TravelBloggerBuzz

An eclectic journey through the Travel Miles/Points blogosphere

Alaska Airlines Destroys Emirates Awards, Marriott to Buy SPG

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Alaska Airlines destroys Emirates awards which means no shower selfies for you, Marriott to buy SPG as the Chinese drop it, visit Thailand and so much more!

 

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There is so much to cover but other priorities are more pressing…so I will make this quick and keep comments to a minimum. Well, I ‘ll try…

I will pick the winner of the drone and announce it here on Saturday. To win it, you must be a subscriber. You get one email a day with the blog posts of the previous day at 7 am in your inbox. One day I will email something else, I have not gotten around to it yet. And the email includes the whole post, not the short excerpt and then the link to the blog to increase page views and dinero!

It was a horrible horrible day in the miles & points world. To the point that it really makes you wonder if this is all worth it anymore. Glad to see Milenomics back and he nails it: “Miles Are Dead!“. Must read, welcome back!

Then came the devastating news that Alaska Airlines pretty much killed the Emirates awards. The first blog I saw the news was at PointsCentric. Bye bye on board shower selfie! And the bitching and moaning just exploded on Twitter, wow! I am not going to link to individual tweets of mine but if you care to laugh a little bit amid the destruction…check my Twitter feed!

Here are a few good posts describing the carnage felt in the blogosphere:

The Gate – The Double Whammy on Emirates Premium Class Awards by Alaska Airlines and why I am not Surprised

Running With Miles – The Worst Kind of Devaluation as Alaska Guts Emirates Awards

So, the only “good” airline left sticks it to its members without notice and all hell breaks loose. And Alaska tried to keep some good faith, lol. Then they come out with a FAQ and pretty much blame travel hacking, wow!

Ok, here is the scoop you guys. The mega pumpers have been blasting away showing off their on board shower selfies and how they could get 5 Alaska Airlines credit cards per day (thanks MMS!) and then hooking them with mega commission earning (for them!) credit cards. What the hell do you expect?? The joke is on you. This hobby is dying because these mega online marketers do not give a flying kaka about the hobby, they only care about their business, which is SELLING CREDIT CARDS EVERY FREAKING DAY! I wrote a thesis on this by the way. Heck, The Points Guy married the ChaseSapphire Card! (Contrary to rumors, I was not invited and never attended!)

My dear hobby is dying, it has been a slow death by a thousand devaluations and shutdowns the past few years! Experts my big fat Greek behind (#2 is horrible by the way, don’t waste money on it #embarassingmovie). So, if you are going to pay a fee to hear these guys speak…what can I say? The joke is on you!

I have never bought any miles or points. Never. But if I do I will make sure it is with my CSP card I got at TBB #mostinterestingblogintheworld lol.

TBB is going UP and TPG is going down baby. Titan blogs are so so scared, I am coming for youuuuuuu!

I have written about what kind of weird company this Chinese AnusBang is. Their CEO is a really weird dude. He will be a great complement to the North Korean Doritos dude and Denis Rodman! Anyways, suddenly they got “cold feet” and backed away. This has been a very weird transaction. So, it looks like Marriott will kill SPG. I mean, on top of the Emirates, another knife in the back. How many more can we all take and say “I had enough, I am out!”. Or, they may be back…who knows! Expect the unexpected with CEO Wu! Maybe he had made a side deal with the SPG folks to get the Marriott camp to raise their offer for…a cut. Yeah, yeah, I loved XFiles (the original) and sure makes it more interesting…RIP SPG.

Ok, a few more very good posts you should be aware of:

Travel Codex – How to Book United Mileage Plan Award Tickets

Miles4More – Book it! You’ll have plenty of time to procrastinate later

 

Eagerly awaiting the new valuations of the Alaska Airlines miles by the mega plastic pumpers….lol.

Did you hear? Google is shutting down its debit card. So many shutdowns, why can’t we have a few Titan blogs to shutdown huh? Instead we have Travel Is Free pretty much shutting it down #sosad. I think I am going to delete it from the “Blogs I Like” list soon…

Amazing comeback in the first quarter for the stock market. So many “experts” were running for the hills. Which may still happen, nobody knows. Have a plan and STICK to it (easier said than actually doing it!).

This Google Street View guy walked all over Thailand…

street-view-guy-walks-500km-thailand-google-2

 

Which blogger would post a link to most creative bathroom signs ever? This guy! Note to reader Ramsey: No toilets are visible!

Margie Vs. Homer

 

And I leave you with this…

brown-cardigan-dank-memes-11-500x503
The look when you discover that Alaska Airlines is just like all the others #loyaltyisdead

 

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Comments

  3. TBBTheManHimself says

    Latest additions before they hit the blogosphere pasted all over w/ a few moronic comments to show off “expertise”:

    Starwood’s CEO sounds like it is a done deal. Let the SPG killing begin!

    http://skift.com/2016/04/01/what-starwoods-ceo-is-telling-employees-about-anbang-walking-away/

    Really funny April 1st post at Frequent Miler. If you want me to write for you guys, Elite Status Swami and Periodic Pointer, please speak to my agent Rene. LOL

    http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2016/04/01/bet-you-didnt-know-changes-in-ownership-and-policies-at-frequent-miler/

  4. JamaicanReefer says

    The magic route on Emirates economy from US via Dubai is still open. That means any Emirates hop via its hub in Dubai is possible and discounted. Example: Orlando – Dubai is about 42,5k +$30 while Orlando – Dubai – Colombo or Orlando – Dubai – Delhi is still 42,5k +$30. We added 4-5 hours flights here. The Club Carlson cert shines here because a stay in one of the Radissons close to metro in Dubai allows to recover from the economy flight where Alaska stopover is allowed.

    • TBBBthemanhimself says

      No clue. No updates. I think they are on to something else. Maybe we all should too…

      • TBBBTheManHimself says

        Saw him on Twitter asking to see if any hobbyist wants to meet in Austin…so healthwise is fine.

        I think his fans deserve an update.

        Wow!

  6. Scott says

    I have a hard time getting upset about these things anymore. We should just be happy these programs exist in the first place. These days I find it more amusing listening to people bitch about it especially those of us who game the system. “How dare Alaska devalue you EK! I applied for 4 credit cards in one day to get that flight!”

    180k for two long haul flights in EK first class still seems like a reasonable price to me. I might be upset it it was 400,000 one way.

    • ABC says

      If you put a monetary value on your points this is the equivalence of a 50% drop on NASDAQ.

      • Scott says

        That’s the first mistake is assigning value. Points only have a value when you are about to use them. Sort of like Schrödinger’s cat. Are you points alive or dead.

        • TBBBTheManHimself says

          I also was entertained by all the fury over this.

          Saw the Rene dude get quoted how this broke all trust and just could not control myself. And many others.

          Never had the shower, oh well.

  7. PedroNY says

    You can still use them for CX and QANTAS, I wouldn’t call it a full death yet, better book ’em now.

    Cheers,

    PedroNY

  9. JAW-DROPPING TBB BREAKING NEWS says

    BREAKING NEWS, This just in………TBB surges past NOOB TRAVELER in recent ALEXA ratings.

    • TBBBTheManHimself says

      Phuck YEAH!!!!

      Aiming for one more.

      Be afraid Titans, be very afraid!

      Wonder if they threaten to sue me again for…bullying…LOL

  10. Mr. Nice says

    So here’s my take… Whats all the complaing about?
    A while back UA similarily devalued their program for partner flights, which is about the same pain threshold as EK. Granted, there was some warning, but it’s in the same point range for J/F redemption. I enjoyed my ANA F flights when i could, but now have this perspective. When I want a premium experience, I can book ANA J, at approx the old F rate, which still gives me a flat seat and pajamas, just not as big and no caviar… oh the horror!
    The only people who I can see making a BIG stink over this are all the bloggers who now can’t make $$$$$ CONVERSIONS $$$$ from an onslought of “3 days till last redemption for EK F… get your cards now” blog posts. I’m sure it was a business decision by AS above everything else. Just like the great RTW fares ex-CAI, when a loophole gets published/exploited too much that it COSTS a company money, it will be fixed. That’s EXACTLY what happened here. Just my 3 cents worth today…

  11. TBBTheManHimself says

    Buried in actual work w/ tax work and end of quarter…

    Need a break here. Not much happening anyway.

    Have a nice weekend everyone. Take a break from the devaluations too! 🙂

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