We bring you the news of Uber & AA partnering, visit Iran, swim in dream beaches, cry together with the unrelenting pace of killing deals & more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
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Interesting partnership of Uber with American Airlines. Pretty soon Uber will be embedded in your grocery bag, the bathroom wall in the bar…oh wait.
What do you get when you are in Laos inside the Tham Khoun Xe cave on a kayak and a drone. A beautiful three minute Vimeo film. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I won a drone in my conference last week, it is on its way to me, woohoo!
Matador Network‘s most inspiring travel photos of this week. If you never clicked on them…your loss!
Dream Beach Destinations. Another AFAR list. Some readers don’t like them but I do and it’s my blog and I can do what I want hehe.
Short video about breathtaking Iran. I can’t wait for my trip in October!
The World’s Smallest Countries. Cute infographic!
Bull Markets vs Bear Markets. Good stuff, hand picked by yours truly!
Here is one more personal finance piece. What Investors Should Be Thinking Right Now
I am out of awesome pics so here is the TBB family about to hike Mt. Olympus to say hi to Zeus. I think the year was 2003. I think that was the year I flew to Honolulu via…Amsterdam where I went to the bathroom and got back in line to fly back. Oh, those were the days of cheap mileage runs, what’s this ridiculous elite qualification crap!
MILES BUZZ
And just when you thought it could not get any worse…the 5/24 rule expands! Ladies and gents, I was not kidding about basket weaving or Tai Chi! Get the cards here, thanks! #RIP
How another reader got shut down by another bank.
Frequent Miler had a weird post trying to justify an approach that his blog can appeal to both experienced hobbyists and newbies who only read his blog. Anyway, the comments were very interesting. I really like and agree with “anthonyjh21“. I also see Greg blogger’s point of view since I have been blogging (for peanuts) for three years. You won’t believe the crap I get for my…pumping LOL. And then I get a commenter telling me he never clicks on anyone’s clicks…hey, thanks for the support dude. And that is why so many bloggers die and you are left with the big pumping machines! #disgusted about the whole scene right now. Or maybe it is the markets 🙂
For the record: I keep deals quiet…nobody knows! I thank you for passing on to them, they are in good hands. You won’t EVER see them here! Oh, wait, maybe that is why my readership is low and clicks lower lol #facepalm No doubt trying to appease to all types is VERY difficult. Good luck!
MMS is hiring TWO writers…and the three comments on that post are hilarious! Anyone remember the “survey” whether to add affiliate links….bwahahahahaha.
There were some awesome comments in yesterday’s post. Here are just a few:
Chris: I think we kind of need a purge. There are way too many people in this hobby, too many points and miles out there, too many devaluations, too many of everything.
When the Ink cards were paying like crazy up to $300, these bloggers were killing themselves pumping it non stop. It was nearly impossible to score a freaking business/first class long-haul seat.
Any stupid newbie could sign up for the Ink card, claim that they have a “dog sitting business” or “sell crap on ebay”, get approved, go out there and buy Vanilla Reloads, get their sign up bonus, log on to United and book their Lufthansa First class seat. How can this be any easier?
At least without Serve/Bluebird, and churning restrictions, it will be less crazy even though it hurts all of us…
And by PedroNY, the TBB Comments resident optimist (hope you are right!): If Chase does this, co-branded cards are with limited contractual terms, those contracts have minimum sales requirements from the bank to the hotel/airline, so Chase will be on the hook for a lot of mile/points every year. We will either see more banks getting partnerships with Airlines and Hotels that are not exclusive (think Hilton with Amex and Citi), as Chase will lose exclusivity if they don’t meet annual purchase targets. Or in alternative higher sign up bonuses as Chase will be needing to get rid of these miles, or more spending bonuses. Honestly, 2017 and especially 2018, will be great! For churners and spenders.
And I leave you with the TBB cat…
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Numero uno.
My life is now complete.
2
My life would be complete when TBB pays me
Wait, so are there riots in Greece again?
They were never over.
The farmers are really pissed because this new guy promised them they can work a few months per year, pay no taxes, get all in the family fat pensions and free money from the EU…oops.
That was me. Hate it when I forget to log in FIRST!
You know if more people had the insight to not use affiliate links this hobby might be in better shape. But don’t worry about the greater good it is all about you.
http://travelbloggerbuzz.com/support-tbb/
+1.
http://travelbloggerbuzz.com/support-tbb/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action#Collective_action_problem
IMO, it’s close, but not quite that. It’s not as if everyone would benefit from keeping deals more secret; clearly bloggers and newbies (or really, anyone who hasn’t heard of the deal) do benefit. No amount of coordination by all interested parties could keep it alive.
This is just the way things work. It’s a lifecycle. The Gold Rush happened like this once upon a time, too.
“At first, loose gold nuggets could be picked up off the ground, and since there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields, a system of “staking claims” was developed. […] Some gold-seekers made a significant amount of money. On average, half the gold-seekers made a modest profit, after taking all expenses into account […] Most late arrivals made little or wound up losing money.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush
Boycott Scott and exoticfusion!
Interesting stuff harvson3
Buy Gold to Helmholtz
actually, this year that’s not too bad lol.
So what was the ‘BP’ method of MS people talk about on reddit?
Bill Pay?
Warburg Pincus, huh? Worked/work in PE? Or just some free swag? Or making a social statement? Inquiring minds want to know…
Free swag! Back then Warburg Pincus used to give away loads of swag. I picked up many Tshirts from them. I fill up old suitcases with swag from conferences and take them to my mother in Greece every 2 or 3 years. She takes them to the village and kids go nuts “The old lady with stuff from America is here”. I swear there are people there with Warburg Pincus Tshirts floating lol.
Saw your questions to the “Thought Leader”. Probably too busy inserting affiliate links in his next post or ranting about the govt and TSA…why bother??
Why It Will Soon Be Much Harder To Get Chase Cards & What You Should Do
http://runningwithmiles.boardingarea.com/it-is-about-to-get-much-harder-to-get-chase-cards/
Did Chase have something to do with the Serve shutdowns?
http://milesperday.com/2016/02/did-chase-have-something-to-do-with-the-serve-shutdowns/
Fun read. Sounds like a stretch…but who knows.
I don’t know, sounds pretty plausible. Fraud is certainly the primary concern for banks when it comes to loading prepaids with gift cards. We happen to be doing the same things crooks do. We just do it for a higher and more noble purpose, first class travel!
Yahoo Buzz-our Ink was approved so make that a steak, egg and bagel at Panera tomorrow.
Isn’t BP=Bill Pay?
Looking forward to it…been so long since last cc sale here. May help keep the intern 😉
BP=BillPay yes
(A scene soon to be repeated in several TBB readers’ households)
omg omg Oh Em GEEEE!
Justin Bieber Tickets just went on sale for 35,000 Starpoints at Staples Center!!! OMG! EEEEK!
DADDY!! DAAADDEEEE! GET THIS FOR ME puhLEEESE!
I see Amex SPG affiliate credit card links right below that 🙂
“Pssst…. hey buddy, Chase is going to apply the 5/24 rule to ALL its cards!”
http://i.imgur.com/A39EwPO.gifv
I disagree with you about Frequent Miler’s post.
“I really like and agree with “anthonyjh21“ – and that’s who I disagree with the most. Perhaps today you are in the know about some new MS avenue or what not. You are greedy, you want to keep pumping this new technique forever and keep others in the dark. Less competition. More first class tickets for you. Of course. But what if the roles were reversed? Would you want to be kept in the dark?
So I am glad the Frequent Miler regrets not posting about it. If I needed this info, and if I learned if from another blog – then that would be the blog I would go back to, not the blog that kept the info from me. If I were the Frequent Miler’ reader, I would probably re-evaluate my loyalties.
As for killing the deals – believe me, bloggers are very presumptuous if they think it’s thanks to their posts that banks change their policies.
Well we disagree then!
May I venture to guess you are fairly new in this “hobby”?
We believe what we want to believe. Looks like you won’t change your mind. Just a few things:
>>>>>>>>If I needed this info, and if I learned if from another blog – then that would be the blog I would go back to, not the blog that kept the info from me
Yep. Exactly. And that is the big commercial blogs are succeeding “commercially” because they keep feeding the deals to their readers who want to be served shiny deals. The problem dude is that this hobby has surpassed the threshold of popularity and the “Cardinals” (figure it out, research can be good for you) are shutting down the masses who read the Titans.
>>>>>>>>As for killing the deals – believe me, bloggers are very presumptuous if they think it’s thanks to their posts that banks change their policies.
Believe me, you are so WRONG!
I tried to find the post at Personal Finance Digest proving that the 5 Alaska credit cards deal was shut down shortly after it was posted for the loyal MMS readers.
Again, this was a strange hobby for weird people. Then it became a big business selling credit cards serving “deals” to the masses.
Agree with TBB on this one. I’m 2 1/2 years in, burned over a million miles in the last 6 months, and everything I did early on I found in forums before the articles were pumped by titans and ultimately died. Vanilla Reloads, Amex gift card portals, Staples VGC portals (this one may actually still be alive. I had one that was still working a year after they stopped”) Visa Savings Edge, redbird, bluebird, BOA churning (recklessly) citi credit funding, and now Chase for most of us. I’m sure I’m forgetting some. Really though, most high readership blogs are completely willing to kill a deal for increased ad revenue or alexa rankings, whatever that means…
“But what if the roles were reversed? Would you want to be kept in the dark?”
I know I’m in the dark about a lot of methods b/c I either A) didn’t figure that method out on my own, or B) I’m not deep enough or persistent enough in the forums. So ultimately anything I don’t know is b/c I’m not putting in the work to find a new method. Bloggers have an added benefit where readers will send them methods, and they should absolutely keep those methods to themselves if it keeps that method alive.
Don’t be lazy.
+1, also this guy proves why bloggers and their greed are the death of this hobby.
I hear you.
But why not consider this – you are saying that the bloggers kill the deals (presumably because “the banks” – let’s call them that for simplicity – are trying to find out what the MSers are up to, and loud headlines of certain blogs catch their attention). But if “the banks” are really trying to find out the latest “abuse” by MSers – what would prevent them from going into forums? FlyerTalk and such? What would prevent them from attending one of the conferences? FTU and such? Perhaps they do go and do attend, and perhaps they learn there more than from a couple of loud headlines.
I would beg you to consider that perhaps it’s not the “titans” of travel blogs but rather irresponsible and greedy users that “kill the deals”.
For some background – I’ve been in it since the coins time, so I would not consider myself a “newbie”. But I am grateful to those who shared their knowledge and info with me back then, and I believe in reciprocity. It seems like – instead of sticking together and advocating responsible use of the deals – many are advocating exclusion. You got into the “privileged circle of those in the know” – now god forbid anyone else gets there. I hear you – there are only so many first class tickets, so competition is unwelcome. But please be fair – would you feel the same if it were you on the “outside” trying to get in?
We’re all greedy depending on who you ask. Citi can shut down the amount of a single person being greedy and blacklist them, but they’ll shut down an entire deal when public awareness is such that it loses its profitability. My guess is that none of these deals were destined to be permanent (I forgot to include Amazon payments earlier) so the bloggers didn’t kill them, they just greatly expedited the process.
Dude, you are freaking killing me here.
The only reason why these a-holes post about these deals in the first place is because they want the newbies to keep clicking on their affiliate links.
Do you think that if the affiliate links were gone they would still post about these deals? Hell no, they would keep it to themselves and milk it as much as they could. IF they would have posted about the deals regardless of affiliate links or not, then fine but everyone knows this is bullocks.
The amount of $$$ that will be coming in affiliate money from the newbies is MUCH greater than what they would have lost if the blogger would have partaken in the deal.
And why the hell do people want to know about every single deal? Your life won’t change if you don’t know about it, I promise.
And no, I’m not angry. Personally I’ve been mortgage shopping so I have not applied for any credit cards for close to a year. I’ve been maintaining my balance solely on MS (I am not a heavy hitter by any means). Also, like most people, I have a job that requires me to be in a single location every day. So no, I don’t live in hotels full time nor do I need a ridiculous points balance for the little travel that I do with my family.
@avos11: Thanks for the respectful discussion. I hear you too. Really. Bank staff would probably not spend their time to get into the FT forums, dig into Reddit or get Level 6 access in Saverocity forums or get lost in DanDeals forums. “Irresponsible and greedy users” of course contribute as well. The effect is cumulative! The blogs lure in the new eyeballs (imagine, they have never had the CSP card yet OMG!) with deals they find/steal/copy, publicize them for their OWN benefit (think eyeballs, higher ad revenue, and of course more cc clicks, more apps, more dinero), they “earn” their readers “trust”, they get them addicted (probably ruin them for ever as most of them are probably not responsible to have more than a debit card…but that’s a topic for another conversation), and then they may end up holding the bag (think Home Improvement cards, etc.). But, more importantly, of all the hordes of new ones only a few take their time to learn about this craft (and it is kind of a craft…weird one for sure) and a good portion screw it up by doing stupid things which, cumulatively again, lead to Cardinals taking notice. All along the way, the business men bloggers masquerading as “experts” make loads of money and ruining it all for everyone and probably ruining some people for life but…who cares, it’s “all about conversions” hey.
Reciprocity? Sure, this hobby has some of the most open and helpful people teaching this stuff for a very long time, mostly in our personal circles, small DOs and in the dark corners and forums online. But the big blogs have changed the game. Gradually, they became big businesses and their readership exploded to appeal to people who are just too busy to pay too much attention to learn this stuff. It’s just been ugly lately…I’ve been doing this for years but only with people I KNOW have the aptitude AND MONEY management skills to handle it. You can’t just blow it up with pics and arrows to everyone. Oh wait, yes you can when each cc app can mean X zeroes in your pocket.
Sometimes I do feel left out but I have met people doing this for years who clue me in. And I don’t kill deals. Then again, this blog is not how I feed my family so I can empathize with bloggers whose blogging is a full time job. And some do it responsibly. And those are the ones who lose direct affilliate cc links which is one of the most ridiculously pathetic things ever! It’s a very fine line that’s for sure. That is why I have been super focused on preaching that by not supporting the small responsible bloggers gives more life to the big pumping businessmen whose FIRST priority is their OWN profit and then comes everything else.
@ Brenton: I agree with. A little more research and knowledge never hurt anyone. On the contrary, you learned more this way and became better. There IS of course value in making things REALLY simple and I frankly do not think anyone has done that really well….If I had the time I could do a better job AND do it responsibly…But I happen to like my job and as long as I keep this as a hobby it works for me. If I could make more than minimum wage here at TBB I would be ecstatic. Lost my train of thought. Oh, I should have stopped at “I agree with” 🙂
Especially with this: “so the bloggers didn’t kill them, they just greatly expedited the process.”
@ Chris: I agree with you but I would not call them the a -word. They are businessmen selling a product/lifestyle/deal. People fall for it. It is what it is. Of course it is for the affiliate links, ad revenue does not do it believe me!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Do you think that if the affiliate links were gone they would still post about these deals? Hell no
Hell no indeed 🙂
The rest of your points are also good. One of the first questions I ask at a newbie is “How much time do you have? Do you have an addictive personality?” Because…you know 🙂
@ Scott: I am boycotting you for boycotting my links…so there 🙂
That’s fair.
Walmart has unveiled new technology to keep folks from loading prepaids at the ATM:
http://i.imgur.com/8cW9lII.gifv
Lol…hey, it looks like my cat!
Yeah, I’m about done with this game. I’ve said it before, many times. I’m just waiting for 1 final nail in the coffin, or something. Or I’m just addicted. Yeah, let’s go with that. I just hope my last card runs through the system successfully so I can enjoy some benefits through 2017:) Week 3 now, still waiting……not calling….I will lose that argument….
I will, however, continue to read/support TBB’s entertainment/finance blog when I finally give up on this non-sense:)
Hahaha…good one! Yeah, this stuff is addicting as hell…
I wonder what will be the final nail in the coffin…because we keep getting hit left and right, bitch about it, and we keep…playing 🙂
Hello.
Is this the beginning of the Adele song?
Ink Plus Biz via your link via creditcards.com did NOT yield instant approval. Let’s all pray together for Wife’s business credit card.
When I win, you win. — HT: Trump.
My wife’s Ink app was approved yesterday-she applied 10 days ago. We did not call other than the automated app status line.
Thanks guys, much appreciated. Been over ten days since last credit generation here and darn Amazon has really slowed down, I guess people slowed down after Christmas shopping. I can get a few nice dinners with Mrs. TBB to keep justifying to her all the time I spend on this…obsession 🙂
Doing Hail Marys a la Packers Rogers style for them to approve it so I can pay the poor starving intern 🙂
Saturday, hello.
I was so happy that my local Staples had lots of vgc’s and I didn’t have to worry about them getting cleaned out. Yesterday the racks were bare, I guess some people have figured out new tricks, like that chick who is doing 40K+ per month in money orders and plans to increase that amount. Do you think that type of operation could be putting a significant dent in what is available for small timers like me? At least I didn’t get my BB cancelled, I imagine that is just because I haven’t had it for that long.
Hopefully the cardinals are going to go after the dumb chick for structuring or help purge the hobby of the stupid idiots who are grateful for her moronic advice.
Can’t tell for sure, no way. See my comment above. All this effect is cumulative. I iwill get to your email at some point. too much action here when I have tax work to do!
Here’s a simple way to think about the “keep deals secret” issue.
You go to a party where they have 2 kegs of beer. The liquor stores are closed for the night, so when the two kegs are gone, that’s it.
So how do you vote-should we invite 50 people or just open the doors to anyone who shows up?
I thought that’s what you’d say.
Incorrect. I always have emergency booze hidden somewhere. Amateur….:-)
A big blogger would charge a fee and hand out cc apps to everyone coming in. And on the way out a CSP app would have to be done. On the spot. BOOM. PROFIT. NIGHTLINE.GETDOGNAMEHIMPOINTS. JETSETBABY
Time to refill my decaf coffee at Starbucks. For Free. Gold card, come on!
Oh yea! That Starbucks Gold Card ROCKS! Esp if you have 3+ cups of coffee per day like I do…
I’ve been collecting points and miles since 1991. That’s a long time; however, MS and churning on a very small fish scale. And I am thankful for the very bloggers that you hate George, because I learned a lot of things that have saved me tons of money, and not having to wait two years of credit card spend to save up for one first class ticket, or just usually a business class upgrade.. I found FT years ago but gave up trying to understand all of the code talk that they engaged in. Plus some of their conversations way back in the 90’s sounded shady, and I did not want to involve myself in any illegalities.
Lots of deals can be found with certain search engines, keywords, and patience. I’ve done that in the past 3 years and had a blast.
Points and miles collectors are in competition with those whom engage in illegal activities with others’ cc. They can read, too. Perhaps the excessiveness may have contributed to more people reading, but at the same time, those deals popped up in my searches and I read and read and read to weigh the arguments. The deals die because of the user end, or as the Gold Rush trickles to an end.
BTW, try Greateats.com for free food.
I do not hate anyone. I strongly dislike credit card salesmen masquerading as “experts” selling a lifestyle. It just happens that what they do is affecting my hobby. That’s all. No hate. I love everyone.
Thanks for reading taking the time to comment.