Yep, I won another prize today, a roundtrip ticket to London on Virgin Atlantic. I chose to fly from JFK instead of O’Hare. Yep, just one ticket and in economy. So, not the greatest win…and I did not turn it down. It was on twitter and I only entered two days in all of December! I hope I can somehow manage to put together a trip to…Paris with Mrs. TBB. My daughter said today “We are losing track of the things you win Dad!” And I smiled…
I know the format of my blog blows. I am working on it…VERY slowly. But what about the content? Do you like it? Do you hate it? What would you like to read more? Or not read about? Any feedback is appreciated. Criticize me too please, do not hold back! Thank you!
Ways to contact me:
email: travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/FlyerTalkerinA2
Find me at FlyerTalk and Milepoint as: gpapadop
BIEBER IS COMING, BELIEBE IT!
Bieber’s prepaid card is coming near you! You have been warned! I wonder who is going to be next!
BEST OF
MMS has a fantastically comprehensive post on how to keep miles from expiring. It’s now been a while since he posted a ridiculously comprehensive controversial post…and I am NOT talking about the endless Bora Bora trip report!
United is on a tear lately selling miles for ridiculously expensive amounts and whacking the mileage bonuses when members fly premium classes of partner airlines. Here at TBB we despise buying/gifting miles directly from airlines and we prefer not to buy premium tickets…ever!
Mommy Points has a decent post on Elite Status for 2013. It would feel more genuine if the credit card links were not present but that’s just me I guess. The BEST part of the post is the comment by reader Rob who said “…there’s a psychological benefit to status that influences people and does inspire behavior that isn’t necessarily rational.” This is probably one of the best comments ever, so true!!
Ben’s 10 most memorable hotel stays of 2012. It is like watching hotel porn:-)
Points, Miles & Martinis has excellent advice on how to cancel Delta awards tickets as Platinum members. Were you really going to spend 270k on two business class to Hawaii, really?? And this is why they are called Skypesos!!!
Absolutely fascinating pics from inside North Korea.
Loyalty Lobby on how to Status match on Platinum Priority Club!
Loyalty Lobby publishes the new Lifetime Marriott Elite Requirements. Expect everyone else to publish the same thing soon on a blog near you:-)
The 9 Wackiest Items We Have Seen In Hotel Mini Bars! Alexander Wang-Designed Condoms (who is he??), no? Ok, how about a 24-Karat Gold Vibrator then, batteries are included! Shaking my head…
A war tourist in the front line of the Syrian Civil War. I think this guy is not going to last very long!
Giddy for Points breaks the news on how to get 1,000 Southwest miles with purchase of TurboTax!
A new Radisson Blu will open at the Mall of America in March 2013 for all you who are into shopping.
It appears the Indian airline Kingfisher is officially dead. I won’t be surprised if it gets revived again…only to die again!
NOT SO BEST OF
Gary Leff writes about his credit card strategy again! Absolutely nothing new info here, it is the same old credit card links and his thinking behind it. Good info for a complete newbie I guess. Isn’t it amazing how the Chase Sapphire Preferred Mastercard is almost never mentioned by any blogger (other than DansDeals) and no info is given how you could get both cards (WITH signing bonus!)? Hint: Go to the Mastercard website, it’s there! (no compensation to me!)
Pizza in Motion has a contest running giving away a free AA roundtrip ticket and a choice of 25k United miles or Hyatt points. I entered of course but then today he clarified (maybe I had missed it in the start of the contest or was hoping it was otherwise, hey I look for these things!) that it is: “Comment as much as you like, each comment earns one entry.” Ughh, that is a giant pet peeve of mine as it attracts senseless posting of useless comments! If you are going to offer a prize, fine. I prefer one time contests. Ok, once daily is fine too. But UNLIMITED posting makes me wonder if the PRIMARY reason you are doing it is to increase traffic to your site! Besides, it horrifically reduces the odds of winning!
Milevalue had a post titled “How to Earn Lufthansa Miles at Amazon“. One of my readers was very kind to summarize with: “Right now, you can earn Hawaiian Miles for your Amazon purchases. Turns out there is a backdoor way to get M&M miles, but it’s a terrible deal, especially for US residents. The best thing to do for Amazon purchases is buy Amazon GC’s at office supply stores or drugstores“. And so ludicrous to push the Lufthansa card! Never has a blog started so great and keeps falling lower and lower! Another kind reader had this to say:
You won’t get posts on CSP MC
You won’t get posts on the Club Carlson Card
But you’ll get someone to push the Lufthansa MasterCard
The Blogosphere: where travel hacking journalistic integrity goes to die
CHASE BANK ON A MEGA ROLL?
World Wanderlusting had an informative post asking us if we were inspired (my answer is No!) and informed readers that Chase has dropped them! All here at TBB are very sorry to hear that…no we are not!
Parag at Frequent Flyer University is also losing Chase credit card links. What is going on?????
Both NOT on Boarding Area, coincidence?
And a good guy jumps in the murky world of bank mud. Y tu Travel Summary, y tu?
Warning: Prepare for an amazing assault on your eye sockets pushing the British Airways card as the payout is going up effective January 1st!
ODDZ & ENDZ
What’s inside America’s banks? Bitches!
A collection of ridiculous signs from abroad at Vagabondish
Oh come on, it’s just Discover! I probably won’t even get any of the big banks!
I am messing with you. They all start with Discover u know;-) I totally understand the economics behing it, you know that. I really liked your disclosure policies! I am focusing content, content, content…and staying alive juggling it all!!
Can’t even type…I am exhausted, goodnight!
I honestly don’t think there’s any chance I’ll get approved for the big boys anyway. I don’t get nearly enough traffic. It’s not like my posts are credit card focused anyway so no big loss. It’s just a good learning experience for me to figure out how this stuff works and what opportunities are out there!
You sound exactly like MileValue did when he got affiliate links
I used to be a fan of his blog, and I am a fan of yours
Please don’t become another MileValue
No Lufthansa MasterCards or inferior US Airways cards please!
I can’t wait to burn people here when they post Lufthansa/Disney/Royal Caribbean cards! Actually, Delta Points likes it as he gets more hits from the exposure in my blog, lol. Actually, I may suprise eveyone today and may include him in the “Best of” category…shocking!!!
My first thought on the M&M/Lufthansa/Amazon deal was “What the hell is this????” Sheesh, why not tell us about the Southwest/Turbotax deal or anything else even slightly relevant??
It was a long winded rant which served as little purpose other than as an excuse to push a credit card that would otherwise be very hard to justify embedding into a post
I would like to know how many idiots applied for the card…We will never know and that’s just too sad!!
Thanks for the British Airways heads up. Will obviously be on the lookout from the usual suspects
I expect MV to have some post about some awful way to earn Avios, write 8 paragraphs about it, conclude it was a terrible deal, and then push the card saying this is a much better way to earn (making no mention that if you just wait a bit, you can probably get 100K avios)
Do not forget, they are not supposed to tell us now of any deadlines…
que?
Your que? is referring to que?
I was referring to “they are not supposed to tell us now of any deadlines”
Elaborate
New policy by Flex offers:Their affiliates can not say a word about when offers end. So we will be saved from the alarming headlines “this ends tomorrow!!!!!”. I think milesmomma wrote about it, she was visiby upset:-)
Looking forward to Frequent Milers post on how to leverage the Bieber card
I think FM may be busy with his 1 million march idea;-) I doubt the Bieber card will make it in his repertoire. The Magic card (yeah, Magic Johnson has a prepaid card…the fees are rapist like!!!!!) did not make it so I doubt the Bieber card will do. FM shows he has original content, has integrity and shows respect for his readers unlike so many others in this space…don’t get me started:-)
If FM can’t figure out a way to turn $50 of spend on the Justin Bieber card into first class tickets to Bora Bora, he’s losing his touch 🙂
Wait to see my comment on his million miles in one month idea tomorrow, I mes with him:-)
Congrats on your ticket win! That is completely awesome. (Hey, no need to apologize to us that it is in coach. How very 1% of you! 🙂 Remember the days no so long ago when you were younger and did not care if it was economy seating or not!)
I remember those days less and less…It is not 1%ish of me, I think it is called…aging:-)
Discover is a gateway card. Tread carefully
You mean, everyone starts with the Discover card and then…
I will never have the Discover card in my website, they can go out of business and would not care a bit!
When you only make 1 post a day, it’s even more imperative that you don’t do filler posts
Which brings us to today’s FTG post
Did you know that you can transfer SPG points to many airlines at a 1:1 ration? And get a 5K bonus when transferring in increments of 20K?
You reading my mind? Compare that to the Loyalty Lobby about SPG…It is like day and night in quality!
now George Papad? you’ve been around long enough to understand a post designed for rookies and one more advanced. Two different target markets. And oh by the way. I just love the frequency and font size of the disclosures on your business website? Can they get any smaller? Good luck with the adoption.
I think you owe me $50 Marriott gift card? I know you would not be able to stay away! Thank you for reading & posting, you know I would not censor any comments…unless you post my real name, you almost half way there!
Happy New Year to you Rick, enjoy the grandkids!
No, that’s a textbook definition of a filler post. And not the first time you’ve had this post.
You’ve provided nothing that couldn’t be found within 2 minutes of navigation on SPG.com.
Nor was anything on LL’s site advanced. Unless you can point out specifically what in his pro’s and con’s is too complicated for a newbie? Does it take an SPG expert to understand what LL means when he says a pro of SPG is that they have “Good coverage in certain cities i.e. Bangkok”?
Your post was a filler to pimp a CC at the end. His was a post that actually provided useful information that people of all levels could find useful
Editorial Board of FTG revisited the issue and posted your name in our original post. The vote was 2-0 with one abstention. Google search will pick it up shortly. Sorry George. I don’t own it anymore. But $200 per hour for your advice? Wow. We don’t charge our readers a thing. The ads, heck, they are just filler 😉
Wow, very classy move Rick, very classy. What else can I say, you continue to amaze me! I am thinking about doing a blog post and title it “Open letter to FTG” but then I think about doing lots of posts and just don’t have time for them.
I think my hourly fee is low and I am worth it:-)
Somehow I have the feeling that TBB won’t be getting his Marriott gift cards, and I won’t be getting my request to which parts of LL’s post was “for the more advanced”
“It was geared towards the more advanced because his writing wasn’t just copy/pasted from the homepage of SPG.com, and he actually presented his own analysis”
I always stand by what I write in my blog! If I make a mistake I will apologize.
It is now two $50 Marriott gift cards, woohoo!
Nice post today on DD’s about real vs. fake credit monitoring
That information is far more valuable to newbies than 99% of posts that the bloggers target towards that demographic
Yep, already queued in for tomorrow!
“Were you really going to spend 270k on two business class to Hawaii, really?? And this is why they are called Skypesos!!!”
Why yes I was 🙂 They are Skypesos afterall…
I personally would not go over 220k for this, lol.