Air Miles is fundamentally not a currency

Air Miles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Air Miles UK

In the UK, Air Miles has eight million customers.^[1] Airmiles can be collected through Lloyds TSB Airmiles Duo Credit Card accounts, Shell petrol stations, Tesco supermarkets, Southern Electric, travel products, package holidays bought in cash from Air Miles and over 100 online retailers.

The Air Miles UK website also provides an online shopping portal to a number of UK retailer partners also eBay.co.uk and Currys. Registered collectors can access retailers' websites via Air Miles Online Shopping and can collect points on purchases.

Airmiles can be redeemed for free flights with British Airways and other airlines, Eurostar and ferry crossings, cruises, hotel accommodation, car hire, travel insurance, package holidays, spa & golf breaks and UK leisure activities.

While Air Miles may not be exchangeable between customers - although as far as I know they can be used to provide tickets or benefits for other people - I would suggest that they are a very long way down the road to being a currency.

Although of course I never said thet are a currency. All of this nit-picking serves to distract from the main point.

What part of....

"Unit redeemable in payment for value supplied"

....is actually so difficult to understand for the average punter, do you think?

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson