disney, and the CIA.”
Anjali said, “Disney is a toy company that makes two-hour-long commercials that you pay to see.”
Colleen chuckled. “Marvel Comics thought they were comic book publishers, and then they realized they could make more money making toys from the comic books. When they tried to make two-hour-long commercials, they hit it out of the park, and now they’re a movie studio. They still make a heck of a lot of money on the toys, but they also have decades’ worth of intellectual property to make the movies. Before Marvel madeIron Man,they licensed Spiderman and other IP to other studios to stay afloat. And that’s why they madeIron Manin the first place, because they thought it would sell the most toys.”
“It’s all just a shell game,” Tristan agreed. “You think you know what a company is, but you don’t really know until you follow the money.”
