I used my PP at an airport restaurant today. Overheard a conversation between a waitress and another customer, and she said they get $24 for every PP visit, which is a lot more than I would've guessed. She went on to say they used to only allow outbound flyers, but because accepting PP is too good of a deal to pass up, they now allow inbound use as well.

So, I totally understand the merchant side of the equation, because for every PP user that orders $28 worth of food/beverage, they get a flat $24 fee, which only a 14% discount. Especially when someone orders less, the restaurant still receives the fee in full.

It's the PP side of the math that I don't understand. Throughout the year I used my PP at least 25 times (and always +1), so the cost of having me as a member for PP should be more than $1200. And this makes me curious: who's paying for this? Most people get PP through credit cards, including me. I'm sure the annual fee contributes, but all cards that come with PP have lots of other perks as well, and I don't see a large portion of the $450 being spent on this. Or are there just too many people who have PP but never use it? Wonder if anyone's familiar with their business model.