Lets’ go on a wild ride through the blogosphere that has been totally dominated by Chase Ink credit card affiliate links lately. All the TBB staff (hahahaha) bring you stuff like flying rhinos, a comparison of the main hotel loyalty programs, another devaluation, more reviews of the Charlotte #milemadness DO, a thesis by Marathon Man on how to work this hobby (I think it is a way of life…like junkies are always searching for the next fix, we search for the next deal to stick it to the Man!), Steve’s play by play of how the latest credit card promo will go, we point out some unique posts by blogs in the Ignore list and then we travel to Prague and Croatian beaches.
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Ok, I think I am caught up with the blogs so we are back to a Buzz post schedule of Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Of course, I may slip in a blog post in between these days so please check back often so I can build the ratings to charge up the wazzoo to the advertisers! Yep, that’s the ticket 🙂
Travel is Free wrote “Which Hotel Loyalty Program Should I Choose?“. I think it is an excellent rundown of the major hotel players.
Loyalty Lobby broke the news (as far as I can tell) that the Intercontinental Royal Ambassador referral certificates are now gone. Poof…just like that. Boo!
Personal Finance Digest wrote “It’s okay if you don’t have 10 million points and 50 different credit cards“. Great common sense! We no longer have Chase Sapphire Preferred cards too, pffft!
I continue to post the links to other reviews of the Charlotte CLT #milemadness DO in this post (towards the bottom). Here is the review by Miles, Points and Mai Tais and all her main points were right on imho. Some points she makes I would like to single out. “We there are not in it for the money; we live and breath this stuff; we are all in this together, everyone must do their part to keep this hobby going, no shameless self-promotion, networking is key.”
Marathon Man Do or Don’t at Mileage Update. Must read and…in a typical Marathon fashion, it is a bit…long 🙂
It will be weird to see Marathon Man and Travel is Free speak at the Chicago Seminars when in the lineup we have seven blogs featured in TBB’s Ignore List. The thought came to me suddenly so I blogged about it. I love it that I am not accountable to any bank compliance department! Hey guys, watch your heads in those exhibition big booths!
I had some time today so I am going to go back to the old TBB days 🙂 Do not expect me to do this again soon…I just can NOT keep it up. I got new eye contacts on Monday, my eye sockets have just been destroyed with all them Chase Ink credit card links lately. The Ink credit card pimping is reaching legendary proportions, especially now that we have an “end” date. Let’s read what is in store by reader Steve:
Yesterday I made the following comment on your blog:
Is there any doubt that Chase will eventually announce an end date which will lead to post titles such as:
1) Last day to sign up for CIB and CIP with 60K bonus is ______ (posted on day of announcement)
2) Reminder: 1 week left to sign up for CIB and CIP 60K offer (posted with 1 week left)
3) HURRY!!!! Last chance to sign up for CIB and CIP (posted with 1 day left
4) CHASE EXTENDS 60K CIB and CIP OFFER!!!! HURRY!!!! (posted right after Chase “decides” to extend their original date another 2 weeks. Cue blogger acting surprised)
5) CIB and CIP 50K offer drops to 50K. It’s still the greatest thing in the history of mankind
Well, as predicted, here we go folks:
Gary today – Act Soon: 60,000 Point Chase Ink Offers Now Expected to Disappear May 31
So now we have the official timeline down
May 13th – HURRY!!!! OFFER ENDS 5/31
May 24th – ONE WEEK LEFT!!!!! ACT FAST!!!!
May 30th – ONE DAY LEFT!!!! DON’T WAIT!!!!
June 1st (after the offer gets extended): BREAKING!!!! OFFER EXTENDED!!!! I TOTALLY DID NOT SEE THIS COMING!!!!
June 8th: 60K is gone, but still, 50K [insert link] is a nice bonus
Some other things that stood out and just want to observe for the newbies who may be reading this blog:
Million Mile Secrets with another one of those posts…who shows you how to get free Hilton Gold Status if you, well, I can’t even write this stuff. It is one thing to do this shit (not recommended!). But to blog about it to the world is ludicrous in my humble opinion. First comment by reader Beth nails it “ Using your b-school email to sign up for an offer not intended for you is questionable at best.Using it to sign up people who never went to that b-school is fraud, plain and simple.” 9 reader comments, blog owner responds to just one. And I am here responding to almost every single comment you leave me. And doing it all for your entertainment. Damn it, sometimes I must admit I do get a little angry lol.
Noob Traveler, get this, sit down please. In an incredible blogging breakthrough, are you still sitting down? Chip technology is coming to the Chase INK cards! PHUCKING A! I am going to use his links right NOW because I heard it here first!
The Points Guy, in an incredibly out of touch post, had the audacity to report (late as usual) that US Airways is now imposing fuel surcharges on British Airways awards. And takes credit for saving readers lots of money, wow! From the responses to the comments you can tell how out of touch in the hobby he is!
Milevalue took many hours to post about the one day Frontier sale going on. Too bad he missed several hours to push the crap out of the Frontier card again. #sadface
Frugal Travel Guy (the blog), in a feat of innovation, put the Fidelity Amex and the Ink Cash Card in a Credit Card face-off (sounds intriguing). Amazing how the Ink Bold and Ink cards always magically show up in almost every post huh? Article signed by “FTG Staff?” Dead Giveaway! The credit card finder “tool” is still not fixed by the way.
So, to the organizers of the wonderful Charlotte Mile Madness DO…Do not rush and be careful how you take it from here. A big part of the great vibe was the credibility and the true expertise of the speakers #hint.
Proof that Prague is Europe’s Prettiest City by Bored Daddy
Best Beaches You Should Visit. By TheCHIVE
Coffee? How about this?
Sometimes all you can say is…
Will he ever win it?
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First!
Holy cow that was too quick!
First!
So excited tonight!
Rangers in 7!
Still first! Where is everybody?
Ah, thought I was the only one here 😉 ! Maybe everyone is off reading the reviews of CLT. Or tweeting to win Club Carlson freebies….
Still basking in the afterglow of CLT, I am happy to report that I ramped it up a bit today. Just a bit.
Probably the closest for First EVER between TWA44 and yuneeq. Thanks for playing along 🙂
Maybe they are reading that piece by Marathon Man.
Was going to go to Wal Mart right before midnight to load Bluebirds for two days. But, darn blog, stayed back to finish blog post.
Sometimes I wonder about what I am doing here 🙂
Went to Wally World, two days in a row in two different cities. I love to travel, but of all the sites I never expected to spend a lot of time traveling to, this would be one of the most obvious. I have been to 177 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and now I am going to Wally Worlds, three letter drug stores, and shopping mall kiosks. Shaking my head…Maybe Seth needs a new Travel Tool to track these too! Damn, the metro was hot in DC yesterday. It was 88 here! But a Wally World in the heart of a city is brilliant thing indeed. Did anyone else notice the new verbiage? It is no longer a ‘default merchant’ but a ‘swipe reload’. Wonder what this is about…
I agree. Most MS folks probably spend more time at Wally Worlds, three letter drug stores, shopping mall kiosk etc than in 1st class or at their travel destination. Time ads up and few have the convenience of living in NYC to MS.
177 is way impressive!
I need to drive to the East side in a few days and I am plotting how to driveby some of these stores #wearesick
Thanks…177 & counting, of course for that. And now only need 5 more countries/territories for Travelers Century Club. Hitting French Polynesia in the fall on Air Tahiti Nui in Business on AA miles, so actually only 4. I am all about the redemption. But I even went to Wally World again today. Finally finished the AA Citi Exec spend. Not sure I would use the term “driveby” for your nefarious activities…#wearesick
Today was a total clusterphuck kind of day at WM! I think I am getting back to doing things for the min spends, not much time for more MSing. I know, I know…I have said it before.
Working on testing more stuff when I find…the time 🙂
Yeah, I hear ya. Experiments are fun. Mine are usually well researched and work:)
Surprised that beach in Croatia looks so nice. Most of the beaches on Hvar were pebble and the few that were sand were terrible. Still can’t beat that crystal clear water though. Quite possibly the most boring scuba diving in the world as well.
Hope the pic has not been too photoshopped 🙂
Yeah the beach at Rab Island isn’t even pebbles, more like concrete. But I agree the water is so beautiful. I go to a beach every summer where you can ride a bike on it, but it isn’t concrete, but sand. I am spoiled I guess. A friend of mine grew up on Rab Island in Croatia and thinks it is paradise.
Actually I think the part of the island I wasn’t on did have sandy beaches. I just didn’t go to the right part. So, YBMV…
Did anyone who has a Barclaycard Arrival card log into Barclay’s site this morning? The card picture/description says “Arrival+” but no indication on what the “+” actually means. Where is the breaking news on this development? I’m shocked that nobody has used this as an excuse to pimp their Arrival links (maybe Chase Ink is paying more right now).
Erik, that literally *just* happened. I logged in earlier today and it looked like it usually does and after reading your comment, I checked again and it is Arrival+. Huh…wonder what it is all about…
They added a chip, which is good since it has no foreign transaction fees. I specifically asked when/if they would be doing this just a month or so ago and there was no answer. A welcome addition for international travel.
Chase always pays more than Barclays! My cat can get Barclays links but he is too lazy 🙂
TPG just won the race. Chip & Pin is the most significant benefit along with expanded timeframe to redeem (120 days) and some new redemption options like timeshares and (gasp!) campgrounds. I just spoke with Barclays customer service and the new cards will be sent out to current customers on May 28. If you are traveling overseas before that date (I am), they can send you a chip & pin card. HOWEVER, all current cards and any c&p cards expedited before May 28 will expire at the end of July. Maybe they are changing the account numbers?
I may have to change some automatic payments….I hate that, very inconvenient! I like Barclays sticking with the credit card business, good for us!
Gary has also picked it up with an additional tidbit of info that the Barclays agent mentioned, but I didn’t realize the significance. It will now be issued as a World Elite MasterCard which (I think) means they need to change the BIN number (first 6 digits on the card), hence the reason why you would get a new account number.
Campgrounds! Finally a card for my style of travel, as long as they include State and National Parks! (Not joking BTW)
Yup, just logged in about 15 minutes ago and saw that. I immediately sent a secure message to Barclay’s asking them to rush me a new card. I could use the chip and pin for my upcoming trip.
Did Barclay say when they would issue new cards to existing card holder?
Credit Card Joint, really? Shouldn’t you know that already, looks like you should have the inside info on this, no?
Never heard of your site? Are you a TPG subsidiary? 🙂
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/25ghyz/i_am_charles_ramsey_the_scarylooking_black_dude/chgx2ql
Ramsey, you are a prince among men.
Dead Giveaway!
Session 1: How to ______ by Howie
Session 2: Correcting everything from session 1 that was woefully incorrect by Travel is Free
odd indeed that Drew and MM are presenting there, but have to give credit to Rick for acknowledging the he needed to add credibility to his program. Didn’t think he would admit it
Yeah, quite a scoop to get them to speak there. I wonder if TPG and MMS will be doing the intros of the speakers so they can get a few more “click my links” digs.
MM and Drew speaking there, in my own humble opinion of course, does not build their credibility—>brand. But who cares about what I think, only angrys 🙂
I agree. It just doesnt come close to their standards. I am also angry:). Let us have a party:)
Thanks for laying out the timeline for the Ink posts. That saves me a lot of time. I’ll just schedule them now to post on the days you listed. 😉
.
Actually even though I don’t usually do posts like those, it is helpful to readers to know when deals like that are going to expire. So, while it’s funny to make fun of them, I don’t blame bloggers for announcing it.
Yes it is helpful. It takes one sentence. When it is used for yet another cut and paste to insert the links…when you have seen it a gazillion times…well, it is a bunch of crap.
I don’t fault any individual blogger for doing a post like that, but it’s quite a spectacle to see a whole bunch of them doing the same post simultaneously.
It sure is…gotta make the quota…like that Dunkin Donuts commercial…gotta make the donuts 🙂
George – did you get to read the series of posts on Daily getaway 2014 deals from Hack My Trip – wealth of information – very useful for newbies. Very good analysis and solid genuine advice on what is good for the readers. Really good.
Yeah, not bad. I just never liked them Daily Getaway deals. No reason to pony up money if you have enough miles/points all around 🙂 Besides, don’t readers care about their fingers? haha. I have not seen a real deal to my standards yet 🙂
Any thoughts on the possibly upcoming Travel Hacking TV show? Andy? Drew?
This game needs discretion, stewardship and sharing with individuals who are willing take care of it, not massive TV exposure. Let me do a Travel Hacking TV show, and I’ll make a big enough mess of it to bore 90% of viewers half to death in 15 minutes.
Randy has been talking about several cable TV shows on our hobby. Not sure if they are still in play. I think one or two must be. We need to wait and see. And pray lol.
There is no danger of exposing anything if one doesn’t delve into MS intricacies, and no TV show will find it exciting to grind into small and boring details of buying money with money. As I’ve said many times before, exposing our secrets means zilch to the 99% of the population. The complexities of this hobby and high entry requirements (good credit and credit habits) are the most reliable and natural barriers to a newbie. Nothing to worry about.
No comments about that poor rhino? I sure hope he/she was medicated before it began 😉 !
I suppose we can hope that MM and Drew don’t just lend credibility to the Chicago event, but perhaps they will help the newbies understand the importance of stewardship, and doing this in ways that does not harm the broader community. Maybe they’ll event get some of that message across to the other presenters.
That said, their participation won’t get me attend. But I guess with #CharlotteDO as my first event, I now have a super high standard for such meetings.
Have they invited VRJacketGuy yet? He could be a booth in himself 😉 .
They do not belong there. Maybe they can save the newbies but it is not going to happen. The newbies will fall for the sell/sell/sell of the big bloggers, get some cards, screw up in burning and move on. Very few will graduate to the better blogs…like you 😉 We live in a give me now society, MMS is perfect for this market, chaching!
There was a decent post on TPG today about using Avios for Eurostar. I have had to correct a lot of it but it was a decent attempt given it was a US author.
To give TPG credit, he does have the budget and the capacity to commission stuff like this. Any other blogger could have run a similar piece simply by cribbing the articles I ran last year on this topic, but no-one did.
I wrote about this last year, did you crib from me? 🙂
Yeah, that Jason dude can write well actually.
If I get readers to commit to get 100 Chase cards from me per month I will…buy Jason. Heck, I will buy Marathon Man from that dude at Mileage Update (won’t be cheap I am sure….maybe they’ ll accept gift cards as payments as my nearby Wal Mart has decided to go all assholish on me!).
Out of all the blogs in my Ignore list, TPG has the best content simply because of having the money to pay for such articles.
I decided to just let it go…all this cribbing from my site 🙂
No kidding that USDs went a long way in Prague! I remember visiting a few times before the Velvet revolution and recall that a half liter of beer was only 5 cents! A few years after the revolution that shot up to $1, still a steal for us but could you imagine that type of inflation for the locals!
Did a European Travel Study tour back then. I still remember 6 of us went to a Russian restaurant in Prague. Bunch of Russian diplomats and all in suits. Here are 5 American college students in jeans and hair. Some of us had earrings and black T shirts and stuff like that. We were served awesome and many dishes and we drank a lot. I think total bill was about $50 USD WITH tips. It was super AWESOME!
Very interesting take on PayPal courtesy of Mileage Update, especially for those thinking of emulating The Miles Professor:
http://mileageupdate.com/ive-got-99-problems-but-paypal-aint-one/
As my dad used to say, “Everyone bets on a different horse; if they didn’t we wouldn’t have horse racing.” (But he didn’t bet on any horses – he liked the slots in Vegas 😉 ! )
As for PayPal, you know the old saying: YMMV.
That blog post was already slotted into the next Buzz post 🙂 Good eyes;-)
And I agree…I stay the hell away from PP!
So now that the Barclays Arrival card [insert link] turned a year old, and lots of people will soon be getting annual fees on it for the first time…. will bloggers tell their readers that for 99.9% of them, it’s not worth retaining the card?
Only one major blogger has consistently said that after the first year you would need to spend $45,000 a year on the card to exceed the return of the Fidelity Amex.
So no – and I take your question to have been rhetorical – I do not see bloggers suggesting the card isn’t worth it. That would depress new signups.
Why? I don’t see any conflict. Why would anyone be depressed that they need to cancel the card after the first year? Doesn’t make any sense to me.
I believe all data points say you can get the second year fee waived easily. I didn’t even have to ask. I just called to cancel and they immediately offered a waive it.
I think the bloggers intentionally stay away from anything that may depress new signups hehe.
TPG says ’50k bonuses for the Southwest card are back’
Umm, no, they never left.
What he’s actually saying “I get paid on the 50k Southwest card again, so please click my link now. I wasn’t talking about how you could get this card for the past few months when they didn’t pay me.”
I’ve only seen a couple of bloggers mention the 50k offer in the intervening period. Hmmmmmm.
Raise your hand if you only read the big box blogs and are aware of the fact that there is more than 1 Club Carlson card
‘crickets’
Enjoy the presentation in Chicago! <-----Notice the strategically enthusiastic placement of the exclamation mark! I want to find that MMS reader who tipped him off about the Evolve cc thingie...
what is this, where am i, who is Drew?
Casey, we are glad your relatives found you lol.
Sad but funny
doctor of credit pingback???, c’mon buzz.
Yeah, apparently he linked to me and it automatically showed up here. How do I stop these things from automatically posting here? Anyone?
its like advertising on your site for him,part of his plan to be the next ……..there is almost nothing on his site that is original, and if it is it is of very little use. I’ve seen this movie before (the marketing of a new blog) and i know how it ends. C.R.
I am glad you are safe Casey 🙂
You can block Pingbacks and Trackbacks. Click Settings, Discussion, tick relevant box.
Got it! Actually, I let it in there so I see who linked to me but I will just edit and trash so you guys are not bothered with it. Not necessary to interrupt the flow. Thanks a lot.
Pingbacks might be useful for someone like MMS or FTG, since they make up 75% of his comments, but since you have engaged readers that take the time to comment, it’s unnecessary for you
Ciao can I share your pics on my tumblr?
sure. Adding the link back to my site would be welcome.