In the meantime, I am busy burning United miles after the mother of all devaluations yesterday!
Exit Row seat is the new Flat Bed!
TBB will return when he feels like it, I need a mental break to recuperate from yet another stab in the back!
Need to reevaluate this hobby. The writing has been on the wall the past few years, getting hit by all directions. Can you think of a positive change in the loyalty programs recently? The only positive changes have been on the earning front which I argued before is NOT the “best of times but the worst of times“. United’s announcement was proof.The game is just not as juicy as it used to be and the trend is NOT going our way!
American and US Air, when they get together, will bypass all these mega incremental moves and come out with a “newly enhanced” program that will make United’s changes look like child’s play. The game has changed folks. Too many miles floating around, airlines make money and they have the upper hand. What ya gonna do? Go elsewhere? There is nowhere to hide.
Forget your aspirational trip ways, get used to flying coach again, the good old days are about over. I always wanted to visit the magnificent US National parks anyway, thanks for the push United!
For all you bloggers who tried to take these news and push more credit cards, shame on you!
For all you bloggers who posted about the IHG Rewards Pointbreaks and did NOT even mention how your readers can get 16 nights for free, shame on you!
I post some pics that never made it into my blog. The one with the kit kats is mine, daddy tax 🙂 The rest are from THECHIVE.COM. Have a laugh or two!
LOL at the second pic with Smisek.
Secondary 1st?
I have a peanut butter cup tax at our house. I love the ad council sign as well.
Buck up, little cowboy, it’s not that bad. It’s about the travel…always was, always should have been. We’ll still get from A to B for less than we could have otherwise, and stay there for less than most.
I have to agree with The Deal Mommy on this…maybe fewer trips up front (but the way up from is disappearing anyway) but it is about the destination and the experiences. If I can still get there cheaply and stay at a reduced rate, I’ll be quite happy. Good things will still happen…..and those good things can be covered in your blog.
Yup, it is bad, but it isn’t so bad that you should turn in your miles and retire. Just have to play smarter and care more about the destination than the seat you are in to get there. I’m a bit spoiled, so I still want my seat to be flat on long flights, but not a huge deal to me what carrier that is on.
Susan: See my response to TDM 🙂 Loved the Austrian Airlines coffee post, it is queued up for next TBB Buzz post! The trend in the miles/points world is not our friend #coldfacts
Mommy Points: Yeah, I know what you mean. It should always be about the destination but, let’s face it, a big part of our “group” is in it for the “bang” you can get up front! Bloggers (sorry, I can’t help it) who promote credit cards on their blogs and showing what “bang” you can get for them (has been true of course) ARE contributing to the problem of oceans of miles piled up looking for elusive award seats in planes that have never been as full as they are these days. Oh…guess what, got a text…100,000 British Airways Visa offer is back…So, u see my point, we can’t have it both ways. The difference is you and all other bloggers are raking it in and I am not and it is NOT fair lol. (come on Rick, get back in here, we are all waiting)…Ok, I need more coffee!
Can’t wait
And….the rest of my post disappeared…. Thanks! 😉
Susan: I have no idea what happened! I don’t censor. I went through the spam folder and there is nothing there from you.
On the other hand, I left a comment on your Austrian coffee post and never posted. Probably sitting somewhere in spam folder where it does not belong 😉
Give up this hobby? No way! I am going to sound like someone’s grandmother (which I am not), but I flew around the world with a backpack for months before there were even frequent flier miles available. I got in on a sweet mileage ticket deal with 16 stops going the same direction. I flew to New Zealand on a ticket where you gave them a week and they called you 24 hours before your flight. That was then and this is now. My goal is to see as much of the world as I can. Period. This hobby has made it so much better and more fun. Heck, I flew for decades before I ever flew in a business class seat. Even though I am AA EXP, I still have the Southwest companion class because it is a good deal and sitting in coach is worth it for $2.50 each way! So, the game keeps changing? Change with it. Change those expectations. Get creative. I’m 80 countries, 168 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and counting…
Yeah I know what you mean. But the game has sure turned to the worst and the outlook is just not that bright! Is there still value in it? Yes of course, we are still here!
Just have to marvel in the unexpected and not be too tied to entitlement. My favorite hack is still the time I flew Lufthansa business on USAirways miles in business to Europe. On the fight home, they were offering 1600 Euros to anyone willing to give up their business class seat and be bumped down. I jumped at it and made money on my flight. They put me in an exit row seat and it was not the end of the world. Take real money over a few hours of comfort? Me, yes. The devaluations will be felt hardest by those who really cannot imagine travel any way but up in front. I love sitting up front too and I am plenty used to it now, but stop traveling? Not until I can’t.
I would take the 1,600 euros too without even blinking 🙂
We are on the same page on the rest too. Maybe it’s good for the soul too as we were all getting way too “entitled” lol.
Can’t say I really blame you George. You have dedicated so much time and effort in an attempt to keep your minions better informed and entertained, it’s gotta hit hard when the carriers and hotels keep making it more difficult to find seats and rooms, then raise the “price” on top of that. The “game” most definitely has changed and it’s unfortunate that the very blogs that depend on the success of the game, are contributing to its demise. It’s all about the money now. If the ‘pimp’ bloggers could figure out a way to get people to sign up without actually writing anything, I believe they would. MMS is giving away of bunch of passes. I have. Made derogatory comments in his blog in the past so was not the least bit surprised my simple comment of, AA passes please, was deleted.
I have really enjoyed your blog. Found it by accident about 7 months ago and has been required reading every day since. I hope you don’t pack it in, but totally understand if you do.
I am mourning the United devaluations also. Hope you don’t give up the blog. I look forward to reading it every morning you have a new post. Its nice to see honest fresh content.
@Ctravlr: Yeah, it was a good laugh. It was late…I could have found more.
@SpencerF: “Secondary First”. Lol, now that is a first!
@Aaron: Never got into peanut butter. Kit kats all the way!
@TheDealMommy: What? It is about the travel? A quick scan of the blogs would make me think it is all about the clicks on Ink Bold and Amex Platinum while taking selfies on flat beds sipping champagne and eating caviar? Ok, yes there is still value in this of course. But the value is decreasing in a rapid pace. Trending downward with no bottom in sight. The only way to enjoy a reverse is to have another mega financial crisis to scare the crap out of everybody! But who really wishes this, I hope noone! So…the beat goes on…
@Another Mark: Thanks for the kind words, really appreciated. November 9 is my 1 year anniversary. Blogging is exhausting and taking time away from more precious things. I may bitch about it here but, deep down, enjoying doing things my own way, raising hell and calling BS on others. But, as my friend FTG has indicated, if I tone it down I may have more commercial appeal. He is right. Perhaps this is the reason the nice gal from an affiliate company has been avoiding me after she was supposed to review my site. Maybe TBB is toxic. I don’t know. I need to put up a page & let readers decide to help me out if they want. I can not see myself pumping away here daily as so many other bloggers do. Bottom line: I can’t be putting so much effort at this while getting lawsuit threats. At the same time, I feel like the miles/points game is ending before our very eyes so why beat myself up? So many thoughts in my head, it has been like this for months. I keep going waiting for an epiphany. It has been a wild ride indeed, very educational and fun! But it has been taking a toll and I need to figure out a way to help compensate that, make it a once a week mega rant blog, or go home and really focus on my other passion (which brings food on my family’s table and future prospects are very bright (instead of hollering here against the Milevalue type bloggers and the next mega devaluation!)
I am rambling. I need more coffee. Thanks for the feedback as always.
@johna: Thank you. Welcome here, I appreciate the feedback.
I saw what you said about the BA card coming back and, hey, that’s pretty good news! Only two bloggers in my list have written about it so far.
The lady from Mommy Points cracked me up with this line in her mention “In case you are curious about such things, this is not an affiliate offer.”
LOL!
I’m a mostly-UA flyer, which will change when my status runs out. I’m also now, thankfully, a very infrequent flyer.
I agree that it’s mostly back to economy seats for us (non-rich) leisure travelers unless one is going on routes exclusively served by United. It’s often hard to get >2 cents per mile when flying on economy reward tickets for United-only destinations. (For example, to Japan, Central America and northern South America, and others.) For that reason, moving most of my non-bonus spending to a 2.2 cents-per-dollar return makes sense, and will be the default for a while.
The key, as always, remains diversification in churning and spending. There will still be United sweet spots, and times when an airline’s miles will be worth >2 cents. I shake my head at people complaining that they are sitting on >1 million United miles stashes. In that case, you’re either too busy flying to take vacations, or you were expecting a spike in redemption opportunities that was never coming. Both sound like lousy options to me. And yes, the countdown timer has started for the upcoming AA/US devaluation. Expect to read “90K miles to Asia via Europe was one of the best deals …. yadda yadda yadda…” again.
It would be helpful for bloggers (FMiler, MV, others) that developed valuations for a United mile to re-calculate/re-estimate in light of the changes. That’s a worthwhile post, in my mind.
George, seems like you could use some of that LA drink credit while it hasn’t expired LOL
I wrote a similar post this morning: http://lenticulartravel.com/united-end-game/
I think it’s the end. I honestly can’t see myself putting such a high effort into this game just
to be awarded a lame economy ticket. Even financially it doesn’t make sense to me.
The game is not free, the award fees are higher and higher, compare this to priceline
or something and suddenly it makes no sense what so ever… Plus I would have a hard time
forgetting what I could/did get for my miles – high value higher cabin flexible tickets which
I value at at least 5 cents/mile, often more.
I can’t see how I could offset such an increase with my higher earning. I’m having hard time
already to see how people are earnings “millions” of miles every year if most of the credit cards
are not repeatable. Purchasing miles makes no sense neither…
Obviously the bloggers with the business depending on people believing in this game will
try to sugar coat it, but I think it’s simply not fair. And we all know AA and USAir will follow soon
which really makes me sad as I have some plans for 2015 related to my AA and US miles
and Asian airlines with higher cabins. It was good, but that’s it, going back to collecting stamps…
That is a very US centric view! Even if all the US schemes follow, the rest of the world won’t. I did New York to Berlin in J on airberlin twice this year for 40k Avios and $2 tax, one way. That isn’t going away, indeed it gets better as flat beds come in.
Anyone who earns miles from actually flying can just switch to another scheme in the same alliance. Which is where United should come unstuck, because anyone with half a brain should switch to an airline with a friendlier chart and who is an SPG or Chase UR or Amex MR partner.
And how much longer there will be a “friendlier chart” available? A year, maybe a year and a half? Chase doesn’t have any other airline partner, sorry Korean (?). As of today AA and USAir are two programs left for me to use, I repeat after George again – for how long? To me the biggest thing people somehow forget is the breach of the contract both sides agreed to respect. When I earn miles I follow the rules and expect the other party to follow the rules. It clearly doesn’t work that way, but that’s not right, is it? My miles were not “given” to me, I earned them, and yes, I don’t do any crazy MS or anything, I fly, put spending on my cards, this kind of things…
George, I cannot say that I understand this “first world problem” since we have always been in coach. I learn about this hobby in the last couple of years, and it has helped us to reduce our travel costs twice per year. In my own former country, and in other third world country, there are children whom would need to swim across river just to go to school, please see the link listed below here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1O8rwAZhfk
From this perspective, it is not that bad. I hope that you take a little break and then would continue to work on this blog. Thanks, and have a great weekend.
I’ve always been about the destination, not the “journey”. Our 2015 trip to Africa using UA miles will have to be in Y now as I doubt I can earn an extra 140k to put us in J while living in Australia. We’ll still have a fantastic trip though!
My United Explorer card comes up for annual fee in Jan, I wonder if they will be sweetening the retention bonuses. It’s def not worth the $95 fee now unless they cough up at least 10,000 miles.
I think I have been banned by Boarding Area. I tried to comment on VFTW today and in the past week a couple of their other blogs (OMAT, forget what other ones) and it keeps going to spam and not getting approved. I press “submit”, the tab refreshes and nothing happens, not even a message that the moderator will look at my comment. My comments are polite and on topic so no reason they shouldn’t be approved. This is something new as I used to be able to comment on Boarding Area blogs with no problem.
It’s not just BA, I tried to comment on a F2B blog and Lenticular Travel and got the same thing. How do I fix this so I can comment on blogs? George, the same thing was happening here until I tweeted you and you fixed it. What did you do?
@bluecat: Yeah, interesting. The min spend is up to $20k with the 100k offer, wow! I also got a good laugh about that reference too.
@harvson3: Yeah I so agree with you…again. Right on.
@Andrew: It is not the end. The end is nearer. Collecting stamps is underrated 🙂 Things are good for the airlines these days. We took advantage of them for a while, now it is blowback time 🙁
@Nguyen: This hobby “damages” people. Once they taste the “good life” up front a certain “entitlement” mystique takes over their brain and tends to make them justify all sorts of things. I know, I was there. You need to experience it to “get” what I want. We all got high with it. The last couple of years it has been all downhill. The UA changes was the wake up call. I saw the light last year and told Delta to stick it. I now fly Southwest domestic for free and…I like it! Definitely a firstworld problem and, frankly, considering all what is going in the world is…embarrassing to even be bitching about these unimportant things!
@Tara: I went to the spam folder and found your message and I clicked on “Not Spam” and then approved it (or something like that). Ever since you are good to go here. I think that is what each blogger must do to “approve” you. You just need to let them know and make sure they see your message so they can do that extra step. If not, your comments will never post in that specific blog, it goes straight to the chaos in the Spam folder.
By default, every WordPress blog puts every new message (from an individual username/email) into a pending “folder” that has to be manually approved. After you are approved once, 95% of your posts should go through automatically on that site unless you post multiple links in a single comment. Of course, many comments are marked as spam due to various criteria, but if you are actually a person (not robot), you should not worry about it.
That’s happened to a few people I know, but if you let the blogger know then they can check the spam folder and un-spam you . Otherwise, most of us don’t check spam folders with any regularity (if at all).
Everytime I enter my spam folder I get so…scared!
LOL you have something against Ugg boots, Prada bags & female “enhancements”?
Seriously, why do spammers even think our readers would be interested? Why do they bother? Why can’t they all just go away and leave us alone?
Normally I’m against killing but this article slueahtgred my ignorance.
The most recent “positive” change in the travel game that I remember is SPG / Delta crossover and the Marriott / United crossover (not so much now).
Sorry that the news has caused you to drink, err eat kit kat bars. If you have too many, feel free to mail them to me 🙂
American and US Air, when they get together, will bypass all these mega incremental moves and come out with a “newly enhanced” program that will make United’s changes look like child’s play. “The game has changed folks. Too many miles floating around, airlines make money and they have the upper hand. What ya gonna do? Go elsewhere? There is nowhere to hide.
Forget your aspirational trip ways, get used to flying coach again, the good old days are about over. I always wanted to visit the magnificent US National parks anyway, thanks for the push United!
For all you bloggers who tried to take these news and push more credit cards, shame on you!”
—————————————————–
George, what are you talking about, man?
What are we gonna do without credit cards? Pay cash? Quit travel?
So we’ll fly on United metal and not Singapore. Or, god forbid, brave coach to Europe and Asia if things really get out of hand:).
But come on, I plenty agree with others who’ve said the same thing. At the end of the day, it’s about the destination. If the loss of the first class benefits causes some folks quit travel, it means they’ve been in it for the wrong reason all along.
I’m mindful, too, of what’s coming after AA and US big wedding day. But with the latest, there is at least some hope left. Let DOJ and others know how you feel. Go to my blog (shameless) http://lazytravelers.net/united-gutted-part-2-stop-aa-and-us-merger-before-its-too-late and send emails to every party involved in the DOJ lawsuit. To everybody: please do so even if you never click on a backlink out of principle. Feel free to copy the contact information and put it on your blogs and tweet or FB to your followers. Let’s sow the wind and see what happens:).
TPG is such a sh*t. He did post yesterday about the return of the 100k signup bonus for the Chase Visa (without attribution to any other blog that wrote about it first, natch). So today he writes about the BA companion award ticket and includes two links to the … inferior 50k affiliate offer. He includes a link to his earlier post on the 100k offer, but if he cared about his readers why would he include his own inferior links?
Eye of beholder. The new offer does not waive the $95 fee. I personally don’t see myself spending $20,000 a year to get the extra 50,000 Avios, especially that I’m not interested in a companion ticket.
@Andy Shurman.. try again. The fee waiver on the 50k offer went away a week or two ago. He was linking to a 50k offer without annual fee waived. But the bloggers should be happy because it looks as though the 100k offer has migrated over to the commission channel now!
I take it back, the commission links are still at 50k. I imagine that TPG reads the comments here or he got a bunch of nasty comments to his own site because it appears as though he has switched the links and is now sending folks to the 100k offer. Beholder my butt!!!
Anon, you sound very angry. I checked my own 50K BA link about 4 days ago (not weeks), and it showed the fee waived for the 1st year. Now when I click THE SAME LINK, it goes to the 100,000 offer. Maybe what happened was the link first changed to no waived, and then to 100K? I have no idea if this is what you encountered on TPG site, but it’s not impossible.
For the aviation junkies who want to sit in a particular seat on a particular plane and whose trip highlight is breathing lounge air, the game is getting a lot more difficult. But for anyone (especially families) who want to see the world, United announced a small price increase for the tickets most of us would buy with cash and a larger one for premium class tickets with long-haul segments on partner airlines.
The game changes, we figure out how to maximize our points with those changes, and all is well. If you want those premium cabin seats, plan to pay YQ like everyone outside the U.S. has had to for years, or pay way more miles. Just like you would with cash.
There are many blogs I would be happy to see disappear, TBB is not one of them. Hang in there George! Think about, say, your trip to the Canadian Rockies, which didn’t change one measly mile in price. I just looked outside and the sky is still up where it belongs.
That pig … er … dog … needs lipstick!
The only thing that won’t change after 2/1 is the bloggers shilling the UR cards
They’ll just need to find new angles to do it
Expect 12 part series on the Korean Airlines program
I’m looking at KE as a potential use of UR points. It seems like a complicated program so I wish someone WOULD do a series on it! LOL I’ve been looking on FT http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/korean-air-skypass/1518140-using-chase-ur-ke-skyteam-awards.html but most people seem to use it for KE awards, not partners.
I can see 3 partners that would be of use to me: KQ, GA & AR since I may have trouble getting availability on the SYD-SCL on QF or AKL-SCL on LA for the 2016 trip to Peru & Bolivia.
@Grant: The two changes you indicated were positive I guess. But very minor in a few programs many don’t even bother with (Delta and Marriott). My point is still valid 🙂
Kit kats are pretty much gone!…Oh, time to have another one!
@Andy: I did not say anything about credit cards. I see no sign of the banks to stop offering enticing bonuses and the airlines gladly selling them the miles. Apparently there are still lots of suckers out there who subsidize us 🙂 What I did say was the value proposition and the “hook” most cc pushing bloggers use to reel in newbies (pics of flat beds/champagne/caviar/onboard showers/etc) will certainly be diminished. Paying up to 100k more in miles for a trip up front is just NOT as juicy as it has been!
Yes it is and should always be about the destination. But, if you look around the blogosphere, it has been, for a while now, ALL about the clicking on affiliate credit cards.
I applaud you for trying to fight the changes. Hope it works. Will I bet any money on this? Hell no! They CAN do this.
@Anonymous: No need for foul language. See my previous comment to Andy: “… it has been, for a while now, ALL about the clicking on affiliate credit cards.” When a particular link pays you it is hard to resist. From what I saw, Gary Leff was the first one out with the 100k link and he clearly marked it as a “non affiliate” offer. TPG is always a bit slow on getting the news out, its staff is busy doing SEO 🙂
@KennyB: Totally agree with your comment. The ones who are REALLY hurting are the very “entitled” (pun intended) who got so used to the good life up front they can not even imagine what life is for the normal folks 😉 I am hanging in…barely!
@Elenor: You sure the dog does not need more mascara? lol
@ Steve: For sure. You know…I am thinking of coming out with my own affiliate links (Barclays gives them to any blogger who has a pulse) and do a MEGA pimping post on how everyone and their pet should be getting and making it their go to card!The Arrival card has gone WAY up in value after the recent changes. And I could make it really funny too…
“If you read this and you get food stamps, stop right there. I have the answer for you: Barclays’s Arrival Card”.
“If you read this may I assume your vision is fine and you want to take a vacation asap? Step right up and click on this link RIGHT NOW and take off for FREE!’
or something ridiculous like that lol.
I was going to watch the Lions but just found out it is the bye week. Darn!
Thanks George. Looks like the only way around this is to email each blogger after I comment and ask them to un-spam me. I’ve taken the @ out of my name in case that is what is flagging me as spam. AFAIK I am the only Tara who is a travel/miles/points blogger. Once I am approved, subsequent comments post as usual. I can only imagine what the spam folders of the big bloggers like VFTW must look like!
Yeah, the spam folder land is very spooky. I am in favor of capital punishment for spammers. I volunteer to flip the switch, no mercy!
Buzz”……………….PUT THE KIT KAT DOWN
Crap, there was an intervention. They are now hiding them from me!
“If you read this and you get food stamps, stop right there. I have the answer for you: Barclays’s Arrival Card”.
Dude, you need to sell this stuff, not give it for free:-)
Does it mean I can get Barclays? I’ve got pulse, but no traffic 🙁
I obviously have a major hangup selling anything. There was a reason I chose accounting for a major in college lol.
Seriously, this Arrival card has become a go to card now for many. If not, it should be!
Building traffic takes a lot of work…
The card that just went back into my wallet: Amex Blue Cash. (We don’t get the Preferred because we still pay for a lot of groceries with new cards to meet minimum spending requirements. This habit might change.) 3% back on groceries for no annual fee works well for a growing family like ours.
Could I get more than three cents per dollar out of the SPG Amex? Perhaps, but I think that’s more of a stretch. I think the salesmanship on the SPG Amex is overblown. We don’t care about fancy hotel rooms and can usually find a better bargain on hotels.com + a >5% back portal. We will do another AOR next fall for the rest of the SPG points to get nights and flights, then be done.
…. I don’t know why I felt the need to share this. Carry on.
Always interesting to hear your point of view, thanks!
While the new UA award chart is disappointing, but I think I get good values even in Y redemption.
IST CPH OSL TOR LYR TOR OSL FRA GVA MUC for 25000 miles in Y with 2 layover in TOR, and a stopover in GVA.
OKA PEK SZX (stop) CTU URC PEK HGH NRT is a steal for 20000 miles nder the only chart. Good things can’t last forever. I am going to milk a few more great Y, J redemption before the game is over. It is about the destinations, not F.
Yeah I hear you. Game not over but sure got harder after this!
If we can collect all the tears that are being shed over this decision we can end the drought in Texas. The buttery level of popcorn has allowed for quite a few laughs without having paying for matinee show. The world will not end tomorrow and most mileage account holders will not notice any changes when they are trying to cash in their miles for tickets unless they are going to Hawaii. Let face it the generous mileage programs were not exactly helping any of the major airlines achieve profitability on any consistent basis. The only people truly butt hurt by this decision are the gamers and schemers. Like all mania this was bound crash and burn, but you already knew this considering you reading the Robert Schiller of the miles game. So burn baby burn and safe travels.
Lol…what a great comment! Still laughing…”Robert Schiller of the miles game” lol