We bring you several websites about status matches, visit airport hotels for plane spotters, warn you about a gonorrhea epidemic, look at some crazy sinkholes, warn you about the infamous AMEX RAT that strikes back again and again after reading the blogs which is sad, an amazing infographic about mortality numbers, more airline routes to Europe coming, some Marriott hotels that went down in points, visit Petra, escape Venezuela, we reveal how many people work at the biggest “hobby” blog and much more for you for free for another month it appears.
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Here is a link all about elite status matches via Mile Nerd. The StatusMatcher website belongs in my Blogs I Like list, which I will update one day when I get around to it. My blog has no staff and interns to take care of stuff like that!
Maybe we can find some award seats to Europe much easier as another US airline is expanding there it appears: United to Launch Non-Stop Service to Amsterdam, Naples, and Prague.
I like free travel. But if you can not get free travel, saving on points is the next big thing 🙂 So here are some Marriott hotels that went down in points via Loyalty Traveler:
Marriott Rewards 58 category 6 hotels dropped to 50,000 points
Marriott Rewards 53 category 7 hotels dropped to 60,000 points
I have never stayed in a Sonesta Hotels property. But if you join their loyalty program you could win 1,000,000 points. Hope one of you wins!
There is a new Radisson Blu in Larnaca, Cyprus. I was in that island in…1986. You couldn’t believe what happened back then lol.
Interesting list for the TBB aviation geek crowd: A Room With a Runway View: Airport Hotels for Plane Spotters.
Good advice if you head there: What you need to know before visiting Petra, Jordan’s Lost City. Beware of them Jack Sparrow types!
My heart aches about Venezuela. The Bridge of Desperation. And that scum Maduro taunts them to “stop scrubbing toilets, come back home to your country”. Mother fracker!
This is a warning, sorry no shocking videos to go with it, sad! America Has Gonorrhea. TBB recommends condoms. Maybe Trojan can sponsor my blog lol.
Psychopaths are bad, right? Well, maybe you will change your mind after you read an interview with one of them. My Life As a Psychopath.
There is so much going on in the car industry. What will be the future of transportation with autonomous vehicles, AI, car sharing and stuff like that. Here is one way it may all go: The Future of Cars Is Electric, Autonomous, and Shared—Here’s How We’ll Get There.
You may cry a little after watching this: Twins reunited after 70 years.
For your personal finance fix of the day, this is great! Hubris Always Seems Ridiculous – Until It’s Our Own. This is actually a gem of a post that it probably belonged on a Sunday Best of Web post but it has been a while since my last personal finance fix of the day so here you go. Must read and right on! Be careful out there.
Hope this does not happen to any of us. But when it does…here are some amazing pictures of Sinkholes: When the Earth Opens Up.
Fascinating: Crunching the Numbers on Mortality. Click on the link to get a better view of this. Mt. Everest will have to wait until I get reincarnated and I am so fine about that 🙂
Life is hard for the card churner crowd these days. Just a few days ago Chase sent us a shot that made it very clear what is ahead. So, some good advice here: New Chase 48 Month Sapphire Rule: What to do now and going forward. Guys, one word of always constructive advice. Cut down on the verbiage a bit and be more specific/concise.
Dustin writing at Running With Miles calls it quits to concentrate on his YouTube channel. So long. For a moment there I thought he was going to say he is going to TPG 🙂
The main goal of blogs is to grow. At least the ones who do this for a living now. So, when they keep writing about deals, sweet spots and other ways to hack around what we do…well, guess what? They are not doing this for YOU first, they are doing it first for THEM so they can attract clicks. Which leads to more $$$ eventually. And there is no secret anymore that this “hobby” is now on the radar of the banks that just sit back and read the blogs every morning and then just fix what they read. So thanks bloggers. I gave them some grief how the recent Amex Offers multiple tab “trick” will not last and BOOM:Â AMEX Clawing Back AMEX Offers Credits Earned On Multiple Cards! May I have a sad LOL please! Smh…No worries, this leads the bloggers to do yet another blog post faking their surprise and disgust with these banks. Yeah, I am angry %&^$#@.
I am scraping the barrel here and barely doing ten card conversions per month to justify keeping my baby going. And then you find out that The Points Guy Inc has 40 staff in payroll, wow! You think these guys write for the hackers? Bwahahahahaha!
This screen shot explains the difference in bloggers making money selling credit cards from ones who don’t!
This hobby (whatever is left of it now) thrived mostly because of too many people who just can not handle their money well end up paying punitive interest rates to the banks on credit card debt, sad. NEVER become one of them!
I went running today after three days of resting my strained right calf. Just three miles in a slow mode. Not too bad but not totally pain free. I am taking it slower now…
I think this blog will continue for another month it appears…
And I leave you with this…
TBB
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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.
So much to read! Thank you.
I don’t get the blogger graphic. Maybe some coffee will help.
Since you bring up psychopaths, I heard this interesting segment on NPR a while back:
https://www.npr.org/2015/07/10/421625310/the-scientist-and-the-psychopath
It’s the story of a scientist who is doing brain scans psychopaths, then happens to see that his own scan matches the psychopath pattern.
Lol, so you have these card linked loyalty programs (Dosh, Pei etc) and they pay the user to track your CC transactions. And then you have the evil monopoly Google just buying that information from Mastercard without the consent of 2 billion users. Google just keeps gobbling up everything. I’m surprised this company isn’t disliked more by the public.
I wonder what google analytics does with all the p0rn, weeeed, prostitution, gun, robot, MS, churning, HOBBY, buzz and dIldO information associated with me?
“Google and Mastercard Cut a Secret Ad Deal to Track Retail Sales
Google found the perfect way to link online ads to store purchases: credit card data”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/google-and-mastercard-cut-a-secret-ad-deal-to-track-retail-sales
The thought leader thanks you for the contribution to his blog #notreally
Google Now Tracks Your Offline Credit Card Purchases and Ties Those to Online Ad Clicks – View From The Wing
Thievery man, never an HT, sad!
@DML: I could phone it in like Ingy but I can’t reconcile myself 🙂
@Sam: You know Brian already turned from hackers to “Keep the card and charge everything on it”. Coming to a blog post near you…sapphire banking is the best and this bank’s wealth managers are so awesome #developing
@flyernick: Added it to the “too long read queue”. Looks interesting, thanks.
@ABC: Shocked, just shocked #notreally. I never pumped my Dosh affiliate link like so many bloggers. I am being VERY selective what crap I put on my phone and sure do not trick my readers.
In other news, son secured a full time job offer from that behemoth in Silicon Valley (NOT Google lol) after graduation. Muy bueno. The day after I paid his tuition bill for the fall, one more to go and one kid down, woohoo!
With now over 40 staff at TPG…can you imagine how many credit cards these guys must sell just to break even!
Have some free time today, noone is really working in the office on Friday afternoons so lets do a recap in the pumping blogosphere JUST in the past 24 hours:
TPG – Earn up to 54 Points per Dollar at Hilton With New Double and Triple Points Promotion
Pumping the Hilton cards, what else?
MMS – The Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Is Back! Don’t Miss the Chance to Earn Cash Back or Miles & Points on Your PSL Purchase!
You know things must be tough when you use a new Starbucks coffee to pump plastic #wow #solow Even pumping the Capital One Savor card #thelowest
MMS – Stop Missing Out on Amazing Delta Flash Sales – Stock Up While the Bonuses Are Gargantuan
Gargantuan???? Must be running out of the same silly enthusiastic words. This is how you sell Amex cards to unsuspecting morons.
TPG – A Record Number of Travelers Are Flying This Labor Day Weekend
Wow, just wow. Hey, ANY EXCUSE to pump some plastic, my salary along with the other 30 staffers is not cheap!
Point Me To The Plane – The Best Credit Card For Free Israel (EL AL) Flights
You bet ANYTHING you want that if there was no sales commission to push the Thank You Premier card this waster would NEVER see the light of day. I prefer TBB for giving to us straight!
Points, Miles and Martinis – This Woman Says TSA Made Her Prove She Was on Her Period
Hideously hideous!
Deals We Like – Great Deal! Purchase United Miles and Receive a 100% Bonus
Great Deal for the blogger for sure. NOONE else.
MMS – JetBlue Now Lets You Share Your Points With ANY JetBlue Member
You should not care. But they do so they can pump some plastic to pay the salaries and Emily’s diapers.
View From The Wing – It Doesn’t Cost Money to Earn Miles Anymore
Just amazing when you can write…nothing of substance but pump almost double digits of cc affiliate links in one post!
Oh…I need to stop, time to get some work done…I need a life.
One more thing: Has there been a DoC link roundup that did NOT have a link back to one of the blogs in your Ignore list? Asking for a friend #canhim
Ingy has no credibility left and is afraid to post here!
Gave you wife’s Chase Ink Cash card app. Squeezed into 5/24. One of these days we are all going to say the hell with Chase and move on…
That Harlan guy at MMS must be the most prolific cc pump writer in the blogosphere WOW!
in the meantime, someone’s bank account must be running low:
One Mile at a Time – The Best Travel Rewards Cards With No Foreign Transaction Fees
Long weekend baby, I am outta here!
See you Sunday TBBers
Hey TBB,
Thanks for the shout out. I appreciate it!
Also I don’t think my conscience or integrity could allow me to head over to TPG. I value the readers/viewers too much. 🙂
Dustin
Maybe if Trump gets a STD, after having paid for sex w/o condom, he will fund for the STD crisis in America.
That line item for interchange fees is staggering. The EU reduced these fees to 0.3% (from previous 2-3%) recently for all personal cards in order to drive up credit card acceptance and reduce cash transactions. Killed the miles and points card business.