TBB Mission: To Entertain, Educate and Inspire. Aim to at least do one well!
This blog has been a labor of love so far. If you like what you see here, please let others know by passing them a link to my blog, thank you! Enjoy reading it and have a super nice day!
TRAVEL
National Geographic Reader photos. Check out the site it launched Your Shot
Photograph and caption by Andrew Inaba, National Geographic Your Shot
Another WTF North Korea news item: New Water Park in Pyongyang Thank you benevolent psycho leader!
If you wanted to see proof that Business Class is over rated, here it is. Rats prefer it than Coach. Yikes! “Authorities find 11 rats hiding under business class seat on plane in Hong Kong“. Looks like Cathay Pacific?
Apparently the Delta website and app went down while I was in St. Louis. Maybe the IT staff tried to load the revenue based parameters 🙂
MILES/POINTS
Not miles/points related but a free movie is a free movie! Travel With Grant wrote how to join “The Screening Exchange” and receive invites to watch movies before they are released. I signed up myself because free is better than $10 or whatever you pay for movies!
Delta Turns Away From Tokyo in Favoring Seattle. By Cranky Flier. Really good post trying to decipher Delta’s rationale behind their continued penetration of Seattle and what it all means, including what happens with the Asian partners. I think at some point Delta and Alaska will have a 2some.
Can someone ping me if this Square $2,500 per month deal works? I just don’t see it happening, we are talking Square after all. Hack My Trip did a post on it. I expect Frequent Miler to go full speed on it and report with actual results 😉
The Wandering Aramean has come up with yet another tech tool to compare IHG award and cash rates easily. Should be helpful to some and I may give it a try next time I aim for an IHG stay (it could be a while). Requires registering for an account (free). And he also got some publicity at Johnny Jet‘s site in the regular Travel Style column!
Reason #912 to “love” Delta: It cut off access to Expert Flyer. On the positive side, a press release was almost ready to blame EF for the website disaster the other day but one exec stopped it.
ON MY MIND
The blogger conference in St. Louis was fantastic! But before I say anything I need to catch up BIG TIME with, well, everything!
ODDZ & ENDZ
The coolest nature video ever. Take 1.42 minutes and watch this, you will love it and/or you will be haunted! Found at Matador Network.
Another incredible shot from National Geographic’s Your Shot
A tour around Bora Bora. By Lenticular Travel
Incredible Storm Chaser Photos by Mitch Dobrowner
Should I check email? Found here. This is just hilarious!
BLOG BUZZ
Note: This section is intended for long time readers and miles/points addicts who follow the blogs in this space. TBB reviews blogs and tries to entertain above all. Don’t take this section too seriously, it’s mostly entertainment!
If there is a blog feature TBB would love to see it go away, it’s the Travel Challenge in the Frugal Travel Guy (the blog). There is absolutely nothing challenging to it and it only exists to increase the corporation’s profits. Is anyone spending more than a minute on this thing or what?
The blog Points, Miles & Martinis has been on an absolute tear pumping credit cards lately, along with you name it: Shutterfly photos, Amex Linking and others I deleted.
Saverocity had an interesting approach on how to monetize a “deal” he discovered. Hmmm, I could have done this with my deal but just decided not to out it…and mine has almost no risk downside at all. Then again, it did not approach the numbers stated. At some point, all deals die. “The more in on a deal, the faster it dies” – TBB
I wonder why Milevalue hardly ever recommends any Chase cards, hmmm…
It has been so totally pathetic to see so many bloggers push the Luftansa 50k card. Even more pathetic are the ones who have been asleep but somehow managed to find some time out of their so busy schedule to honor the blogosphere with their presence to inform their readers how to get 50k Lufthansa points. Oh you are so so kind.
And Extra Pack of Peanuts had to add this in the front “HOT DEAL” (yes in caps!) of the obligatory 50k LH deal. Seriously? I swear one day this blog will be giving out ginsu knives! I was wavering whether to include it in my next list, this one did it!
On the contrary, kudos to Food, Wine and Miles who had the cojones to bypass his own affiliate link, publish the public link, call the marketpumping what it really is and his effort to instill some perspective in this space, thank you!
I have been reading some posts about the Chicago Seminars. The same old speakers and pretty much the same old topics. And exhibit booths giving out crap. And a few newbies who got it and are on a mega mile earning spree, imagine the money the guy earning 1.2 million miles generated for some bloggers in just 8 months! And how many times will we have to endure the story of the “Thai Rice Farmers”, can we just move on please? 🙂
Delta Points likes Chicago and all Mastercards (highly prefers the Barclays Arrival and the Lufthansa one!). And he really really likes other Boarding Area bloggers. So much in fact they get together by a fireplace and have a chat. I can’t sleep the night before waiting to read about the incredibly sophisticated questions that help me learn so much about each BA blogger. Next up was jumpy Michael W:
“I so love your blog”
“Thanks, so nice of you to stop by for a chat”
“Oh the honor is all mine, why do you jump?”
“I jump because blah blah” [thinking inside “they can read my website doh”]
[Acting excited] “Wow, I smile a lot”
“Thanks” [thinking wow that was quick, hope it gets me some readers].
And they all smiled and lived happily ever after. Such a nice Boarding Area bunch 🙂
The above was pure satire and does NOT pertain to any human being on the face of the earth. Any resemblance is purely coincidental and a product of my own imagination. Legal crap!
Deals We Like wrote the 145th post about Southwest’s Companion Pass. More like cut and paste me thinks.
Still no memo from the First2Board folks that there is a policy change. I remember all the noise when it got started “we are different”. Now it is resembling…Boarding Area lol.
Did Million Mile Secrets come all the way to Michigan to discover my deal I wonder? And then he immediately blogged about it? Oh, by the way, that was not it! I am starting to think you guys will never forgive me if I do an interview there! I could sure use the publicity to launch my own affiliate links you know like so many Friday interviewees! Actually…I am not really joking you guys 🙂 Just imagine how much stuff I can give away too! And then I can Buzz me too, yes!!!!
Donnie Law (a few Friday interviews ago) continues to write stuff that has been repeated so many times. Now he recommends that just 8 cards may be good for a first time application spree. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? You are encouraging a newbie to get 8 cards at once? How ludicrous is that? Do you all realize how DANGEROUS this is and how you can screw up a person for life? To his credit, he did not push affiliate links but I am sure they are coming. It’s a natural progression. I mean, look at TBB and it’s almost a year and I am about to burn out and wife is sending messages that this labor of love charade can not go on like this… #developing
The absolute lowest point of The Points Guy? “Are In-Cabin Pet Fees Waived for Pets?” A simple no would have sufficed. But noooooooo. Who is going to pay the staff? So here reader grab some cards while you read on when you don’t really have to…
Frugal Travel Guy (the person) left TBB (can’t get enough of this blog!) another comment:
391 newbies registered for Chicago Seminars out of 550. Many of which hadn’t heard about Flyertalk. We are indeed reaching a new audience 
But look at it this way, with 1/10th of 1% being angry, George and you guys will pick up another 4/10ths of a reader
And TBB’s snarky response:
We?
Oh, thanks for reminding us that you are out of the game and you just mail it in a blog post per week these days.
First?
Congrats, it is an honor for me for you to be first 🙂
Patience, George. 🙂
I can’t wait for the next set of blogger interviews 🙂
The guy with the hand printed registration badge. Huh? And the same guy that complained about the $20 transfer fee. Huh?
What?
Woke up in the wrong side of bed again? Why are you so angry and negative, huh? 🙂
Not angry just putting a face with a name at the Chicago Seminars. Amazing
Good meeting you too, Rick!
Good meeting you too, Rick! I also put a face to my comments now 🙂
Also, hand-printed? For some reason you had my FlyerTalk handle but not my name. I didn’t eat lunch either, so y’all made money on me (one of the earliest to sign up). Still a supporter.
On FT I asked Rick what the fee to attend the first couple of “dos” were and how much it cost to attend the latest one. He must have missed my post, as I don’t see an answer.
Maybe he’ll answer here since he seems to be quite focused on the TBB comments.
How about it Rick-how Frugal were the first two dos and what do they cost now?
Mountain Trader- Glad to answer your question. First two Chicago Seminars were I think $55 and $75 and now $85. As the price of two lunches and coffee breaks goes up, we increase the cost to cover. They are now $57.50 total including tax, service charge and gratuity for the total 2 days. Total costs for seminar come out to about $16 per person including conference rooms, audio visual, set up and tear down and two drink coupons per person. and cost of non comped speaker rooms. We give away about $12 per person to charity and next year many of us will be donating a days labor to a worthwhile Chicagoland charity as well. I hope that is sufficient to answer your question.
If the meals are so expensive, it would be great if there is an option to opt out of the meals and lower costs. Some might enjoy a trip out to the nearest CVS for lunch
Mountain Trader: These are layup questions!
Thanks for the shout out!
No, thank you for doing that. Gained one deposit of trust in my book, everyone else going gaga about it had a withdrawal 🙂
This one is tricky for me (as I tried to convey in my post). On the one hand, it’s a good offer, readers like to hear about good offers, and (at least initially) it was better than the publicly-available link. That to me = worth posting about. On the other hand, it’s a Lufthansa card (which “casual users” are going to be so interested in, and it’s already covered by anyone and everyone with a link. That to me = not worth posting about, unless you’re one of the first. Hence, we get a break in what I genuinely consider to be a really interesting range of perspectives across the vast number of blogs that are out there, to get that link out NOW NOW NOW.
It’s one thing when it’s one of 4 posts going up that day. No big deal – I think it’s a “blogworthy” post. It’s not even that bad to me when it is your 1 post for the day (because in many cases, it probably is the most noteworthy item of the day). It’s the coming out of the shadows and/or pumping over and over again that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
>>>>>>> It’s the coming out of the shadows and/or pumping over and over again that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Yep, me too.
George, Glad to hear you don’t like the Travel Challenge. If you don’t like it, It must then be right up mainstream America’s wish list (as number are proving out). Like you’ve said before. We will never see eye to eye, so if you don’t like it, the majority must love it.
Can’t wait for your Blogs to Avoid list 🙂
Keep up the great work with your negative commentary. It helps us head in the opposite direction. Love ya
PS is that what “eclectic” means? 🙂
“It must then be right up mainstream America’s wish list (as number are proving out)”
Have you considered letting the readers know that they can comment on the posts? They must not be aware, becuase with all the popularity and engagement of your readers, the post attracted 1 whole comment last week!
That’s not my job. Remember I only mail in a post once per week 😉
Still bored
LOL at 1 post a week, and yet you come up with those garbage posts?
I have readers COMPETING who is going to post FIRST lol.
I will publish my Blogs to Avoid soon, I need to catch up. Don’t worry, as long as content as Travel Challenge shows up on FTG (the blog), there will always be a place in it 🙂
I know you love TBB, you can’t get enough of it. Thank you for your support!
I read it when I’m bored. On the chance you may go mainstream. But giving up hope. In regards to people being amazed at your success, most of the people you are meeting pay for their pageviews. The idea of organic traffic is foreign to most.
When selling the buyers were just as amazed that the traffic was generated without paid advertising.
The word is definitely out George. You own the angry 1/10th of 1% of travel crazies. You own them buddy and I don’t forsee anybody else competing in your niche market.
Own them George. You own them 🙂
Why did I ever pick a mainstream market wherein one week there would be 50 new competitors. How foolish of me 😉
You must be bored a lot 🙂
I have no idea what you are talking about, you are making no sense! Just angry ranting.
Hey readers, the word is out. I own you guys.
Never underestimate the entertainment factor when you start blogging. Here is proof!
I resemble that remark.
@ingy….eclectic means that we get to read your WACKY comments,they make mine look totally sane. Thank you, C.R.
Ramsey, please don’t go sane on us now ok? 🙂
Rick’s 4/10th of a person comment is the funniest thing I have read on here for a long time
Yeah, I laughed out loud too! Integral part of the entertainment mission!
At the blogging conference I went they asked me about my metrics/numbers. I told them I haven’t been to Google Analytics for over a month. They asked me “what do you use for SEO and keywords”. I answered “Nothing at all”. And then they pulled up some numbers from a website I never heard off and they said “so, you have these numbers for just 11 months and you are not doing any SEO and GA friendly tasks”. I answered “Yes, that’s right, this is why I am here to learn about this stuff”. They said “Dude, you got something real good with your blog, you need to do these things and the sky is the limit”. I answered “When I get around to it”.
Rick watches the numbers, even decimals. I check this crap when I get around to it.
Still catching up…
Despite your denials (see above) Rick has a truly valid point. You have cornered a unique market. The anti-travel-blogging element of the travel-blogging community. It’s a small but vocal part of the community. Hence all the comments and chatter. I think you are smart enough to see this, but enjoy f**ing with Rick anyway. But he’s right, you do “own” this segment. Nobody else is going to have success with a new blog ranting blog. Indeed you have basically stolen success from FT who shot itself in the foot by marginalizing this discussion (am sure you’ve seen my posts in EMPR relating to that). Of course the problem you have, which I have said a million times, is it makes it very, very hard for you to monetize. Certainly through credit cards. The credibility you have will be shot. Besides you just aren’t getting the real lucrative cards. Maybe you found something else at FinCon, maybe ads will bring in some money. But unless you join BoardingArea, which would be a farce, no way are you getting anything other than Barclays. Holy cow I can’t wait for the first TBB LH post 🙂
I do enjoy it 🙂
With my 3 lists prominently displayed at each Blog Buzz post I feel like I have done more than enough to educate (part of mission). Keeping it up the way I have been is exhausting anyway.
I would like to think that there is more to my readership than the (admit it) entertaining Siskel like reviews 🙂
This is a very fluid market like the miles/points deals we have been following for so long. Things change ALL the time.
Do I have the stamina to keep going? I don’t know, time will tell.
I just do not see myself in Boarding Area. Besides, you all will miss Delta Points who promised he will leave BA if I join lol.
I met some people at Fincon, will look into some ways when I find time (again). I do not need the big shiny links. I would be satisfied with the banner & let veterans go apply to help me out (thank you for your support, beverages on me next time, not just coffee lol). Stick it up in a tab like Frequent Miler & shut up about it in the body of the posts. And see what happens.
If you see me doing LH posts BURN ME TO THE STAKES!
George
#aintnoMV 🙂
Sorry George, but the day you start pimping is the day I stop reading. And I presume most others will see you as a sell-out as well – pimping is pimping, however you want to sugarcoat it. Hiding links on another page is the cowards way out – either embrace ripping off your readers (like ingy and so many others do w/o compunction) or not – there is no middle ground.
You’ve made your anti-pimping bed and unless you eat humble pie and recant, you need to sleep in it – not just ruffle the bed sheets….
This blog was supposedly a labor of love. But I think it’s really a love of $$$ considering how many times you talk about monetizing – heck, seems like every post mentions it one way or another.
FYI – please don’t regale us with any more trip reports. As it is, I already want to gouge my eyes out at the incessant First class lounges/Diamond amenities and “free” one-ways from the rest of the pimps.
Just focus on what makes this so entertaining – ripping on the pimps! You can’t do that with any credibility if you are one of them…
Dear Paul:
If I was retired I would do this non stop. But I do have a family and a business. This blogging thing takes TIME, lots of it, more than you and I imagined combined! For a whole year I brought you a quality product (I hope). I need to eventually try to recoup some of my costs and I am not going to start betting for donations.
I fold like a cheap suit or monetize the way Frequent Miler does it. When I get around to it. One day. I ‘ve been saying that for months right? And I have not done it because I FEEL LIKE I LET YOU DOWN NOT REVIEWING BLOGS AND focusing on the monetizing aspect. Look around you the sea of pimpiness. I was NEVER against monetizing, heck I support several bloggers who do this very well.
Anyways, I need to work on my other blog now. Enough time wasted yet again on TBB comments 🙂
TBB
Mother Theresa 🙂
P.S. You can leave anytime you want to. I am working on a different way to do this monetizing thing, stick around. It will be unique just like my deal only a few figured out. Mrs. TBB is on probation, she cashed out Macy’s gc’s when she was told to do Amazon to “mix it up”. Women…
Now, now…. In my household it is the male half who has trouble knowing which card to use when!
Free movies, I love free movies!
I have been to 2 free screenings so far, one was very good, one was mehh. I received an invite to a new Tom Cruise movie that is scheduled to come out in June 2014 (yes, you read that correctly), but the theater is 1.5 hours away, so I am going to pass (hopefully it comes to a closer theater). It really is a great program and you feel cool watching movies months before they come out in theaters.
I used to watch MANY movies before I started blogging. I now try to catch some here and there. I had to let this passion take a back step. Free is good, looking forward to receive some invitations. I like adding value to my reader’s lives among entertaining and inspiring them 🙂
Rick-
Thanks for answering my question.
Glad to. I’ll answer all the questions I’m allowed to within the confines of my NDA. You all seem so fascinated with the blogging business model. Here’s how it goes. George will attest:
you become the local expert in travel hacking. all your friends ask for your advice. You decide to blog and do it in your own style and words. it either catches on or it doesn’t. You decide you like ti or you don’t and stop. Each blog is a unique voice and Georgie Boy’s is as unique as they get. He found an audience, Daraius found an audience. The pointsguy found an audience. I found an audience and it is that simple. You may then want to monetize and you are either approved for links and advertisers or you are not. You continue to write content and the focus may change to emphasize payday or it may not. it either is successful or it isn’t.
End of story.
Every Angry in the world could write a blog. Please do. It would help with the boredom 🙂 George’s whining is getting stale. The world needs fresh whiners.
I think you whine more here at TBB about me whining than me doing any actual whining and you always (as usual) ignore the genuine praising! Some people just like to focus on the negative. Must be very bored I guess.
Thanks for the insight on the business model. Quite interesting, that was positive.
Can you tell me your favorite blogs so I can make sure I consider them for my next list? Of course you can’t include TBB on it as you are here everyday lol. Of course you ignored my two first blog lists. Keep focusing on being negative 🙂
George, PLEASE get over yourself. I drop in occasionally. It just seems everyday to you as you so look forward to it. Its been about two weeks since our last encounter.
Blogs I like:
Frequent Miler,
ThePointsGuy
FrugalTravelGuy
Those three cover all I need to know on how to generate miles and points.
I check in on Delta Points, Mommy Points, One Mile at a Time and breeze thru the topics at First2Board.
And of course I read Tabloid Blogger Buzz. It is the most outlandish, outrageous misconnect with reality on the web. People complaining about travel blogs absolutely cracks me up. Like you guys are going to save the world or protect newbies. The entire premise is hilarious that you think people actually listen to your advice outside your little circle.
Did you know a major highlight of your blog is who posts the fist comment??? Enlightening stuff here Georgie Boy.
But I will give you this: You can copy and repost other people’s pictures with the best of them. That is your strong suit. You can find amazing photos that I always enjoy and make me laugh. As for the rest of the blog, you have one or two great commenters, and a few that actually seem interested in the world of blogging, but beyond that, just angry whiners.
Keep up the great job with the photos and I’ll be back.
Shocked you like FTG, just shocked (always in selling mode) 🙂
I am honored you read TBB. I must be doing something right. “Outlandish” “outrageous” are like music to me, thank you!
Your rants here cracks us all up. Thank you again!
The first comment competition is a joke, you should try it sometimes…it would make people laugh a lot! But you always had trouble making fun of yourself. I love it, it is…liberating 🙂
Readers: you are all “just angry whiners” smh
The point is to get you to come back. I am succeeding. High Five
FTG (the blog) would need to *get* comments before having a competition.
Rick, you used to dislike Daraius when he first started, didn’t you? I recall he reached out to you a lot via his blog and you basically cold shouldered him.
What made you change and become a supporter? (Just curious)
I never disliked Daraius, I just disliked his method of disseminating information with such detail to readers. I think it killed deals.
But at the end of the day, we talked about it, he clearly indicated that was going to be his business model and it is a free country. He has helped lots of newbies and I give him credit for that.
Good answer. I agree that you can’t stop him and, even if you could, another blogger would fill that gap quickly.
I wonder , though, about the rest of what you wrote: couldn’t you almost give the same answer about George? If you came to peace with Darauis and his deal-killing business model, why can’t you with George? Isn’t George also serving to educate the newbie (in his own way)?
I think, for you, the difference between Daraius and George is that Daraius never really criticized you (quite the opposite). He patiently waited until came around.
Frankly, I don’t care about all you bloggers arguing it out. Makes for a fun read..
The answer is simple:
TBB criticizes FTG.
TBB criticizes other blogs. And praises so many more! I call it as I see it.
I’m at absolute peace with what George doe. It is his blog. What I dislike is his constant criticism of others. I’m just giving him a little of his own medicine. His criticism serves no useful purpose as his negativity has turned most away from his blog.
If you will all remember I supported him at first and mentioned his efforts early. But George’s shtick was ranting and criticizing instead of making helpful suggestions in a positive way. If you take a minute to read Steve’s comments you will see what his technique has spawned. And there are many more whiners than Steve. I’m not suggesting that all that read George’s blog are angry, but this site is known as the nest of the angries. See Milesabound comment above. He has cornered the market and when FT moved the angry threads to external miles and points etc, this became the angries home. Hence, George owns them.
I will always support George’s right to post whatever he wants. It is just my personal opinion that a smart guy like George could have truly made a positive contribution to the hobby, if he had used a different tact.
Good post.
Daraius kills deals by giving out details. I guess that’s somehow worse than taking the whole churning game onto Nightline.
Round and round he goes.
Buzz,…..FORGET EVERYTHING YOU LEARNED AT THE BLOGGER CONFERENCE……I HAVE AN IDEA TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF TBB! Have you ever seen the YOUTUBE series, “Real Actors Read Yelp Reviews”?………… .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhokOiJQxaU……………How about “Real Actors Read TBB Reviews??? It will be internet gold! I can use my Hollywood connections to get John Malkovich to read Ingy’s wacky comments! How about Crispin Glover reading Agenda Guy comments? Robin Williams reads as TBB? Rico Rodriquez (plays Manny Delgado, Modern Family) reads comments by Jeff? Michael Cera reads Grants comments, and Channing Tatum reads Ramsey? Let’s take TBB viral……………Who would you cast?
I would prefer Jack Nicholson to Robin Williams for TBB 🙂
Gotta go to lunch!
I would be honored if Michael Cera played me
I wonder if Rick repeats it enough times, whether he’ll actually start believing the “1/10 of 1% angries” line
Some of the angries that are regular readers/commenters on this blog:
Dan from DansDeals
Tara from Miles to the Wild
Frequent Miler
OnlineTravelReview
Travel with Grant
Saverocity
Ariana and Andy Shuman
and many other bloggers
Are they all part of the angries that George “owns” too?
Yes I believe 1/10th of 1% are angry. You are one of the most angry in my opinion, but that is just my opinion of course. 800 people per day read Tabloid Blogger Buzz. Compared to the total travel blog population, that is not an earth shattering number, in fact it is really tiny.
But if it keeps your interest then good for you. I love watching you guys complain and whine.
“800 people per day read TBB”
It’s more than came to Chicago Seminars …
And your point is? What a ridiculous comparison
After 11 months with my incredible nontechie skills and complete lack of promoting via SEO & key word/titles/megatag crap…well, they were impressed with my blog. Heck, I was impressed THEY were impressed with my site 🙂
Anyways, no one is angry around here but you ingy coming aboard and calling us whiners. I find it amusing and very entertaining (part of the mission). Thank YOU!
Bottom line is this: My tiny tiny blog gets more comments in a day than your mega mega blog gets in a month. #Fact. That just blows my mind. Totally!
And now time to play some soccer!
Yeah but credit where it’s due… FTG makes more per minute than your blog makes… EVER lol
The average TBB post gets more comments just by people associated with FTG (Ingy, Ariana, Andy) than the actual FTG blog gets
“but….. but….. but….. it’s just the angries”
quality content attracts engaged readers
FTG readers aren’t engaged. Weird, because their Travel Challenge on getting between Dallas and Miami with AA miles was some amazing content 🙂
No “but, but but” from me. If you all want to count George’s success based on the number of comments he gets (and remember he is 50% of the total), pitter patter and have at her.
I’ll measure readership, emails and revenue stream, but you guys are right as always of course. There I go, thinking mainstream again.
Hello Mr Grocery Store Owner, I’d like to buy a roasted chicken with the “comments” I get (even though half of them are mine) on my blog. They are very valuable and prove how successful I am. Will you take 8 comments for a roasted chicken? Please ?
FTG and other mainstream blogs measure success not based on comments that are allowed no matter how angry, far from the truth or mean spirited, or for that matter written by the blog owner. Georgie is different. He will measure whatever he can including allowing comments that all other blogs would remove as mean spirited and not in the best interest of the conversation. Unless of course, the purpose of the conversation is to tear down others, then Georgie and his readers are right at home.
But like Georgie says, ” My Blog. My Rules”
I’m also associated with my own blog, my books, and myself, Steve. And I don’t think I comment all that often. Well, maybe just today, but that’s because I already miss George.
(Even though he can’t recognize a great deal even when it hits him in the eye. Like 50K LH 🙂
“And I don’t think I comment all that often.”
It doesn’t take a lot of comments to out-comment the average FTG post
Steve, your starting to sound like a broken record? Is number of comments all you got?
Hey, I have never posted an “angry” post here. I did comment about the SPG Amex links but that was only to enter that contest back in August to try to win the Admiral’s Club passes. I never did see who won that, I was in Central America for most of August and early Sept but I don’t think I won as I never got an email about it.
I don’t come here to be “angry”. I enjoy the chit chat with other bloggers. Most people probably do that in real time on Twitter but since I live in Australia, I am a different time zone to everyone else. I enjoy the photos, laugh at the “Buzz” and I certainly don’t like or approve of every blog out there but at the end of the day, I can scroll past the credit card blogs in Feedly pretty quickly so it’s no big deal to me.
How super fantabulous amazing are Lufthansa miles?
So amazing that it actually cost 5,000 miles less to fly a flat bed from Newark to HNL if you are able to fly on one of the 3 days a year that there is award availability for that flight!!!
So what if United miles are better in 99% of redemption options (and only slightly worse in the remaining 1%). And so what if United miles are far easier to rack up?
Ka-ching!
(p.s. don’t forget you can transfer the 25,000 points from the SPG Amex signup to LH miles. Please very much so forget that this would be one of the dumbest uses of SPG points you can do)
Well, what does it matter how easy it is? There are only four credit cards that can be used for United, and after you’ve done them all, like most people here–then what? I’ll take anything that can get me in bed with Star, flat, angled, or straight up, thank you very much!
George, play nice or, having met you in person, I’ll tell them the most guarded secret of the “Real Life” George. That will teach you:)!
“There are only four credit cards that can be used for United”
The are how many?
I can think of at least 4 credit cards before you even get into the United co-branded CC’s, and that’s not including cards where there’s MC’s and Visa’s of it, ones that used to be MC’s and are now VISA’s, and hotel programs like Marriott that have very favorable transfer ratios if you do it in high enough increments
And then of course the easyness of accumulating those United miles in methods other than sign-up bonuses, thanks to Office Supply stores, 5X rotating quarterly bonuses and bluebird
LOL at “after you’ve done them all” as if you can’t rake in tons of United miles once you’ve already signed up for the CIB
And of course, if you wanted a Barclays card, the US Airways card* kills the LH card all day every day.
Unless of course you only read MV’s blog, in which case you wouldn’t have gotten the card that will put 45000 miles in your account before you ever seen an annual fee
Steve knows his stuff 🙂
If I was not so busy reviewing blogs and shooting the breeze in the TBB comments I would have finally gone for the Arrival card. Or finally had a conversation with that nice affiliate gal (ohhhhhh) 🙂
For most individuals and couples, maybe. My wife and I got in on the 40K US no spend cards in February and could never use the miles because we are stuck booking 4 tix around school schedules and have to grab one-ways on whatever airline they become available on first. Wound up buying the rest of the miles to get to 90K and sent her cousins to China. George would have been better off having some LH miles for one way on his trip to Calgary, so he could save his more valuable UA miles. Same with me on the trip I have to ANC next July – there was never a point where 4 RT saver tix were available on any one alliance, but we got 4 seats. Anyone who will travel on UA one-ways or trips over 4K miles would do well to grab a LH card if they can.
Do you know something I don’t? Not being cute, just curious. Let’s list them all, they ain’t no vanilla, no reason to talk in code.
So, there are 40K for CSP, and 50K for Bold and Plus. You used to be able to get both a Visa and Master card, not anymore, am i wrong? Seriously, just tell me if I am. Then there is 50K United that most folks can get, that’s 4. There is also 50K United Biz, but not everyone can get it.
So where exactly am I wrong? There is Barclay US Air, but I’ve gotten two of them already. And it’s 35K, not 50. And the word on the street is, getting a second one now is much tougher. And please tell me you’re not really transferring Marriott to United at >2:1. Right?
What’s the reason for your dislike of LH? I don’t see a downside to this card except for a large spend. But the spend is in line with Bold and Plus, and I don’t see you complaining? How is the ability to book on United and US Air with no YQ or 35K for a transcon in F such a terrible idea?
Chase Freedom once in a while has sign up bonuses of up to 30K points if you go into a Chase branch. It doesn’t pay bloggers so it doesn’t get covered
Now all of the sudden people can’t get business cards? That’s news to anyone who had to suffer through the 60K CIB promotion
There are 6 cards you can get that have United miles. More if you got in on the MC versions of the card
US Airways you get 45k miles without ever having to pay a penny in annual fee (and 35K US miles >>> 50K LH miles)
I have nothing against LH. It’s just a very underwhelming FF program, and as such doesn’t warrant more than maybe 1 post noting that the sign-up bonus is higher. As opposed to the….. what?….. 10 posts? 20 posts? that MV will hump the card for over the life of this promotion?
Lots of past tense and occasional happenings here, man. CIB used to have that, CSP used to have this. Do you have a time machine? Freedom has 30K bonus? Yeah, once in a blue moon. United Business does not show 50K-mile bonus to a lot of people. You telling me that the standard 25K offer for United Biz is better than 50K LH? Sorry, not buying. 45K US Air? How come? Not everyone gets 10K promotion for a 3-month spend, unless you mean the annual bonus, in which case, you gotta wait for a year–so you can’t churn your Barclay fast enough. And churning Barclay has lately become problematic, too. Now what?
But even that is irrelevant. The point is, you’ve already had all these cards, like most people here. if you have exhausted your Chase UR apps and live in vanilla deserts, which is most of the metropolitan areas, there are no easy ways to add points to your Star collection. None. And Star award calendar is the best out there, hope you won’t argue with that. What exactly so bad in getting 50K LH miles and use it on United? Again, what’s the downside?
This is my whole problem with SOME of your, guys. You hate bloggers so much that you think nothing of distorting facts in order to support your preconceived notions. Hate bloggers all you want, but stick to the facts, and you won’t hear a peep out of me. There are two sides to policing the blogosphere, you know. 🙂
“Sorry, not buying. 45K US Air?”
Not surprising, considering you read MileValue
Andy:
Don’t blow the deal I am milking okay? 😉
As far as the other one, most know it. And I am getting more comfortable with it.
Hope the contacts you made get you some business. Let me know how I can help.
And thanks for letting us in the lounge, those chicken wings one night were incredible!
I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. I didn’t manage to get your drunk enough to tell me. About another one–I’m scratching my bold head here, but still can’t remember what you’re talking about. Come to think of it, those cheap margaritas did pack a punch.
The secret I was blackmailing you with is that you’re actually one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met–nothing like your flamboyant internet persona. Sorry, man, you’re busted!
Here is a quiz for all of you, groupies. Who said this? “A George divided against himself cannot stand!”
NO GOOGLING!
Those wings were something, right? Amazingly good! And yesterday night, they brought two different chilies. Man! I’m not even into that stuff, but I couldn’t have enough.
I agree, there is only that many cards and most of them as of today can not be repeated.
I got that Lufthansa card in May, and a few weeks ago I booked a great 787 direct flight
from LAX to FRA. The problem is there is not too many options for the direct LA -> Europe
and this one, although requires $xxx is very convenient. My other option – LAX-CDG on AF disappeared from the Delta calendar for good, did I just say Delta, sorry… What else would you recommend for an LA traveler Steve? And yes, I want to fly LA-Europe direct.
I would recommend getting miles in a currency that you wouldn’t have to pay $xxx dollars to get to Frankfurt
I am happy to put up my hand and say that I have transferred SPG points to Miles & More. Was a
Iittle short of what I needed for a LH F redemption.
That was me above ….
Square cash worked perfectly with my UFB card that earns AA miles, it appears to be coded as a purchase but it does include the recipient’s name. Unfortunately UFB posts on a totally random schedule so I may not know if it earned miles for 2 months or so. But no fee = no harm in trying. Up to 2,500 per week.
Does anyone know the phone number for 1 800 flowers?
Hello from Starbucks!
Just counted 17 TBB comments out of 72 total. Proof: ingy needs to get better at math 🙂
Ok readers (remember I own you I have been told lol), life is catching up with me. So I will try to make a quick comment and address most of the comments above…if that is even humanely possible.
Amol: Classy response. #respect
Ben: Thanks for expressing yourself here. Be nicer to avoid giving my detractors ammunition 🙂
smittytab: Does TBB own you too? lol
AngryLikeThat: Good point. Don’t be angry
ingy:
We have been over the same crap over and over. TBB reviews blogs. Dishes out more genuine praise and help online/offline than some well deserved criticism. Part of the eclectic journey dude. Praise the best and hammer the worst. Hopefully the worst become better. Doing my part to improve the community. You do yours and we let others decide. You just never liked being told your blog sucks. I am not the one who is saying it. It is America and we speak our minds and we don’t censor either. I know you criticize me and my blog constantly and I invite it so I can learn from it. I don’t need 100% touchy feely groupies singing my praises all the time and telling them how much I give to charity and stuff like that. We will never see eye to eye, we are just different people in different stages of our lives. TBB will continue (for now).
I thanked for your support when you featured my site,I never asked for it. You also asked me to sign up under you for what appeared like an mlm scheme and I refused, yikes. Then you published my real name when I asked you kindly not to. We let the readers decide the classiness of that move. Fine.
I owned a nest of angries, the home of the Angries, blah blah blah. If you keep saying something it does not mean it is true. We call this…never mind.
Used a different tact? I am fiercely independent in my home/professional/blogging lives. I speak my mind. I try to be funny, fair and perhaps even educate and inspire sometimes. Maybe it is all marketing lololololol
>>>>>>>>pitter patter and have at her. LOL, I have not heard this in so long, thanks for the laugh. I keep reading and keep shaking my head. You keep wanting to bring money to the conversation. My site is not even 1 year old. It has not been monetized. All I have is more comments in one day than you get in months. This is #winning TO ME!
Andy: I miss you too man. Regarding the LH deal, look. I got miles up the wazoo, nearing 3.7 million and have a hard time burning them as I am always earning more than I burn. I don’t want to bother with yet another program I can not easily add miles to. I like to go on family trips mostly. Not a big deal to me. Regarding Chase UR points and how to get more (if you wanted to)…you are an entrepreneur? 😉 Maybe I started this blogging “business” so I can earn more of them points, you catch my drift amigo? I do miss the chicken wings and the margaritas! I am very nice in person and online. But at TBB I morph into Robin Hood fighting for justice. It’s entertainment, a way for me to deal with my stress 🙂
Andrew: I don’t like paying fuel surcharges, EVER! It’s the principle of it all 😉
Tara: Yes, somebody else won. I had a transparent drawing. The winner was very happy. Thanks for playing. And sorry for keeping your comments in the spam for so long…it is like a zoo in there, bags, nfl jerseys and I am certain some giraffes too. Kill all spammers!!!
KennyB: Thanks for the comment. I like to knock them out 4 at a time than have to deal with one ticket for me. Simple is beautiful. See my comment above on my rationale. Thanks for letting us know about the UFB Square deal. Mix it up. My gut feeling says this one does not have legs. I should look into the Alaska debit card but I do not want to piss of Bank of America 🙂
Steve: I agree with you, surprise!
To Andy: THIS IS WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT AND WHAT IS WRONG IN THIS SPACE (per Steve): “I have nothing against LH. It’s just a very underwhelming FF program, and as such doesn’t warrant more than maybe 1 post noting that the sign-up bonus is higher. As opposed to the….. what?….. 10 posts? 20 posts? that MV will hump the card for over the life of this promotion?”
Everyone always forgets the second “b” in @smittytabb. But that is OK…that way they cannot really own me. LOL Wow this sure has been an interesting, educational, eclectic, and entertaining post and comments. It has gotten pretty out of hand with all the essentialized identities in this space. All of us are not angry. All Greeks are not stubborn. It is getting tiresome…
>>>>>interesting, educational, eclectic, and entertaining post and comments
What, not inspiring? I have totally failed, I promise to do better 🙂
sorry for the missing b, not intentional!
TBB – Thanks for keeping smittytabB busy so I can clear out our local CVS surpluses. She’s my biggest competition! :-p
“All of us are not angry. All Greeks are not stubborn.” – LOL
Doing my best. And yeah, that was an awesome quote indeed 🙂
@palmerlaw How could you? Did you leave any for me? This high drama thread has been taking way too much of my time. Now I understand why George threatens to fold like a cheap suit. LOL:)
Georgie, I love you buddy. You are so full of crap it is hilarious. ” I keep talking about money”? You bring up the subject everyday I stop by here. Your readers see through it. Read the comments above from your regulars. They all know you want to monetize. I know you want to monetize. You know you want to monetize. Quit the bullshit.
You made two mistakes early that you can’t get out of and it is evident to all in the space.
1. You tried to keep two separate lives, the other honorable blog with the big company and this thing..
It Don’t work, won’t work can’t work.
It all goes to one of your scticks “credibility” When you hid your name and this blog from the other one: You had a secret.
2. Then with the negativity, “mega rants’ terminology you used like “disgusting” “crap” etc and then allowing negative comments like “douchebag” etc without censoring, you really were in a pickle. Now blog number one could never find out about blog #2, and the banks (the best source of monetization (and your chance to show us all how it should be done) will never touch you.
Imagine if you had gone positive. You are making a positive contribution to our space by instructing newbies about the dangers of credit cards without the ranting and name calling. Blog number one with the Big Boys would have loved it. Your credibility would have been enhanced and you could have really been a watchdog in the space. You wouldn’t have limited yourself to the angries. If you had monitored comments to get rid of the swearing, name calling and took out the irrelevant trash. As hard as this is for you to hear George, moderation is just that, and an accepted blogging policy “take out the trash and keep the topic relevant, not the name calling”
And if the tone had been more positive and helpful the banks would have eaten your stuff up with a passion. “A voice of reason in the travel space and word of warning to newbies” on the perils of credit cards. You George would be monetized already and could show us “how it should be done”
But your stubborn Greekness (new word:) has you in a box that you built and can’t get out of. You can’t let the banks, the big boys blog or any other advertiser see your past performance. I wish you hadn’t taken this tact but like you say buddy, “it’s my blog”
Its fun watching you wiggle though. Who knows what you’ll come up with next?
For ingy, it seems apparent that his primary metric of “worth” of this blog, ANY blog, is about the $$$. If you make $, you are good, if you make more $, you are better.
I hope he doesn’t judge his friends this way.
I think that you set yourself up for his rants, George, because you mention making money all the time on your blog: how you need to monetize, etc. This opens the door for ingy.
The “need to be positive” that ingy keeps saying is ridiculous. That’s another way of saying you have to kiss asses. Pure and simple.
bluecat: Thanks I got the message, I better stop talking about monetizing. I just like to blog about what I think. Monetizing and doing it right in this online world is really tough. Kind of a fascinating subject actually as I am old school, doing business face to face and seeing eye to eye. Ok,I will shut up about it. Got the message loud and clear! One day I will figure it out.
>>>>>>>The “need to be positive” that ingy keeps saying is ridiculous. That’s another way of saying you have to kiss asses. Pure and simple.
I agree. To him, you are just another angry lazy whiner hiding behind your keyboard anonymity doing nothing but complaining non stop in the angry nest we have here.
LOL
>>>>>>>>>You are so full of crap it is hilarious.
I feel likewise!
>>>>>>>>>You bring up the subject everyday I stop by here.
Aha, so you DO stop here everyday. I thought the last time was two weeks ago. You are bored already? You are addicted to my blog. Just admit it.
I like to try to accomplish impossible things. Believe me, I am having FUN doing this. When it stops being FUN I would stop. Enjoy the ride my friend. Are you entertained? You must be, you keep coming back and the number of YOUR own comments in a few days at TBB are more than what your corporate blog brings in weeks! This just boggles my mind, IB staff and all. And it is just me alone.High Five?
I am still very comfortable separating my two lives even though I took a few steps in fusing them together this past weekend. There is a lot in my mind but I need to focus on my real life. TBB is a fun project. Maybe one day it will amount to something, maybe not. I DO know the potential here, believe me and I agree if I compromised myself to be more marketable I could have made LOTS more money. I do not focus on the money, I just learned what seo/tags/keywords/metatags mean, I have other priorities. We are just not all the same. Besides, Rome was not built in a day or a year 🙂
As far as money goes, don’t worry I will be just fine. It is obvious that money does not buy happiness and it sure does not help with boredom.
I never hid I would like to monetize TBB one day. Obviously it has not been a priority of mine. I live comfortably, I am not greedy. I like to focus on quality and the product. Money takes care of itself afterwards. Believe me, I don’t think about it much at all. Watch my actions, not my words. Remember, TBB is about entertainment above all.
Maybe you are right and it can’t work. Stick around to find out I guess. You are welcome for TBB helping you deal with your boredom.
Whatever I do you can count on a few things. No bullsh*t from me. Keeping it real.
Credibility, YOU talking about credibility? Puuuuleasse!
We ‘ve been through all the other issues you raise numerous times. It is tiresome. We do not see eye to eye.
TBB does not censor. I have repeatedly said to refrain from name calling and insults. Not my problem if they are directed at you. Have you ever wondered why they are being directed at certain bloggers and not others? Maybe they are NOT all angries and they DO have a point? Nahhh, they are all angries…blah blah blah.
You are always welcome here to entertain us with your wisdom.
Be well.
Time to milk.
Reply
Credibility? I’m not the guy hiding from the real world. I’m not the guy that is withholding his identity. I’m not the one living the secret Georgie Boy. Now a year later you admit to fusing your two worlds this weekend. Its about time.
When you prominently publish your last name and other blog information, You can talk about credibility George. Until then Georgie, you are ANYTHING but keeping it real.
At times I feel like “Sething” you, but still believe you have potential to do good in the space. The longer your charade goes on, the more convinced I am you just like stirring up trouble to draw attention to yourself. Shame as you are a really smart guy that could have really helped the newbies. Oh well. Your blog. Your rules. Too bad though.
I will let others judge credibility.
There are so many other bloggers who do not reveal their real names, especially ones who do not make a living at this. Delta Points comes to mind. Your insistence about this very subject is, frankly, bizarre. As mentioned many times, most know who I am and follow me in social media. Get over it.
“Sething me” – Ok, that was funny 🙂
I sat at Noob Traveler’s presentation at the financial blogger conference and I gotta tell you…so many thoughts were going through my head. I should own that market too, not just the “angries” market lol.
I keep it more real than most other bloggers who are now a little too busy taking down the incredible LH card links lol.
Draw attention to myself? I am not that type of person.
Yep, my blog, my rules.
This blog is in beta #developing
Thanks again, we are now past 100 comments!! Unbelievable!
Rick you are making an ass of yourself for Gods sakes.
You sound like Trump asking for Obamas birth certificate.
An 8 year old can figure out how to get George’s last name off the Internet. By posting your comments here you have tarnished your reputation more than Lance Armstrong. It bugs you that TBB readers love Buzz.
>>>>>>>>>>You sound like Trump asking for Obamas birth certificate.
I am still laughing about this one, gracias senor
Totally disagree. When a guy has the audacity to criticize others without having the balls to reveal who he is, that to me, is cowardice. Now I’m not gonna call George a coward. It is his blog and that would be disrespectful, but I can’t support tearing down others without full disclosure. It seems to me that Siskel and Ebert, his idol’s, aren’t (and or weren’t) afraid to use the last names.
Ask your self this question: What is George afraid of? Why is he constantly deflecting and avoiding the truth? Is he ashamed of what he is doing here? Is he hiding from his clients or other blog? Don’t you ever ask the question? Ask him to answer the question.
I can respect a man that stands up for what he believes in. I’ve got no problems with Siskel or Ebert giving their opinions on films. They stand behind their names.
Georgie Boy just doesn’t have what it takes to earn my respect and doesn’t seem inclined to do so. We are indeed, very very different people.
You’ve fallen far too far for people to want your respect, Rick. Like others have said, it’s like wanting Lance Armstrong’s respect.
Your *demand* for George to reveal his name is absolutely hypocritical. How come YOU use “ingy” instead of your full name each and every time you post?
I’ll tell you why: you don’t people to Google you and find what you write here.
(I also use multiple fake names. Sometimes I don’t want people to know who I am–even compared to my regular name (although George knows from the IP address)–because there are some real “wacko birds”* out there.
*best thing ever out of John McCain
How ludicrous for you to ask for full disclosure!!!
Last time I checked Siskel and Ebert were full timers, I am doing this in my spare time.
Your rants make you look unbelievably bad! Does Internet Brands know you are posting here, you are costing them money and you are making it much harder for the other people who write at FTG. Holy crap, get a hold of yourself old man.
To anyone who is so dying to know my real name you can always email me. If you don’t know me already.
All of my clients know my miles obsession,heck I got some of them hooked too! I just submitted more of my work in the other blog, make sure you pick up a copy.
Boy you must be so bored Rick.
And you can take that to the bank (your favorite place) that we are very very different people.
C’est la vie.
Have a nice night. Broke the all time comment record today, thank you for your support!
I am so ashamed and appalled by you Rick. I used to follow your blog and thought you provided good material. But now that I look back, all you did was pimp the links and those stupid travel challenges.
One has to assume, is your old age mixed in with those meds affecting you now? Please go see and talk to someone. You are the only “angry” one here.
One of my nagging travel questions has finally been answered. I’ve been wondering for a really long time (about a day since the last barrage..) what the “top 10” cards in Brian Kelly’s wallet were. So glad he provided links, too, now I can be just like him!
Watch some drama with the Lufthansa card today LOL
Details?
All the bloggers lost the Lufthansa card this morning
They are quickly removing all the links right now, really crazy. Check it out.
Details please. Did Barclays have a multibillion dollar fine to pay and decided to cut off all the bloggers?? 🙂
So looks like The Points Guy still has a live link for Lufthansa 50K. Others are reporting the deal is over. So if you did want in on that offer, it is still out there…
As does the public link on Flyertalk. I’m hoping it does last until December as advertised for my wife’s next AOR, but any blogger calling it a done deal is…. well there should be a spot for them in an upcoming post called “Blogs You Should Avoid” or maybe “Blogs Friends Don’t Let Friends Read”.
Absolutely agree Kenny! The deal is accessible from the main Barclays website.
It’s just the links got pulled, probably something between Lufthansa and the bank (?).
If anyone says “the deal is dead”, he’s lying – he knows about it.
What’s really annoying is that it feels like a kindergarten, I really want to read about
travel, passion, see some great pictures, not constantly read about the links BS.
THIS is what TBB tries to point out, the ridiculousness of it all. How this crap DRIVES the content.
Expect another fest when another marginal deal goes on a promo.
I bet my links that we won’t hear too much of the 50k LH super deal.
TBB…taking notes…who follows orders & kisses behinds 🙂
If they’re not getting paid to think otherwise, expect M&M to become another mediocre program that tacks on heavy fuel surcharges onto the vast majority of awards
Agree with you both Kenny and Andrew. Mostly I was just curious if I could still find it to verify if it was truly over, so thanks for posting other resources! This situation is another reason why this blog is enlightening. If you only read a couple of blogs, you might assume it’s over…
TPG really amazes me. VFTW over-covers credit card bonuses IMHO but it’s a fantastic study in contrasts to read his posts and TPG’s on the same subjects. Gary wrote about Flying Blue promo awards this morning. He even wrote that FB is an Amex transfer partner, but without credit card links. Not one in the post.
Several hours later TPG is on the scene with pretty much the same context. Naturally.. WITH A WHOLE BUNCH OF LINKS: PRG, Platinum (no mention of the Mercedes-Benz Platinum here, ka-ching!), Business Gold. He says FB is an instant transfer partner, VFTW says FB is USUALLY instant (whicih is more accurate). Then add in SPG personal and business links! No mention of the days it takes for SPG transfers, which seems like blogger malpractice to me: sell a credit card based on a promo that cardholders may get hosed trying to take advantage of. I’ve concluded that TPG is a very bad man.
In the interest of fairness, at Chicago Seminars TPG handed out a sheet with the most accurate SPG transfer times I’ve seen in writing. He lists over two weeks as the transfer time for SPG to FB. Too bad since he has that info he doesn’t list it in the context of that blog post.
In the interest of fairness? That makes it worse! Handing out that info might discourage readers from clicking his almighty links. Wouldn’t want to do anything from getting in the way of applying. I am sad now.
There’s only a handful of bloggers who can be overwhelmed by the shiny CC $$$ yet still be able to put together quality content
Gary is one, Dans Deals is another
For most other bloggers, and especially with TPG, quality content and pushing credit cards seem to be mutually exclusive
Some blogs used to be really good and turned to crap – TPG, FTG, MV, OMAT (although OMAT to a much lesser extent than the other 3)
Some blogs used to be really mediocre and turned to crap – MP, MMS, F2B
And then some blogs were just always crap. cough “Delta Points” cough “Deals we like”
Steve
You *should* guest post here! This is a batman/batman combo to George !
Still reading the comments here haha
I too like Dan but his forum is the REAL nest of angries. Angry assholes, more like it. There are people there that like little forum dictators (not Dan, but his minions)
Minions, sweet! Always wanted some of these guys:
https://www.google.com/search?q=minions&source=lnms&tbm=isch
I haven’t bumped into anyone that angry on DDF. Just people tired of seeing repeat threads, no different than at FT.
Except that moderation is kept to an extreme minimum on DDF as opposed to the heavy-handed FT moderation.
Gary has been blogging since 2002. I’ve been blogging since 2004.
Blogs that exist only because money came into the game are always going to have a different feel, even if we’re all equally liable of overpimping.
TPG (the man) is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. And he is a great business man with the highest traffic miles/points site, by far! That does NOT mean TPG (the blog) is a quality blog and its sales bent is unbelievably high…to the point that, IMHO, it turns me OFF…way OFF!
Gary was blogging for years before he saw any money from the blog. He is old school. I have no doubt he will still be blogging if the $ was not there. TPG and SO MANY others will go back to their day jobs when the gravy train stops. The thing is, TPG may not have to if he manages his dough well.
I need to take a nap
“TPG may not have to if he manages his dough well.”
Good luck with that! He writes about flying weekly between his homes in Miami and New York. He wrote today about having taken over 100 uber rides in New York alone. He shows up with his staff/entourage at frequent flyer events who have to take his dog Miles for a tinkle. If anyone’s blowing their credit card ka-ching it’s TPG. Sad to see, really. If the credit card money dried up, I wonder how he’d make those big mortgage payments?????
No doubt his operation has the higher overhead too!
100 comments George! Congratulations on another big milestone 🙂
Love the drama here. #entertaintment 😀
TBB, primarily, is all about entertainment 🙂
What’s wrong with blogs today take 512:
Lucky has a post titled “The Best No Annual Fee Business Credit Card”
In the first sentence of the post…. there’s links for the CIB & CIP
you can’t make this stuff up
Really did not like Ingy’s choice of words when he wrote of “Greek stubbornness” – let’s not stereotype here. It just is not necessary. I certainly never connected that quality with people in Greece or from Greece.
I never knew anything about Ingy until I saw some posts on FT which were not that different from the attitude he displays here, and then he started commenting here. If anyone is angry it sure seems to be him.
TBB – the blog – really helped me as a relative newbie find my way around this hobby and through the forest of bloggers. Keep up the good work, George!
As for monetizing, I take George’s comments about it as a meme, as just part of the entertainment.
Just booked a Las Vegas trip using the AS companion pass. Great deal on airfare. Now I need to get the hotel nailed down. Not sure I want to stick with the Excalibur which I booked at like $28/night back when it was advertised this summer at that rate. But there is no lack of hotels, eh?
I don’t get offended easily. Greek stubbornness is really no big deal at all.
If there is a place that does not lack hotels, Las Vegas it is!
I like to use Priceline or Hotwire there.
OK, I can’t believe I’m actually siding with George here. But I also don’t like stereotyping, and the term “greek stubbornness” was completely offensive and uncalled for. I also never knew, your identity was outed without your permission. Thats not right. George, I do hope you find a way to monetize. I think this blog has a lot of potential and I think you can make something incredible out of it. But Milesabound has a valid point in his comment, which is the the same thing I have told you as well. Oh, I’m also here for the back link!
“I think this blog has a lot of potential”
One could say the same about your blog, albeit untruthfully
Ask yourself if you found “Greek Stubbornness” offensive only because you could imagine the next words to be “Russian Stubbornness”. IMO, it’s better to show outrage when it has NOTHING to do with you, but, hey, it’s a start. There are other personal attacks made by ingy that should not go unanswered.
No, actually it had nothing to do with me at all. I hate racism or stereotyping of any kind. I call it like I see it, which was a personal attack on George. Then when he mentioned outing hid identity, I felt the need to chime in.
No big deal, that was very mild accusation. I am enjoying the journey and hope my blog entertains ya all 🙂
P.S. I notice many bloggers have opinions on how TBB can monetize. I keep picturing Darth Vader with his enticing “come to the dark side…”
I stop talking about it, I think reader was right I type too much about it. I have no time to focus on that monetization stuff, I must keep up the blog content up first, that is what matters.
Boy, especially good stuff tonight!
I actually enjoy George’s ongoing thoughts about monetization – aside from being generally interesting, the subject dovetails nicely with the blog reviews. And I hope that he’ll eventually move forward with it, and continue to share his thoughts, reasoning, worries, and so forth to the extent possible.
Really, monetizing a web presence – blog or otherwise – is increasingly viable in a huge number of spaces. Capturing the process, problems, and solutions is thereby of similarly increasing value.
And you all reminded me of some truly priceless Flyertalk moments from a few years ago. A good chuckle. Thanks for that.
I think most are tired listening to me and I got the message that I am overdoing it…so I will stop. I thought it was good for readers to read about the thought processes of someone who is trying to find a way to do this right and maybe some could learn from it. I definitely need to tone it down. Once in a while I may update you all what I have been doing (which is obviously not much for a year now on that front!). Thanks for the kind words. TBB is all about priceless moments 🙂
Yeah, maybe make it a monthly update on that aspect. Or a 3rd blog about blogging (with all your free time). 🙂
In any event, I feel quite confident that whatever path you ultimately take, it won’t be one that compromises your integrity – as that shows through so clearly in your writing.
One thing is certain.
No.More.Room.For.New.Blog! I am all blogged out 🙂
Finally 145th!
George,
“Hot Deal” puts someone on the avoid list? Really, I think there are bloggers on your like list that publish a weekly list of best credit cards for everything you can think of. I’m not sure if Hot Deals would warrant such a title. Don’t black list the kid for his style.
Although, I know opinions here are yours and you’re free to do what you will. 😀