Let’s go on a $1,700 First Class “Deal” trip, learn how to book Star Alliance Awards, IHG Rewards scary developments, how Evolve is devolving, check out the scariest hikes, visit 1964 year, read Nerd’s Eye View on travel blogging, laugh on yet another ridiculous 3x First Friday Dining post, again sell business credit cards, check out crappy pajamas and more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order
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Matt at Saverocity wrote “Do you think a $1700 Flight is a great deal? Really?” after View from the Wing posted this “deal”. This was my comment there: “Wait a minute. I have millions of miles in the bank. Why would I pay $1,700 for a plane ticket…like…ever? Yes I can afford it. I can afford lots of things. But I prefer to burn miles for plane tickets and points for hotels.
TBB
#1 Voice of Reason
Matt can be #2 as long as I am #1 LOL”
I really liked Marathon Man’s comment in this post, I think he nails it.
How to find Star Alliance Awards 101. By Travel is Free. Awesome table!
IHG Rewards Club Account Audits and Terminations. By Loyalty Lobby. MUST read if you had a habit of registering for a bunch of promotions prior to an IHG hotel stay! You are playing with fire. So, other than hoping you get a Pointbreaks hotel, is there any other reason to spend money at this chain? I guess all the other bloggers were on top of this huh?
Looks like Evolve finally started getting serious with abusers by shutting down accounts and/or limiting accounts to just four payments per month per this blog post by Frequent Miler. To me, it is shocking they have managed to stay alive. I know some people are hitting it hard and, you know, are we responsible for expediting the death sentence of young companies trying to do something innovative? As far as this company is concerned, I was always, like, WTF are they thinking? I finally set up an account and may even start using it myself for my car lease payment to Ford Motor Credit Co. I move much slower since I started this blog!
The 10 Scariest Hikes in the World. By the CHIVE.
26 Wonderful and Unusual Apartments around the World. By Bored Daddy.
1964: The World 50 Years Ago. By The Atlantic. An awesome collection of photographs!
On (Travel) Blogging in 2014. By Nerd’s Eye View. Hey, I am not the only one who rants. I empathize with the writer. Letting it all out sure helps inner peace! 🙂 (HT to reader TWA44)
Personal Finance: The Seven Deadly Sins of Investing. By the Wall Street Journal
Million Mile Secrets managed to make a ridiculously long post on the most ridiculous promotion post in the blogosphere. Yep, I am talking about getting 3x points with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card on the first Friday of each month. We are talking the following:
10 affiliate credit card links (dropped a few Freedom card links, because you know, why not?]
1 pic of Emily holding the CSP credit card AND a Chase Bank brochure [hey look at me I work for the bank, click the links u sucka. Picture caption says “Get 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards With Dinner Tonight” Deep!]
1 pic of Emily in front of Southwest ticket counter [shockingly, holding nothing in her hands, what is wrong??? No worries, caption captures it all “Get ~248 Southwest Points When You Spend $40 at Rewards Network Restaurant With Your Chase Sapphire Preferred” Hey, we may entice a reader to fall for this!]
1 pic of both in a swanky restaurant with the Chef [ First of all, I don’t do bow ties. Never, ever. Unless I get invited to an Academy Awards ceremony one day! Second, caption has this, please sit down, this will rock you “No One Will Suspect a Thing” WTF!!! Really? Is this a joke? Or are the blog readers so gullible to buy a credit card from you because “no one will suspect a thing” Flog me por favor!]
1 pic of a $25 gift card [Caption: “With Gift Cards You Earn the Bonus Points Now and Eat Later” I kid you not!]
1 pic of the whole family plus friend [“Chase Sapphire Preferred Works the Same Whether You Eat in the US or Mumbai” I think I am going to Mumbai and will certainly make sure I am there the first Friday of a month, thanks!]
I had to stop at this point…I lied, next blog post was the regular Friday interview, where a new blogger wanting some traffic does all the work, MMS drops some affiliate links in the body of the interview along with just pasting the text plus a few pics and voila. Anyways, why did I bother? Because in the end the interviewee drops this: “I am very thankful for the opportunity to be interviewed. I really enjoy this “hobby” and hope to grow it into something more in the future. Blogs like this one, help inspire those thoughts.” [Have seen this so many times before, not going to bother…But what stood out was the last sentence…blogs like this help inspire those thoughts”!!! I need a drink right NOW as I am just out of WTFs!!!]
The Grand Daddy of credit card pumping remains ladies and gentlemen—–> Frugal Travel Guy blog. Just because we didn’t know already, we get a “My favorite business credit card offers for June 2014” . I suggest each FTG writer do the same type of post! Oh wait, they may just do it! Yikes! Wait, we are not done! FTG Editor drops “5 Ways to Meet the $5,000 Spending Requirement on the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card” and guess what is number 1? “Pay Bills”…the rest are almost equally brilliant. Smh.
View from the Wing wrote and modeled some ugly looking pajamas courtesy of Virgin Atlantic. One Mile at a Time had to make a blog post about that too referencing View from the Wing. Are these guys tremendously so out of touch with the real world or is it me? Every day I feel that all three of my Blog Review Lists are absolutely terrific! If you think they suck, that is your problem, I am keeping them!
Pointchaser did the hard sell on the Barclays Arrival Card.
The selling in this space just never stops…On Sunday it felt like gouging my eyes out in the morning so I deleted them all and left to have some gyros in the Ann Arbor Greek Festival and watch my daughter dance!
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs I Ignore
Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
Please pass my blog link to your friends and family if you think they will enjoy it too.
Back on top.
Had no doubt it was just a matter of time!
“1 pic of the whole family plus friend [“Chase Sapphire Preferred Works the Same Whether You Eat in the US or Mumbai” I think I am going to Mumbai and will certainly make sure I am there the first Friday of a month, thanks!]”
Question: Is it the first Friday local time in Mumbai or the the first Friday Eastern Time in the US? This is really important, I don’t want to miss out on that extra 1 UR point per dollar, that would really ruin my whole vacation. Thanks George!
If that happened it would be such a tragedy!
Also, when linking to WSJ, most of the time you can’t read the article because the subscription text appears. The “workaround” is to google the title of the article and click on the link or click the google cache link, like this: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yy8Xe-q8Dm0J:online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324906304579037163080446646+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Awesome tip, thanks! Keep forgetting I link to WSJ within my account there that I have had for years!
Is there a similar hack for the NYT?
We have a subscription but sometimes I send links to my kids that they can’t open. In the past, they’ve just used our signon and PW, but the NYT seems to be limiting that some or at least plans to…. Thanks!
I think if you try the same trick it should work also with NYT 🙂
Any similar tips with Financial Times?
I’m sure the Google Link trick will work or the Google Cache trick will work. Google is awesome 🙂
Oops, commented above before I saw this. I will give it a try. Thanks.
Personally I’m glad to see some of the shut downs on evolve money, most people were doing a work around (not cc funding) to do “true” ms. It was only a matter of time before Evolve caught on.
It’s a shame that a method for legit spend (e.g paying mortgages and other bills that can’t be paid directly with a cc) has been shut down to greed. Nobody can point the finger at bloggers for this one either it was entirely private communities that are “good stewards of ms”. Greed is toxic.
I think that is what will happen when every “travel” blog writes “tips” about it as a great way to MS and when everyone starts discussing about them openly in all kinds of public forums. BB is the only exception mainly because of WM’s intentions to capture most of the prepaid card market share.
Doc, every time you make a comment in MMS’s website I can not help it making a mental withdrawal in the TBB bank. I am still appalled he used a dog food (or is it cat food) to sell the Chase Freedom card
@TBB Doc, every time you make a comment in MMS’s website I can not help it making a mental withdrawal in the TBB bank. I am still appalled he used a dog food (or is it cat food) to sell the Chase Freedom …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Buzz, everytime MMS post a picture of Emily in a bikini I am appalled (just kidding, that’s what I do here at TBB). But she’s no Bridget Bardow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5dcKIMBY7Q
Back in college I had a very short fling with a Bridget….She was a complete psycho, I was afraid Ramsey, very afraid! Nobody knows what ever happened to her, she is probably locked up somewhere. And she did not look anywhere near Bardow…what was I thinking? WTF TBB!
I’d rather comment there and have readers get the correct information than incorrect or incomplete information. It’s not like you don’t read MMS either, so I don’t really see your point.
I read MMS because this is what TBB does, reviews blogs.
You comment on so many blogs, every time I go there you have already have posted a comment. But commenting on these distinguished blogs only helps them in marketing purposes. And I think you are only doing it for the backlinks hoping someone clicks on your link and visits your site. If you have SO much to say, why don’t you say it in your own blog? Or just ignore the ones who post cat food pics to sell credit cards suddenly now that there is an affiliate offer for them?
I stand by what I wrote. Everytime I see you participating in these blogs I make a mental note in the TBB bank. I am just telling you about it, that;s all.
George, Every time one of your readers clicks on the majority of your “ignore” blogs it not only helps marketing, it pays them, CASH with the CPM revenue model they employ
Everyone appreciates your readers “ignoring” their blogs
How about the most enlightning travel tip i have ever seen in my life – “How to deal with loud sex in hotels”? Excellent tip, i must say:( TBB Marketing team is analysing if there is some conspiracy theory going on in the “travel” blogs to capture the market share of TBB and just issued this statement to the public – Not to worry, we are capable of handling any competition.
Just read this somewhere – “A fact of life after Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says WTF”. May be the person got inspiration from TBB:)
Sex related terms lead to hits….leads to impressing newbies…..so they can fly for free….by buying credit cards from that site…round and round and round we go
Just look up tbb in the urban dictionary…
**** TBB The Bloody Beetroots (band)
*** TBB The Brothers Brick (blog)
** TBB Total Bases on Balls (baseball statistic)
** TBB The Bored Board (web forum)
** TBB Total Big Brother (fan website)
* TBB Tuvai Bulletin Board
* TBB The Broad Board (website)
* TBB Try Before You Buy
* TBB The Brady Bunch
* TBB The Pirate Bay (website)
* TBB Teaching by Billiards (educational series)
* TBB Teenie Beanie Baby
* TBB The Blues Brothers
* TBB The Battle Begins
* TBB The Big Bang (song)
* TBB The Blood Brothers (band)
(Typical bitch behavior)
From Gary’s puff piece on the PH Maldvies:
“The trip moves me to a different world, where I’m able to relax. The time difference means that I get up in the morning, answer the day’s emails before breakfast”
Wait… so now checking emails is allowed? What happened to the couple who had an entire post dedicated to the fact that they were displaying “what not to do on vacation”?
Chalk this one up to another case on the Gary’s and Lucky’s of the world being on an alternate planet from actual human life: If you’re not doing the same things Gary does on vacation, and the same time during the day that he does, you’re not vacationing correctly
I’m always a naught on vacation.
Wished someone took a picture of Gary checking emails on vacation and posted it online. I wonder what the reaction would be!
Still better than a picture of him snorkeling! The idea itself gives me nightmares 🙂
Funny stuff, but also possibly taken out of context, I read that report and he says he can put away his work for the full day since everyone at home has left for the day and then asleep. My takeaway was that he checks his email in his room and then is done for the day. But I guess it’s popular to hate on Gary and Lucky here now, no matter how unfair or trivial.
Sorry I was taking a selfie with my new pajamas I bought with the TBB Amazon link 🙂 Too bad I do not live in hotels to hear loud sex next room to mine as my next door neighbor is too far to hear anything at all.
Non Angry George 🙂
I think Steve raised a valid point. If Gary does indeed check his emails for an hour or two every day while on vacation, what standing does he have to judge others doing the same? Why do you feel it is better to check it in your room vs. checking it outside? FWIW, I do the same as Gary – work for an hour or so some days on vacation – but that does not mean I look down my nose up on others who might have different routines than I do.
Exactly!
“My takeaway was that he checks his email in his room and then is done for the day”
My takeaway is that is perfectly fine….. just don’t criticize others for not vacationing “correctly”
This would actually make my point for me – in Gary’s world, doing work is ok, so long as you do it on Gary’s schedule. Anything else is “not vacationing correctly” and will get a stalkerish picture taken (speaking of which, where does taking pictures of complete strangers rate on the “how not to vacation” scale?)
Exactly…
Am I repeating myself or am I generating clicks/comments in my own site? hehe
As for your feedback for the blogs I ignore list, sorry I didn’t get to chime in until now.
I agree that you should have a 4th tier, to separate out the bad (OMAT, VTFW) from the horrific (TPG, MMS, MV). But if you don’t feel like going that route, and it’s your blog so that’s your call….. then indeed VFTW and OMAT belong on that list, assuming the 2 choices are have them on the ignore list or not have them on the ignore list
There was one comment made that I found particularly puzzling – someone criticized the fact that you have a “bias against credit card pumping”. Um yeah, no shit….. that’s the niche of this blog – to praise good blogging practices and call out the bad ones!
To criticize you for that would be like criticizing FM for being biased towards manufactured spend or PF Digest for being biased towards personal finance
Keep up the good work Buzzard – you most certainly have had an influence on this space. Maybe not a lot in weeding out the bad, but certainly a lot in helping prop up the good. You think Drew’s posts would regularly get hundreds of comments without you? Saverocity regularly references you as they discuss why they won’t stoop to the levels of absurdity found in the big box blogs
Thanks Steve. I need to ponder about that 4th list…you know I move slow.
I appreciate the last sentence a lot, thanks.
Did you see MMS had a picture of dog or cat food in the “let’s sell the Chase Freedom card” post today? Unbelievable!! Get your tickets ready for the Chicago Seminars, maybe you can win a bag of dog food with that Home Improvement gift card. WTF was the pet food pic for….Ugggh
“You can get a 10% bonus on all the Chase Freedom points you earn this year”
Yeah MMS…. just like you could’ve gotten one the past 5 years too. Oh wait, the Freedom card now pays commission, so time to bust out a book report post on something that has pretty much been unchanged for the better part of the 21st century.
Frankly, it’s a minor miracle that Emily wasn’t holding the catfood in one hand and a Southwest companion pass in the other. Minor victories
I still can’t get over the…catfood…WTF was that about? Was there a marketing study that catfood pics increase clicking. WT…I am out of them today!
Well said, Steve.
I think because of TBB, the new biggest selling point for any small or new blog is that you ARE NOT a seller. You see it happening on the Saverocity blogs, Doctor of Credit, Travel Is Free, and etc.
As long as we continue to ignore the chaff, the cream will just continue getting creamier as it rises to the top.
Oops, forgot to sign my name.
Actually, that is a great observation!
The financial planning field was full of salespeople till the mid 70s. Then some professionals had the crazy idea at the time to have clients compensate them directly and NOT the companies to avoid the built in conflicts of interest. They were looked down and ridiculed. But they persevered because it as the right thing to do FOR the client. Give it another 10 years and now everyone is moving away from the pure sales “eat what you kill” model. It may be happening here too! I sure hope so for our sake. I can’t wait for the next promo to occur…I may just flog myself to death!…I got many World Cup soccer games to watch coming up so I hope it happens after the WC Final lol
Buzz the dream of the 90’s is alive in Portland, it’s where young people go to retire. May I suggest this video about Portland that I think you will enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZt-pOc3moc
I am on the floor….can’t stop….laughing! What a riot!
OK, TBB, now you need to watch the satire of the satire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMwCkZiEQ7A
in which our fav store even makes an appearance!
Lol. Got some weird ones in the Portland area…I like it!
I just flogged myself. I deserve it for being part of this “hobby”. Unfortunately it left some blisters in the back. What card can I use to buy myself some lotion to take care of the blisters?
Why are you asking here instead of over at TPG? He needs a Sunday reader question.
I used to post a very disturbing youtube video with a guy flogging himself. I feel like that every day. Lucky’s stay at hotels full time gig must be causing his pocket to burn money, he managed to blast 20 credit card links with the excuse “what’s the best card to buy airfare?”. Flog please!
George, its your cousin Izzy from back home. Say the family they asked me to get ahold of you with some questions like why are you pimping this river in Brazil/ We got a good pimp going on here with this Greek yogurt thing and could use some help with tat. Also your nieces calendars of them in bathing suits on the Greek islands are not going so well these days. The yogurt isn’t working and the girls are getting older as well as Greek plump. (you know what we mean)
And what is with this hotel thing you are pimping? The family is disappointed George. It makes us look bad as we are all tapped out credit wise here in Greece, and you are pimping credit cards?
So George, from the Pimponallusofus side of the family to you and the gang in the Pimpadopoulos side., lighten up will ya. Or Vinnie will come a calling and it won’t be to some guy with a balance. He’ll be lookin for you.
Izzy
Bravo, that was good, thanks for all the laughs…
Izzy Pimponallofus
LOL
P.S. Welcome “back” 😉
“Dear TPG, I’m 6.42 points shy of an award. Which credit card do you recommend I put a $2 food purchase on during the first Friday of the month to help meet that goal?”
Must be a trick question?
Dear Steve –
You suck.
Love,
Everyone else
We all suck!
Agreed. Harvson and Ramsey are my go-to commenters, personally
Coming in late on blogs I ignore list feedback. My gauge was that for most of May there was no post on OMAAT, MP or VFTW that I wanted to click on……so I was ignoring too.
I am kind of intrigued by MP now ‘live posting’ a family vacation in Alaska – only that I think Daddy got left at home.
Have you seen the blog ‘Mrs O Around the World’ – review of 3 hotels in the Maldives – and no Hyatt or Conrad among them!
TravelSort was also curious today – ranking one first class lounge above another although she has never been there – because it has a bathtub for her kid…..doesn’t a review imply you have experienced something?!
Thanks for enlightening me on the ‘travel blog’ ridiculousness
Never heard of Mrs O Around the World. There are SO many travel blogs out there, I don’t cover that many…there are not enough hours in the day. When I do check one out I lose interest pretty quick. And so many just get paid to write glowing reviews pretending “this is my opinion that was not influenced by the freebies provided to me”. Yep, right.
Travelsort? Is that still around? There are some I don’t even want to even mention at all. But that one should be in the Ignore list…I just REALLY ignore it for real 🙂
This whole space is getting even more ridiculous…which is hard to believe as it was already so full of ridiculousness!
Welcome to the theater of the absurd, I am the conductor here. I will throw a WTF right about now but I am all out…That catfood pic at MMS trying to sell the Chase Freedom card with it took them all out of my system!
Buzz…. I am a bit buzzed right now, but when you are stoned you feel like your thoughts are enlightened. So here goes…. Thought #1 TBB is not like Siskel and Ebert, it is more like The Daily Show with John Stewart (Buzz is John). Just as they goof on the ridiculousness of Politics and Fox News while educating us, TBB and friends, goof on the ridiculousness of these millionaires in the making, Credit Card Salesman Bloggers. Thanks to phxbne above, for putting/burning the word ridiculousness in my brain…..Thought #2 What is the real motivation for commenter Dr. Charles aka Dr of Credit to comment daily on every point/mile blog known to mankind? Is he just trying to advertise his blog? Is he a narcissistic know it all, that likes to answer questions left for other bloggers? Or is he just a nice kid, like Grant (I like Grant) trying be part of the gang? Buzz your the expert, your thoughts please….. Thought#3 I can’t remember it but it was a good one I am sure. ….got the munchies, gonna raid the fridge for some leftovers from Pho King Good and then try to get Mrs. Ramsey in the mood (she’s in a sound sleep right now)…. goodnight mrs. calabash wherever you are… J. Durante…….oh yea thought #3 is Izzy, Grandpa Rick trying to be funny?….. As Nancy Reagan once said “A mind is a terrible thing to waste, just say no”.
@Ramsey – And I thought YOU might be Izzy.
I thought that Izzy comment was pretty funny…considering the source 🙂
I JUST finished responding to the Doc’s comment above!
I am psyched right now. Just came back from my Monday night soccer game. 10.30 pm games are a killer. It is now almost 12.30 and I am wide awake! It was a good night. Win 4-1 after 3 game losing streak. 1 goal and 2 assists yours truly. Thank you very much .
#1 Comparing me to John Stewart is an honor, wow! Muchas gracias amigo! Yeah, I loved the word “ridiculousness” too!
#2 Read my comment above. I like Grant too.
#3 Have a Pho King Good Time!
Thanks George, I like you too!
So as the John Stewart of points and miles blogs, where do you come down on the Stephen Colbert #CutDownTheAmazon rant? I know we have a lot of Portland folks here. He is suggesting patronizing Powell’s Books instead of Amazon. What of your Amazon links?
Hmm, maybe I should get me a Powell’s link before the other PDXers here do 😉 .
TBB needn’t worry. After all, while Powell’s may sell things like water bottles, t-shirts, greeting cards and picture frames in addition to books, Amazon has them beat in the millions of non-bookstore items they sell. If only TBB could figure out how to get us to use his links….
Meanwhile, I hear the late night TV comedians have been talking about Portland’s Naked Bike Ride, which happened again this past Saturday night. Did I ever mention that my son was in a TV ad for the ride? And no, he wasn’t naked. As for those who do the ride for real, some are, and some aren’t. As they say, YMMV.
As for me, I spent a chunk of this past Rose Festival Saturday at the Dragon Boat Races and then wandering the waterfront where I won a Starbuck’s gift card and a Portland Thunder bumper sticker. We also ended up with a signed poster of the Blazer Dancers and some excess Rip City posters. No naked bike rides for me. But maybe Ramsey can tell you more. I heard he was among the riders….
I have diversified. I added a second banner below the Amazon one. Can not rely solely on Bezos you know. Never heard of Powell’s books. Substituting Stewart with Colbert is cool with me!
Been killing it the past few days…$5 and $6 each,long live Bezos lol
FTG’s latest post is a classic… Here’s a summary:
Friend: “How can I take my trip with miles and points?”
Howie: “Miles and points won’t work for this trip, but you probably should collect a bigger balance of miles and points that might not work for your goals by applying for these credit cards through my affiliate links.”
Friend: “But isn’t having a large balance of miles and points a bad thing in case of devaluations?”
Howie: “Apply for my credit cards, nothing could possibly go wrong.”
Friend: “What good are miles and points if I can’t use them for my goals?”
Howie: “Credit cards. Credit cards. Apply! You’re getting sleeeeeepppyyy… Credit cards!”
Friend: “zzzzzz *click* ”
I wonder if he prescribes credit cards as a remedy for various illnesses too.
Can we all agree that if you’re pushing the SPG credit card without making a single mention that you can give 5K to a friend by having them refer you….. you’re essentially pushing an inferior offer for the card (many people would get more utility from giving an extra 5K points to a friend or family member)?
Good. Well in that case, Ariana is busy pushing inferior offers of a card in a shameless SPG hack job
But what was the funniest thing in that entire piece?
“This luxury resort has won numerous accolades, including the #18 spot on Tripadvisor’s list of Luxury Hotels in Croatia”
Getting to it later today. Been blasted with so many United posts. Like this was not expected. Like reading Gary’s rants on the subject mostly to entertain myself. Feel like the FTG “bloggers” would try to sell a credit card if I ever invited them to my home, they just never stop.
(*hears knocking at the door)
“Hello, my name is Darius, Have you heard the word of Chase today? Here’s a brochure…(SLAM!)
This reminds me of a front door sign I saw recently “Solicitors will be shot if you knock on my door” 🙂
George, man, I’m just not cut out for this credit card pushing thing. How on Earth could I write such an in-depth post on dining in restaurants (“GUIDE: How New IRS Tipping Rule Impacts Restaurants, Waitstaff & You!“) and NOT push the crown jewel Chase SP?!?
Oh well. 😉
AAAAAAAAANNNNND United just went to Mileage Based Earning…..Au revoir mileage running……
When does American follow suit? Late 2015? Early 2015 upon integration with Dividend Miles?
http://mileageplusupdates.com/
Burn, burn, burn, burn, burn
I don’t even feel surprised by changes like this anymore.
TBB readers knew this was coming. I am enjoying the shock and horror expressed. Gary screams that UA destroyed its loyalty program. Come on, you frequent UA flyer…make a statement…move to AA
bwahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahaahaha
Anyone know if Gary was banned from MileagePlus at the same time Ben was banned for voucher fraud?
Seems like they both switched to being AA fanboys around that same time.
Can AA be trusted?
Cough…ahem….lookingtheotherway…cough again…
Isn’t the more appropriate question:
“Can US Airways be trusted?” … and by US Airways, I mean Doug Parker.
Seriously, the number of people who are now abandoning (or claiming to) UA for AA… don’t you people realize who’s running AA now? It ain’t AA anymore! The execs are all former America West -> US Airways people not AA people.
So, really are you abandoning UA for America West (with a bigger network)?
If so, fine, but call it what it is.
I think you just called it what it is 🙂
Expect the news to produce a whole new angle to push the UR credit cards
This will be like the massive Hilton devaluation causing an influx of Citi Hilton pumping because the “value” of the 2 free nights increased (in the ass-backwards way where 98% of bloggers don’t understand what “value” means)
The “value” of UR points will increase. Why? Who knows…. but rest assured the bloggers will “find” a reason
That is a great idea! I better getta writin. Steve, would like to be a partner in content production?
You have a slight head start since the Chase employee bloggers are waiting to get their Ink Plus and Bold links back before “explaining”. Since they don’t have links, the cards don’t exist for all intents and purposes
Tip #1 from the BoardingArea 101 course: Remind readers that the value of points accumulated by “cards such as” the CIP, CIB and CSP cards went up…. but don’t remind them about the value of “cards such as” the United co-branded cards
Who doesn’t have CIP/CIB links back?
Maybe they’re back now – they were definitely gone for a few days
In what I’m sure is completely unrelated news, nobody talked about the cards during that time period
Wrong, I had them back within half an hour.
The reason they weren’t talked about doesn’t have to be nefarious.
There were for sure bloggers who didn’t have the links up in their usual locations on their blog, and many of the ones that did linked to their credit cards page (which again, didn’t have the CIP or CIB) instead of the usual Chase landing page
And yes, if it’s not being talked about, there is most certainly a reason for it
Expect the absurdity to continue…
For the record…I do not trust AA, I do not trust any banks and I sure don’t trust the bloggers in the TBB Ignore list LOL
Remember bloggers, this move makes AA/US miles worth AT LEAST 2.5 cents apiece.
Are you telling me they still give you miles if you pay for a flight? I gotta try that sometime. I thought that went out with the dessert trolley.
I am sure some blogger will start a blog to push mileage runs and credit cards…oh wait
Wow, BA really resembles a food court with nothing but slight variations on McDonald’s, Burger King, and Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s today. It feels like each blogger thinks they’re the first to break the news!
With the proliferation of BA bloggers and the fact that Randy keeps on adding more and more of them, each will publish 3-4 posts a day with nonsense in order to make sure they make it to the front page.
Since it is a race to the bottom and each blogger does the same thing, each has the incentive to post more.
Are you saying my eyes will bleed even more?
Is that even possible?
Oh Lord please have mercy!
Here’s a fun thought experiment: what would BA look like if its bloggers were limited to two posts per week?
For that matter, what would Saverocity look like?
I am going to grab a bottle and ponder about that…
while watching the Spurs beat the Heat hopefully!
Holy shit did anyone else read the LA Times article on the UA changes?
They interview TPG and he manages to get them to sell SPG and CSP cards for him.
WTF?
http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-united-frequent-fliers-miles-ticket-cost-not-miles-flown-20140610-story.html
Uggh. I also read another one he managed to get quoted in in the Washington Post. Guess he got better PR staff lately 🙂
I wonder if these writers know what TPG really does (and does very well) and how out of touch he is with our hobby…
This is marketing folks…
Journalists are every bit as lazy as everybody else, they don’t want to work too hard to write an article if they don’t have to.
I agree 😉
The crazier thing is how does Gary shove out so much “content”, have a full time job (or so we are told) and seemingly be the Guru of all that is award travel?
Gary was certainly an inspiration for me starting my blog. If Gary can do all these things…I could add just a little blog, why not!
I am not joking actually!
Before the UA announcement, the Uber/Amex partnership was all the rage in the BA echo chamber. One post had 4 referral links to sign up for Uber (possibly causing the link to paragraph ratio to surpass 1) and at least two managed to mention the CSP.
Imagine how AMAZING!!!! that partnership would be if amex still paid out….
Yeah, really. Excellent point!
Why is it newsworthy when Sapphire still pays out more?
i keep finding it interesting how LITTLE reporting the AA 100k mile card is getting. i just got approved for my FIFTH card since this promotion started. Easily the deal of the year (though the chase bloggers will wax poetic about an ink offer that was 10k points higher). There’s a chance if this stays open another month i may be able snag a 6th card.
i think the under exposure has helped to make this card so churnable. thank goodness the bloggers don’t truly have their reader’s best interests at heart
>>>>>>>>>>>>I think the under exposure has helped to make this card so churnable. thank goodness the bloggers don’t truly have their reader’s best interests at heart.
I agree, so true so true!
Again with the catch-22 that bloggers are in.
I got flamed for writing about getting 6 of the 100K cards for “killing deals” (Never mind that I’ve written in the past about churning through dozens and dozens of AA cards over the past decade).
But bloggers get flamed for not writing about it as well because we’re “too greedy.”
You can’t have it both ways. Stay angry my friends 😉
I’m not talking about you in particular. I’m just saying its funny how NO ONE at BA really promotes this deal at all – even to get one card! Don’t get me wrong I’m glad they don’t! More for me.
But it’s disingenuous on their part. The reason why they don’t lift this deal from flyertalk, is they don’t want to crowd out their paid applications. If their readers would only get this once a month, the spend would crowd out their conversions
James, it just doesn’t pay them anything and it’s borderline against citi to promote it,
so they are very careful. It’s another proof there is nothing “for the readers” there,
it’s all driven by business decisions and money. The bloggers are basically garbage, that’s it.
Again, I featured it several times and people here got mad that I wrote what I wrote.
So which way do you want it?
Are there actually blogs out there that haven’t mentioned it several times?
Are you sure you actually want them to feature it every day or do you just want to complain that they don’t, but if they did you’d complain as well?
I’ve enjoyed our 4 nights in a corner suite at Fairmont SF and soon the Fairmont Banff Springs with credits – thanks for not promoting this one, guys!
Dan, at this stage the answer is very simple – I don’t want the big blogs to exist at all.
They don’t bring anything, they don’t make anyone’s travel easier/better/cheaper.
They are 100% useless. Yours is an exception as you compile a list of deals
helping people every day. But all those MMSs, TPGs, all of BA are 100% useless.
The ONLY thing they do is use some google techniques to attract new victims who
are fascinated for a short moment and click some links. They don’t bring any original
content, zero. They only copy each other, and the source is always the same – FT.
Why do I care you might ask?
Because they make people sick of this and the overall perception of a “blogger”
today is not positive. This environment makes blogging not attractive to me.
I bring some value and original content (pictures mostly), but seeing this
I’m not nearly as enthusiastic about it as when I didn’t know…
Heh, fair enough I suppose. Just saying there’s a catch-22 in these complaints.
You should really come to one of these DOs, http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=35505.new#new
Mileage addicts and photography enthusiasts converge. The DDF guy who runs them is really awesome and knowledgeable camera enthusiast who designs camera equipment for B&H.
George Pimpadopoulos??? RoboForm?? At least the credit card links of others are pertinent to the topic.
Come home George. Help us with the Greek Yogurt campaign. The family needs you George. Your nieces need you to help with their calendar as well.
RoboForm?
Izzy
He’s back! Welcome home! Lemme know when your buddy Rene dumbLambert gets here
To the editor: I told you so. Smile
@smittytabb: Hi dear. What should I do? 😉
Welcome new readers:
ingy is the Founder of Frugal Travel Guy (FTG), one of the worst offenders of legendary credit card pumping blogs in the blogosphere. He trolls my site for months and always goes back to his word and…comes back! Talk about creating dedicated readers, what an honor! He is involved with the Chicago Seminars, where the majority of the blogs in the TBB Ignore list show up to present and market to newbies what really counts in this “hobby”, errr, business. You can learn more here:
http://travelbloggerbuzz.com/travel-milespoints-blogosphere-has-turned-into-a-giant-credit-card-pumpization-scheme/
Please ignore, don’t feed the trolls.
Roboform is my MOST favorite piece of software, I can not function online without it for years. I would be so so lost without it. So I added it in my referral links and a small banner hoping to get a few bucks from a reader who may buy it. This dude is going insane while his site went on another credit card spree from which just ONE credit card app will make 100 to 300 times more than my little banner.
You should know how pathetic is that!
I am going to eat watermelon and watch the NBA Finals. Watch what happens here.
How about this smittytabb? I used it to educate. It never stops here at TBB. High five!
Yeah, but if you open up an SPG Amex [insert affiliate link; don’t mention that it’s an inferior offer], you can stay at the #32 ranked luxury hotel in Somalia
Better yet, open up a business card while you’re at it. Click HERE. And get two “free” nights in a Standard room in the 32nd best “luxury” hotel in Somalia!!
Remember, “your good credit is my best asset”
Out of all places Somalia? It could easy be…Afghanistan!
“your good credit is my best asset” – I am on the floor, can’t get back up. Where is that product they used to advertise in late night cable TV, the Clapper? I need it right now!
http://www.roboform.com/php/land.php?frm=frame45&affid=tbb69
You just had to stick 69 in there lol 😉
Yes 🙂
Darn registration form asked for just five digits…so tbb came naturally and then 69 came naturally after that! This goes together with one of the entries I have in tomorrow’s Buzz as I am trying to get a freebie trip to a “resort”. Hehe
I love this. Hahah, can’t stop laughing. What an entertainment. Beats best spoof ever made. You guys are terrific. Oh my goodness.
Some things never change: What is pathetic George is that you continue to rant about something you can’t change. You continue to rant because YOU had the opportunity to bring your concept of how to pimp cards effectively to the market, but didn’t act. I think that is called jealousy or maybe envy. If you can add a RoboForm link, you can apply for credit card links and show us all how it is to be done in the correct Pimpadopoulos manner? Oh wait George, you ranting makes that hard to get those approvals? Huh I wonder why?
Oh I’ll check in on you every now and again. I’ve got a bet with myself you’ll continue taking the easy way out and just keep on ranting. Like I’ve said for months, its your schtick. Its what you bring to the table
Haters gonna hate.
High five back. OMG, it never ends. I am enjoying Efes beer and the hot springs in Turkey. Highly recommended! Cures everything!
There is a song in a western movie that keeps coming to mind…”Rolling, rolling, rolling” and all I can think about is…”Trolling, trolling, trolling”.
Nearing 500 comments in a blog the troll despises….If this is not “jealousy or maybe envy” I don’t know what is.
Trolls gonna troll.
Yawn
Why that is less than one per day George and way less than the number of times that you bitch about blogs on your ignore list and your readers keep on reading them and keep on paying those you “ignore” with the CPM model. Way less than Steve shoots at others and misses on a daily basis.
I love you George. Getting into a pissing match with you is like fighting a guy with one hand tied behind his back. You whine and complain but make no difference. You continue to move to monetization like everybody else did when the time was right. Your timing was just wrong. And you are wrong again. I don’t despise your blog. Your blog is the best laugh I get all day. I will miss it when you come out of the ether and realize what a big “Time Suck” this is in your life and there is no way out now unless you totally rebrand. But I’ve been telling you that for over a year now. No credit card company is gonna touch you now George with all the negative you have spread on them. They are the supplier of more frequent flyer miles than any other source we have in the hobby, AND coincidentally the highest paying affiliate commissions. And you piss them off. Brilliant move when you had so much potential to teach us all how to do it. Ha
I thought after your request for comments on the ignore post earlier this month you were actually going to consider making the change, but no, it is too easy to whine and let others whine for you as well. I’m gonna hire some guy to put a “Whine-O-Meter on your blog to show the percentage of comments that are whining about bloggers that have much larger audiences, more influence in the space and are profitable. You represent the .2% of “angries” in the space. And you can have this audience all to yourself.
So come on back with your best shot now George. “Comments. Get your Comments here”?
How about the “7 cards and not one cash back card”? I like that one as well.
Don’t forget the Avios post and Travel Challenges you and the whiners don’t like. Throw that back out again too George.
But in all reality you are heading to Pimpadopoulos Land with Amazon and RoboForm. The color scheme is terrible and hurts my eyeballs. Haha LOL WTF?
Same shit. Different day.
Haters Gonna Hate.
A) you shouldn’t talk about website design… when you ran FTG, the design wasn’t anything to brag about
B) the problem i have with the travel challenge is every week they are wrong. you (or howie or whoever else) don’t seem to care enough to actually give correct information. and if that was my business i’d be embarrassed
though it is pretty funny that howie cannot grasp avios, which has been around for like 3 years. can’t wait till his “expert” seminar in chicago
Throwing out the same shit same. Howie posted his mia culpa and the mistake was fixed. IB and their fact checkers didn’t catch the avios slipup either sometimes things get by even the best of us.
I was not able to understand much, forgive my ignorance. But, i just wanted to ask one question, are you angry?:)
@smittytabb
for you dear
yawn 🙂
Trolling at 3.56 am…
Feedly is up!!!
Only 841 blogs unread. Which is surprisingly low. Which leads me to believe Feedly must have lost track of many during this interruption. So if I missed your blog post I am sorry.
Back to “work” for you.
Brazil 2 Croatia 1 prediction
And you would’ve been right if it weren’t for a ridiculous penalty that even Brazilian guys I talked to call “a 50-50” with a naughty smile.
Watched the game on the beach in Copa. Thousands of people, everyone was courteous, amazing sight!
I envy you, enjoy the experience. I am in terms with my decision to stay home. Someone needs to entertain the TBB readers 🙂 Nahhh, just could not take all this time off.
however,’ We said, but us as living, 7th: Mavs. very unlikely. exposing Miami’s lack of depth,” He added that he had not discussed the idea with James and Wade. who are enrolled in an elementary school near their Coconut Grove home. He also is part of a class-action lawsuit in which the NFL agreed to a $765 million settlement without acknowledging it hid the risks of concussions from former players. a Boston University-based group that has been studying the effects of brain trauma in athletes an