We show you how to take your family of 6 with miles to Nicaragua, get the details of Korean SkyPass awards, travel to Big Island & learn about Bear Markets.
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Effective until further notice, TBB will not be published on Saturdays. I need a break, thanks. Unless I get a bunch of CSP signups so then I may feel guilty and continue this daily posting insane streak hehe.
The reason I got into this insane hobby was to save money on travel when I said goodbye to my cushy Big 6 (now Final 4) job. Because you can. Like Personal Finance Digest did taking his family to Nicaragua. Over Christmas. All six of them. Many good lessons to learn from this post. Really fun taking a harmless dig at me for pulling in the big bucks here lol. In a recent day I got excited I covered my medium coffee at Panera with my Amazon money as it costs $2.11 and my Amazon link brought in $2.14. Only to find out Panera had raised the price to $2.17. #storyofmylifelol.
Korean SkyPass Award Chart & Fuel Charges. Another great post at MileCards. No doubt about the great award availability in this airline but booking method and them fuel surcharges make it not as good. Maybe it can work for you!
The Top 25 Credit Cards by Mile Nerd. I hope BestOffersPatrol makes another appearance in the comments outlining which ones are the Best Offers you can get through the links of this site. Because screwing readers with inferior offers should be a felony!
A decent state of Manufacturing Spend address.Β By the Frequent Miler. Oh how we all miss the good old days. Now with so many blogs vying for click attention…it’s pretty awful out there, too much work π
Innovative feature at Doctor of Credit. #Ask A Banker. Some interesting answers here.
Evolve to shut down on February 1st, 2016. Frankly, I was expecting this sooner. They gave it a good shot, lets move on.
Direct Flights between the US and Kenya coming soon.
We loved the Big Island of Hawaii many years ago. Here is how you can explore its volcanoes.
How to find an honest and reliable mechanic. Because…they are so hard to find, great post!
10 Bear Market Truths. Must read considering the mayhem in the markets to greet the new year, darn Chinese!
TBB Family. At the Airport.
Best.Deal.Ever. Lol.
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First? Can’t be.
It must feel awesome grabbing the Gold medal heading into the weekend!
Ah, TBB — you and that PFD guy have a reciprocal linkage Pumping Swamp agreement?? π
Interesting to read someone’s experience with the Hilton in MGA, my home away from home for more than 15 years…
And, silver on a Friday unless someone else beats me as I palaver on about swamps, 2nd homes, etc…
Oh no, we got busted!
I have never been to Nicaragua. The Hilton in MGA sounds nice.
The Big Short movie is good. But I really liked “99 Homes” better….a stripper had 5 homes, all financed in Florida in 2007…you know what happened next!
Feels nice not to have to come up with a post tomorrow….Doing this day in, day out sure takes a toll.
All: Be nice to bloggers posting daily, they are…heroes π
Let me guess. The stripper tried to get help from her sugardaddy, Henry Paulson. She applied for a CC and Henry gave here access to the Troubled Asset Relief Program. But this was just a trick to get some free ass (Henry is a hacker after all) because as history has shown, you’re only supposed to bail out banks. Instead she had to work even HARDER. She tried the popular “jingle mail” approach but once the banks recovered they forced her to file for chapter 7. She’s now a crack addicted prostitute.
Moral of the story: If you play your cards right, like Henry and everybody else in Goldman Sachs “boy’s club” you can still get a happy ending even when the financial system is falling apart.
Something like that… π
Bluebird/Kate loading is dead. RIP
Black Friday indeed.
The end of an era.
Drink.
Just received an email saying my ability to load funds to Serve has been terminated.
An interesting thread on Flyertalk started about an hour ago on Serve shutdowns. . .
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1737477-bluebird-shutdowns.html
Thanks for the heads up, see my comment above.
The other shoe? Got the serve email as well.
I feel your pain
The end is near, eeer, here!
It’s BLACKBIRD FRIDAY!! π
BOOM, just like that no more BlueBird! We had a great run together, going from $1,000 a day to $2,500 a day to multiple accounts. Oh wow oh wow… Happy 2016 everyone, something will turn up. I am sure more people will resell now.
Cheers,
PedroNY
Sure, something will turn up. It’s just that so many things have disappeared. There’s already been a large influx of resellers and as Ingy said, the margins got too low on the computer/electronic side. Reselling is a seasonal “business”, great at the end of the year. And you have to manage inventories.
Painful coming on top of the Buxx devaluation
I love PedronNY’s optimism and enthusiasm.
ABC: What, u are still reading Ingy? π #comeoutIknowyouarereading
So many things have been killed lately. I blame pumping bloggers π
perhaps going on TV, Tolling Stone and making video’s to promote DA HOBBY wasn’t such a great idea was it…………Titans killed Bluebird/Serve, never forget……….selfish pigs ruin it for everyone
i guess whatever forms of M.O. liquidation still availible will shortly be overloaded and get “AMEXED” too
1-8-2016 a day that will live in infamy…..i guess i have to ask my therapist why i just can’t be more cheerful like Pedro………..”the day the Music died” …..Bye, Bye Miss Bluebird card, drove my Chevy to the Walmart and the Kate machine was dry. The day the bluebird died…..Don Mclean
I wouldn’t say I am cheerful, just optimistic. Just think back to 10 years ago, what did you do for M.S.? Did you even do M.S. in 2005-06? Think of last 7ish years (U.S. Mint – till now) as the golden era. Now we are just back to where we started, only CC sign-up bonuses are about 2x what they used to be, and spending requirements are 5x what they used to be, and all airlines/hotels devalued charts by 2x.
All in perspective, life is good, float some money, spend 3% on transaction costs, pick up sign up bonuses — still pretty amazing. So, I am being optimistic about something new coming up. It sort of all pops up out of nowhere. It’s healthy to be an optimist, at least that’s what I heard.
Cheers,
PedroNY
>>>>>>>>>>>>>only CC sign-up bonuses are about 2x what they used to be, and spending requirements are 5x what they used to be, and all airlines/hotels devalued charts by 2x.
But the award availability and fees/surcharges/eetc has been PUNISHING. The only redeeming (pun intended) was the ease of earning in…scale. Now not so much. If this is combined with award availability improvements, it will be great. Instead, we are full speed ahead with revenue based BURNING.
Basket weaving anyone?
I may have to fly coach from now on!!! π
Even worse, I may have to pay for it.
Yep, I see a lot of that in our future #so sad #itsucks
So the pumping revenue from Pedro’s 2 CSPs and my Arrival+ just isn’t enough for you?! Where are we supposed to go to watch the flames and fallout of the burning husk of the good ship Serve?
Hey Hey Hey, I only did 2 CSPs, I do not take any credit for Arrival+ sign-ups! Don’t get me involved with that one. π My last churn with Barclays was actually Hawaiian 50k sign up, I needed more Hilton points. π
Cheers,
PedroNY
If it wasn’t for the cc links I would have fallen on my sword…like 3 years ago when I started woohoo.
So γγγγ¨γγγγγΎγ means thank you ? According to Google Translate.
Hoping to win those United lounge passes. Or, if I am flying Lufthansa business class DEN-MUN then can I use their lounge for free ? Or if I booked through United can use the U lounge for free ? Gets a little confusing sometimes !
γγγγ¨γγγγγΎγ Buzz.
I think Business class tickets get you in…not expert π
It is so funny reading the comments in the MS forum. Especially from the Newbies. One dude with 4 posts is asking what to do now? Seriously? The titans will slowly disappear now. How are the fanboys going to MS to get points for LH F without BB? Oh wait, Lucky BUYS a lot of his flights doesn’t he? Novel concept. MMS is now telling everybody to buy MOs. This should be fun to watch.
Funny how Lucky Ben slowly introduces the concept of paying for his tickets.
Weird, I though he was spending 1 million miles per week thanks to his Chase Sapphire card?
I was mislead? Really???
Being mislead by someone who wanted a kickstarter to pay for his Flying Apartment adventure? LOL I think he and Bow Tie have lead the most people down the garden path then anybody else. Its even more unethical with Ben as he has only recently admitted to buying his tickets and has always made it seem he was doing all his travel/stays on miles and points.
This explains all the recent rebranding & mass PR efforts lately…
OK how do we make some dough on today’s developments? Answer SHORT Blackhawk stock, they are going to sell a lot less visa gift cards in 2016………………………..Can you hear that sound? Listen…………..it’s the sound of cheering Walmart employees!………………Titan’s will be selling harder than ever now to make up for lost conversions, I think Lucky will be on Kimmel soon.maybe Gleff can worm his way into another Colbert appearance………….I wonder if the entire staff’s at TPG, FTG, OMAAT and TBB are worried about getting laid off? correction the staff at TBB is just worried about getting laid.
The sell IS going to get tougher. I think it will become totally hideous…not like it has already gotten to that point. But the “free” MS Spend era is pretty much over. Many newbs will get the CSP card and get clobbered and….pay for us to keep flying for free….much of it in coach though #gulp
Support the original pages this stuff appears, I am just the messenger! Heck, if you feel like it, support TBB, our beloved miles addict π
American AAdvantage offering Executive Platinum status for those who have United Premier 1K status – no challenge required – meant for Brazil but others are getting it!
http://blog.frequentflyerbonuses.com/2016/01/american-aadvantage-offering-executive.html
I read it wrong – I thought it was the other way around! π Oh well, I will just challenge for UA Platinum next year. I only value it for the award redeposit fee waivers anyway. Thanks for that link, though!
How do I get UA 1K ?
I mean the easy way, without actually having to do anything.
π
Those days are over π
Got an offer in the mail for Amex Business Card 75000 Membership Reward points, 5K spend requirement. $195/year fee, waived first year.
Good deal ?
Yea or nay ?
Assuming u can get the bonus….& can handle cards responsibly…phuckyeah!
Pretty good offer. Usually 75k or 100k offers comme with spending requirements of 10-15k
Only the 50k offers get a 5k requirement. Providing you can do the spending, it is a pretty good offer. I didn’t know that the fee increased to 195 though.
Here is your TBB fix for the day. A collection of worthy blog posts about the Bluebird/Serve massacre on Black Friday January 8, 2016.
https://saverocity.com/travel/servebb-the-birds-are-dead-ducks/
http://www.doctorofcredit.com/the-end-of-servebluebirdsoftserve-for-manufactured-spend-whats-left/
http://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/breaking-american-express-shutting-down-bluebird-serve-accounts/
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/82170
http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2016/01/08/amex-kills-bluebird-and-serve-for-manufactured-spend/
http://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2016/01/08/amex-serve-card-mass-account-closures-effective-immediately-182016-section-15-d/
http://runningwithmiles.boardingarea.com/when-did-amex-decide-that-manufactured-spending-was-going-to-be-against-the-rules/
http://www.pointchaser.com/amex-is-shutting-down-bluebird-and-serve-accounts-whats-next/
http://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/bluebird-serve-shutdown-considerations/
http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2016/01/08/liquidate-visa-and-mastercard-gift-cards/
http://milespointsreselling.com/2016/01/09/why-i-think-the-bluebirdserve-shutdowns-are-a-good-thing/
I suspect this will add to the demise of many blogs in 2016 as predicted by the one and only TBB.
P.S. Most credit cards pumped by Titan bloggers can be had here, YOU can make a difference with your clicks, THINK!
I may be alone but I think this is a good thing. http://milespointsreselling.com/2016/01/09/why-i-think-the-bluebirdserve-shutdowns-are-a-good-thing/
It may be a good thing for some reasons you mentioned but the award side of the equation is too far gone now man…
The only thing to save the hobby is a…sudden & steep recession. And, for the sake of all of us, that should not be welcomed.
As long as the commissions for selling plastic cards remain at these levels I don’t think the Titans will miss a beat….On the contrary, the selling will become even more hideous!
Welp, I haven’t needed to use my Bluebird yet, so didn’t get the email. Hmm, this should be interesting.
Actually, my wife’s BB is alive. Shutdown 3 out of 4. Weird.
So now what? Will the Titans reduce their posts or will target other avenues before they too are killed? I suspect latter happening. They already have started feeding the masses – how to liquidate existing gift cards. My foot. Don’t these followers have any brains to think through a problem and come out of it on their own? These bloggers won’t stop till they kill every avenue and treating their readers like idiots in the process.
The big pumping bloggers sell credit cards. As long as the current $ structure remains as is…I don’t expect any meaningful changes at all.
At least in my blog I KNOW whoever gets a card here can handle it while the pumping Titans will sell a card to ANYTHING that breathes and could care less of the severe consequences.
Thank you to the reader who got the Thank You Premier card. And to the reader who bought something yesterday with my Amazon link, the 66 cents will go a long way π
It is interesting to see who has and who has not mentioned the BB/Serve massacre on their blogs. It was up on Frequent Miler right away and on Miles 2 Memories and Doctor of Credit shortly afterward. I was actually shocked that MMS mentioned it by the early afternoon. Rene mentioned it. Many other bloggers who are into the MS end (PointChaser, Travel with Grant, Running with Miles, Miles per Day, others) have posted, commented, or analyzed.
But curiously, as of Saturday, it still hasn’t warranted so much as a mouse fart on The Points Guy, One Mile at a Time, View from the Wing (THOUGHT LEADER!!), Frugal Travel Guy, MileValue, or Deals We Like, all blogs heavily invested on the CC referral and miles redemption side. Hmmm!
A little surprised to see nothing on Chasing the Points, The Free-quent Flyer, MilesNerd or Pointscentric so far, but those guys don’t post a lot. Nothing on Travel Codex either. Not too surprised to see nothing on Travel is Free, as he almost never discusses the MS side.
Interesting info, thank you.
I still find my life so much more enhanced ignoring some of the blogs you mentioned. I hope some of them in the Ignore list give it up. Nothing personal. They have contributed to the demise of this hobby, NO DOUBT.
How will yuan devaluation affect our costs of tourism ? Will it change it significantly for travel within China, for China based airlines, for travel within or to any other countries ?
γγγγ¨γγγγγΎγ again Buzz, I think you are a finance guru and may have an idea on this question.
Going to read up on all those bluebird links.
What do you think, I am a thought leader about currency fluctuations or something? π Time will tell haha.
I am no guru on anything. Avoid gurus. They are full ofshit π
Well said!
P.S. You may be a small guru in getting some serious comments going in you posts, 30+ on most days, freaking amazing! Many are repeat posters.
Laughing,
PedroNY
Like the OTHERSTEVE said, the scumbag Bloggers who don’t give a shat about the people who read their blogs are just acting like nothing happened yesterday. What did they have an emergency scumbag conference call or coincidence I guess. Sheer contempt for the people who read their blogs and line their pockets if you ask me. Buzz I am afraid that they will be the last ones standing and the little guys with morals will die out…….. No more Apparama’s (I call them APPORGYS) if you have to spend 12-15k in one shot.
I don’t read the blogs OTHERSTEVE mentioned because they make me nauseous, are the comments there calling them out on their silence? I can’t look myself as i made an oath to the Swami.
I liked the “emergency scumbag conference” lol.
MMS tweeted out his 10 step newbie guide full of plastic affiliate links and, how to BB, gulp! And then other bloggers excuse this shit because he is so…nice. Phuck meeeeeee! There is no excuse for dat! Oh wait, hey it’s all about conversions. I felt a little angry so I just wrote a rant equivalent of the old TBB days. And I felt better!
I would like to clarify that I am referencing the first group of bloggers OTHERSTEVE mentioned, I love the second group as much as I man love Buzz……..Come to think of it, the first group is like the Republican Party (will just say anything to get power and wealth, with total disregard and intellectual disrespect for their constituents). The second group is like the Democratic Party, cares about and respects it’s readers and doesn’t mind a little hanky panky.
Cheers, Ramsey
Buzz is a republican. Can’t stand those socialists in Greece.
I am not a Republican! And I can’t stand those pseudo rebel phucking Commies in Greece too π
I consider myself an independent.actually. Pragmatic moderate centrist. LIberal in social issues. Conservative in fiscal issues. And I love watching Republican debates and having fun with them on Twitter π