We bring you the latest on crypto rewards programs, drive on Death Road, go on Volga river cruises, the best Almaty FAQ, Avios IT issues continue without end in sight, more on the Theranos fraud, Accor possibly buying a stake in Air France – KLM, how to survive a tsunami, a new oneworld membership, what things cost in healthcare around the world, how to make bodies disappear, beware of Plastiq changes, issues transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Air France and lots more for you freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (for me too, sad!).
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Did you miss my Sunday post? TBB Best of Web: Investing Experience, US Cities vs Rural, State of Internet, One-Hit Wonders, Crypto Investing
Or my rare Saturday post? Latest Hyatt Developments, Bank Shutdowns, Marriott Rewards SPG Merger, NASA Wind Tunnels, US Household Finances
We all know there have been problems using British Airways Avios to book American Airlines flights lately. Computer issues and stuff like that. This may help for now: How to book American Airlines flights with Avios whilst ba.com is not working properly. I just hope this is not the beginning of the end of this thing…
oneworld announced the first member of this new membership type called oneworld connect. It is Fiji Airways. Yawn…
This is getting absolutely ridiculous. Every week Accor Hotels buys another company. Where do they find all the cash? But wait! Please SIT DOWN! AccorHotels Considers Buying Stake in Air France-KLM. And they talk about…synergies. Smh to oblivion!
Screw it, in the Trump era we are starting to get used to extreme crap. So, here comes another one: Forget Airline Miles. Crypto Coins Are Coming to Reward Programs. Please stab me NOW!
In February, Tokyo-based e-commerce giant Rakuten said it planned to issue its own rewards coin convertible to cash. EZ Rent-A-Car is letting reward-program members convert points into digital currencies such as Bitcoin. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is trying to figure out how to make tokens work for gas-station rewards.
Total loyalty programs’ user growth has slowed to 15 percent over a two-year period ending 2016, down from 26 percent in the prior similar period…
More than half of loyalty memberships in the U.S. are inactive, and about 30 percent of consumers have abandoned a program without ever redeeming a point or a mile.
Well shoot, since my monetizing efforts here completely stink to oblivion, maybe I start issuing TBBcoin 🙂
Death Road to Coroico! Anyone done this? Yikes!
Screw the huge cruise ships, how about Cruising the Volga River instead!
Oh boy, here we go with health care costs in the US again, you have been warned! Travelling without insurance? Here’s how much medical bills cost around the world – and the cost to get cover.
A one-night stay in an intensive care unit in the US could cost upwards of £5,000, while the medical costs for a fractured arm could run to £70,000.
Suffer a major event, and the final bill can be truly astronomical – having a stroke in the USA could lead to medical costs exceeding £760,000.
How to survive a tsunami. One day my blog will save your life #lifegoals
This is a long read but I found it fascinating. It is about making dead bodies disappear. Similar to placing google search results not in the first page lol! The article also goes deep into the economics behind this industry. If I was in the death industry I would be very worried as this method of burial IS the way to go, the future of death baby! In the future, your body won’t be buried… you’ll dissolve. If this was a blog post by a Titan blogger it would be littered with credit card affiliate links all over it how you can earn miles and points with their favorite (translated: highest sales commission paying) credit cards to use to take care of your dead aunt Dorothy. Oh wait, just gave some staffer an idea…oh boy!
A must read Twitter thread about that Theranos company and the fraud that went on and, please sit down, no one has gone to jail yet for and are still out roaming free and living large!
These are awesome! 2018 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest.
Can you imagine trying to escape the volcano explosions and lava coming at you fast and then you get hit by a rock and die like this? So sad! Man pinned by huge stone found at Pompeii
If you go…25 Things to Know Before You Visit Almaty.
Funny pic over at Reddit, LOL!
One of the funniest comments in my blog, thanks Kevin!
Beware of Plastiq changes! I still have not opened the account, their salesman is still going after me…
Lots of good info on this Seat31B post: Near Disaster: Chase Ultimate Rewards And Flying Blue.
Unfortunately, the Flying Blue program is an absolute disaster right now. Air France/KLM just switched the chart from a fixed value redemption chart to variable redemptions (which, based on my analysis, is one of the biggest airline devaluations in history–most awards are up a minimum 30% and some are up 500%).
… the devaluation comes on top of another negative change, removing the award calendar, which has driven call center volumes through the roof (because the only way to search for availability over a range of dates is to call now). Because of this, it can now take 2 hours to get through to an Air France representative. [no worries, your favorite pumping bloggers would still scream that you can travel for free if only you will get xx credit cards from them chaching!]
Chase is now reading a new telephone script when you call: “It can take from 1-7 days for your points to post after they are transferred.” After slowing down transfers to Korean Air and now Flying Blue, it appears Chase is trying to make Ultimate Rewards less valuable by making it impossible to redeem them for last-minute flights. This doesn’t appear to be a technical glitch; based on the policy change being communicated by their telephone agents, it seems to be deliberate. Also, there is nothing in writing on Chase’s Web sites to communicate the change, so people are going into this process with no idea that points transfers are no longer instantaneous. [So, be careful out there!]
Last four days of money haul in this blog:
$0
$0
-$0.76 (yes, that is a minus!!!)
$0
You have no idea how deflating this is! And you are tired of my whining! In less than three weeks I turn 51, maybe it is time to move on. And do not expect any Saturday posts here ever again. I need to find a way to have a shot to make minimum wage per hour spent educating, entertaining, inspiring you all. If I was in Boarding Area, I would have suspended myself for conversion allergy. Or something… Really sad thing is…I think my blog quality has not been impacted. I would say, and I am biased, that it has actually improved! #mindblown
And I leave you with this…Me looking at pizza after losing 23 lbs!
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Happiness then sadness. So it goes.
Used your Amazon link today, so hopefully you will profit a few pennies.
Anything to get the intern doing all this blogging closer to making minimum wage per hours is #winning
Gracias!
re Accor: I’d like to propose a tax of $1,000,000 any time anybody involved with corporate M&A uses the word “synergy”.
re Theranos: I started reading “Bad Blood”, the new book about the company, over the weekend, currently on page 130. It’s well-reported with lots of interesting details and (so far anyway) I highly recommend it. I cannot believe how many intelligent people fell under the sway of Elizabeth Holmes.
Why is she still there? Why is she still not indicted yet? WTF! All scammers now will wear a black turtle neck #mysterious. Oh man, the BS, so many morons out falling for stuff like this!
Cheerful morning!
@ Josh:I suggest happiness. Got readers to take it out on my Amazon link yesterday and earned me half a Greek salad at Panera! Tomorrow, when most ordered things ship, it will be a FULL salad. Who is gonna stop this Titan now? Staff at TPG are shaking, they may get fired from me converting their conversions lol.
More importantly, where’s Melania?
What if she shows up with a black eye? How will Gulianni explain that away? Just thinking out loud.
keep tilting at those windmills brother. I like how you act like as if extreme crap only started in the Trump era. And isnt it cute that you are somehow shocked that the Theranos debacle hasnt led to an arrest/conviction (as if this type of thing hasnt been happening for decades with people not being prosecuted)
Sure, poor corporate governance has happened before. CEOs have lied to investors and markets before. However, returning fraudulent diagnostic tests to millions, when did that last happen?
And look at that Board of Directos lineup…it will SHOCK you for real…unlike Leff’s hideous clickbait videos 🙂
Extreme IS hosting mfers from North Korea in the White House AND pissing off our best allies and, get this, pissing off a Canadian!!!!!!
Id like to see us take a shot at reducing tension on the Korean Peninsula. Its an open wound for 60+ yrs. I certainly think our trade agreements have gotten out of balance. If I was Canada (or any other country) Id be pissed to if I was gonna lose my sweetheart trade deal with the US as well
Let me educate you, fan boy. While your manboy is certainly a problem (second only to being a greedy idiot-savant), that itself isn’t the biggest problem.
The biggest problem is the guy (or girl) in the wings who is learning from all this (and I don’t mean Pence, btw). This person will be smarter than IQ45, more devious than IQ45, and have much more nefarious ideas than just fattening the family coffers.
Imagine a Nixon coming after IQ45. Or perhaps a Mussolini. Or a Putin who decides to use the FBI/CIA/HS to do very evil things.
You can bet your stiff thinning hair that the scariest is yet to come. And all because fanboys like you were just too benighted to understand what comes after King Idiot.
Geez, how long do Amazon stuff take to get to you? Bought two beds and a bunch of other stuff from them through your link. I hope it worked! I never trust those links.
Not sure I saw any beds.But there was a week recently that I could not get the order summaries, maybe it was in there…last week of May or so.
Some of these Amazon cookies last for a while. So, if you clicked on a Titan’s amazon link recently…they may have gotten it and not me. Which just blows! That is the seedy online world, cookies etc…There IS a reason Titans keep blogging about “deals” you know!
And thank you.
I bought an Anal Intruder thru your link.
Lol…every product counts!
He wrote about Accor buying Air France KLM and HTed…., wait for it, OMAAT.
My blog gets no respect, sad!
Thank you for the post, great Monday morning reading. The Volga link reminded me of my trips down the Volga river with my family in ’88 and ’90, certainly not as luxurious as this cruise, but still very memorable.
Cheers,
PedroNY
Was anything luxurious in the Soviet union?
I am thinking to start a gofundme campaign for TBBCoin, what do ya think?
Just kidding…
Mondays are crazy…and relatives are here! They flew from NYC on…Spirit, WTF!!
Anonymous=TBBtheDude
@PedroNY – I’ve been sold down the river a few times…
Hey TBB OMAAT gave you an HT on that Accor buying Air France KLM news…
Apparently your name became…Simon. Much better than Alan H. 😉
So sad to see Richard Kerr writing for that TPG pro smuggling commercial operation….You think it is doing it for the prestige or just for the money? wink wink
Why don’t you have “Out and Out” in the Blogs To Ignore list yet? The MMS alumnus has been giving a clinic on how to pump links to make him money. The other day even revealed how MommyPoints blog is his idol….WTF!!!!!
Time to start selling Hyatt Place Breakfast Police T-shirts? Gotta make you more than those Amazon links!
That may be a winning idea! 🙂
I guess Chase wants you to be frustrated enough in slow transfers that you’ll redeem for a gift card or some shit like that?
I am sure that may have been a slide seen in a focus group done at the swanky TPG NYC office? hehe
In the meantime, the new writer at Point Me To The Plane is so proud of joining a blog in the infamous TBB Blogs To Ignore list…sigh
First paypal donation of the month, thanks!
First cc sale of the month, thanks!
First denial for a business card for son, even after an awesome letter…Fine, Citi here we come!
First goal I scored in my Monday night soccer games after a long absence (just third game back, give me a break…actually, I don’t like that word!).
First time I hurt my jaw running into an opponent….We’ll see how it feels tomorrow…but it hurts!
Post is almost ready but will hold until Wednesday.
Wings and pizza at home treating visiting relatives and I had none of it due to my game…Now all the leftovers will be screaming all day at me tomorrow….I need HELP!
Chew your food s-l–o-w-l-y, savor each and every bite. Don’t eat after 6pm.
When are you gonna start the TBB WC “office” pool? I’m in.
6 pm? I am holding strong at 9.30 pm. It was such a cruel ordeal to put away leftovers at 10 pm last night after my soccer game and not touching…anything!
Maybe I try for 9 pm….I don’t see 6 pm, no way!
Can’t wait for the WC, need to adjust lifestyle, games are in the mornings…I will have commentary every day for sure here. Not sure about that pool…it’s not like the NCAA BB Tournament 🙂
MMS – Free to Keep AND a $500 Bonus (50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points)! This New Card Could Be the Perfect Fit for Your Business!
Emily flashing cold hard cash early in the morning…Is writer Jason not card model material so we get to see Emily again? People who read this blog…are they mentally challenged? Don’t they see they are being sold to in EVERY freaking post?? Ok, don’t answer that…
TPG – 6 Reasons to Get the Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card
I bet you it is the same writer as the previous MMS post quoted above…
This is ground breaking blogging material folks NOT!
Can someone tell Nick at Frequent Miler to stop kissing OMAAT’s and VFTW’sasses, thanks!
So now it seems Ramos ALSO took out Karius (with a foot to his head).
I think I have my soccer villain.
I mean elbow. Ramos elbowed him!
Grrrr!!
Sure………..
Maybe the NFL should introduce the “Karius” concussion protocol after a horrible tackle.
Let the NFL football player roll a ball in the path of Benzema. If Benzema gets the ball, you can’t get back on the field anymore.
Ramos was born dirty, always hated that mfer!!!
At least he’s not a biter.