Very wild ride through the only Etihad Residences kickstarter campaign, learning about tweeting personal views & getting crap for it while managing to create a firestorm (Randy is loving it!) of comments. We learn about the Caribbean Hopper with United miles & Lifemiles, some Chase Ink card rules, and more eclectic stuff as always. Thank you.
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Travel is Free with another gem post “The Complete Guide to the Carribbean Hopper (with United Miles) Please congratulate Drew of Travel is Free who today graduated to the glorious “Blogs I Love” from the “Blogs I Like” list! Help out the small good bloggers and ignore the overly commercial 24/7 pimping blogs in this list!
Here is the FTU Presentation by Seth of The Wandering Aramean. Great stuff by someone who has not sold his soul for a few (ok, several hundred thousands in some cases) dollars. Credibility is your most important asset. Would you trust something that comes from Seth or pick anyone in the Ignore list? Seth you said? And this is why you read this blog and not waste your time in those blogs because they will only post stuff that helps make a sale. Sales of credit cards come first, you are just a tool. Therefore, “Do Not Become a Tool” – TBB 🙂
One of the most ridiculous (bordering to brilliant) things in this hobby was done by One Mile at a Time who established a kickstarter campaign to, get this, get others to pay for his ticket to fly the super extravagant Etihad Airlines new product. Would I ever donate money to such a cause? HELL NO! I will just read the review for free because I like free lol. I just think so much good in the world can be done with this money instead of giving it to someone who already flies more than any person I know! The irony is that he can afford to buy it. If he did, he will get crap. If he burned miles for it (let’s just suppose it was available) he will get crap. So, in a way, this is brilliant because he can milk (and he will) all kinds of marketing buzz off of it and it does apply to his brand. Here is the link. When I first saw the headline I thought it was a joke. It’s not. Having said all that, I realize we live in a free country and people can do what they want with their money. Some carry credit card balances and some give it away to causes like this. C’est la vie. I still think the whole thing is ridiculous for a 7 hour flight.
Wait, there is more! Here is a post at You Went Where appropriately titled “The Most Morally Bankrupt Miles Blog Post Ever? Begging for First Class“. Can you guess if TBB agrees with such view? Hell, YES! But I also support Ben’s right for doing so. There are suckers born every day I guess.
The Deal Mommy gets inspired by OMAAT but is too kind to be in your face like we like to do around here hehe. I liked this post, worthy of a TBB mention. Things you will never hear me say, Vol 2, Revisited.
And then View from the Wing calls out the American Airlines spokesperson for expressing her personal view on Twitter about the kickstarter campaign. WTF! I am starting to think that common sense in this space just gets evaporated the more money you make…Sad! Out of all things to blog about we get a headline that is so over the top [American Spokesperson Blasts Boarding Area blogger, Throws Partner Airline Under Bus] it parallels…taking pictures of people and making a blog post about them (faces concealed)! TBB staff had an emergency meeting and took out immediate Obama-sanctions-against-Putin like moves: Erased View from the Wing from TBB’s world famous “Blogs I Like” list.
My point about this again: This is a big blog. It is read by airlines and hotels. It sure is read by American Airlines who apparently is still to be trusted. And then we single out ONE person tweeting from her personal account with a disclaimer about “my views are my own”. I read some of the comments and I wanted to pull out my hair…why people will say such things if they have nothing good to say? 🙂 Umm, maybe because it’s da internet duh? Anyways, Leslie apologized by the way. Some charity donations will be made and we can all live happily thereafter. I still think this whole post was totally unnecessary. I am sure it helped traffic though. Ink Bold tomorrow?
Matt at Saverocity posted “The Death Knell for Lifemiles?“. Interesting thoughts. Comments get heavy. Marathon Man gets into it and lays out the law of the land, which is:
1) Do not share deals with the news or some blog that plasters it all over the place
2) Do not share deals with the news or some blog that plasters it all over the place
3) Do not share deals with the news or some blog that plasters it all over the place
That was followed up by “Helping a Reader Out – The Lessons I Learned“. Good stuff by Matt again. Brings back the good old days before so many decided to become credit card salesmen.
Frequent Miler is on a roll “Ink evolution, Ink rules, and an insider tip“.
I do not recommend Avianca Lifemiles. They seem to always have a sale, their phone reps scare me and there are some other negatives. I have enough miles in the bank, thank you very much. There are some “secret” tricks that people can use to maximize the value of these miles. BUT when things go wrong you absolutely get burned BIG time. I like to take risks but this is not a risk I am willing to take. Congrats to the ones who have been able to do it so far. If things go wrong, take a deep breath, pay the piper and consider it a life lesson. The best lessons in life are the most expensive – “TBB” 🙂
Funniest blog line of the day goes to: Howie of the Frugal Travel Guy (the blog) who said ” I’ve been mentioning the Arrival card a lot recently…” You.Don’t.Say!
Best Photos Taken With Smartphones.
17 of the most beautiful steps around the world. By Bored Panda.
World War II on a Paradise Island. By MessyNessyChic. Fascinating and rare color pictures.
20 Things I Learned in North Korea. By Matador Network.Very enjoyable reading, plenty snarky.
Personal Finance article of the day is “John Bogle’s 10 rules of investing“. Required reading.
I found this great article: “Internet Trolls Really Are Horrible People – Narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic, and sadistic.” A short excerpt before we move on:
“…people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).”
No comment
See you!
See you in Charlotte. Join the TBB Revolution by clicking the crap out of my Amazon link, muchas gracias 🙂 I am flying Delta (OMG!) coach there on a 32,500 miles award. I thought it was a bargain actually lol.
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First
U are Numero Uno!
Kickstart this!
Ps: Drew is who?
Should I ban you so they can accuse me of despicable censoring? 🙂
Agree that the whole Lucky/Leff/Kickstarter thing is absolutely ridiculous! To be honest not surprised by Ben’s actions, but I honestly thought Gary knew better. Oh well! If anything, I think more people agree with Leslie at AA, so thankfully she still has a job 🙂
See you tomorrow in CLT! I’m flying US Airways coach for 30-something-k (I saved 5k because I signed up for a credit card, woohoo!) and I thought that was a bargain too! LOL
I guess i beat you both George and Michelle. Last minute booking in US airways through BA avios – was able to get first class only:( – but paid 27k miles and 5$ for the trip. Had it been coach, i would have just paid 9k + 5$. Anyway, i guess the additional miles should be worth the trip just meeting your stalwarts there, i guess:). Hope Matt accomodates me though. Yet to get a confirmation from him in twitter:(
@ Michelle: Lovely to finally meet you!
@ Kumar: See you tomorrow
Thanks to my daughter’s allergic reaction adventure tonight, I’m claiming a respectable fifth place! Lemons, lemonade!
I’ll say this in defense of Gary: there are, to my knowledge, three BA bloggers who have mentioned the new $500 WF credit card bonus, and he’s one of them.
As I predicted after my blog post…the Chase pump post promptly appeared only to be followed less than an hour later by a similar Chase pump post by Ben/Lucky #justreporting
There are at least four incorrect factual points in the North Korea article, plus some opinion points. Sigh. While snarky seems fun, accuracy is more important. Could you only run good articles, please? You might try americaninnorthkorea dot com for cool stories about several parts of the world, more than the title.
1) While each citizen ordinarily wears a pin on their work clothes, there are various types of pins. I saw seven. Not all pin styles display Kim Il Sung. Some display Kim Jong Il; some have both leaders.
10) Kids have public uniforms for school and meetings. In private they have other clothes.
14) The timing of Mass Games performances varies each year. The article author gave the 2013 schedule, but the 2012 length was shorter and there will be none in 2014. While this article was originally written in 2013, it would have been nice to see past research.
15) While ordinary citizens do not have Internet access (and thus avoid our debates about internet trolls and Kickstarter), a small number of people have a connection.
You just won the internet. Congrats!
Woo hoo! Do I get tickets to @midnight?
That article is a inaccurate snarky trip report – something this site does not ordinarily support. TBB is a place to promote quality web pages and criticize poorly written ones, so I thought I’d mention it.
Adam: Thanks for taking the time to comment and point out the article’s inaccuracies. Frankly, I knew about them. But the snarky tone of the writing was, to me, very entertaining because y’all know my totally unexplainable crush on all things North Korea. So, since this site is primarily about entertainment….I thought it was a good addition. And thanks for keeping me on my toes, greatly appreciated.
I am going to launch a campaign on Kickstarter with a goal of $50,000.00 to get one of the weblogs I author on the TravelBloggerBuzz Blogs I Love list.
Once that happens, I will split the proceeds pledged with George 50-50. This way, he will not need referral links after all. It is a win-win-win situation!
On second thought, I might give George a third of the proceeds and me a third of the proceeds. I may need that remaining third to buy back the morals I will have lost by doing this…
Not a third. Morals are cheap and can be bought easily. Ask Angry Ingy…
I prefer 50-50.
Thanks
🙂
I don’t want my boss/chair to know what I tweet in my personal life. I think it’s none of his or her business. If I said in my Twitter profile that I “work at the State University of X at Y,” this in no way suggests that my thoughts are those of State University of X at Y. Many people, including this Leslie person, have disclaimers that they don’t speak for the company in their personal accounts.
I believe people should be entitled to their personal lives and their personal opinions. They shouldn’t always be, or have to be, on the clock.
No one knew who this American spokesperson was until she was highlighted and wrongly accused of representing the company in attacking American’s “highest” customers (a customer American has because United banned him for repeat fraud, let’s not forget). Her account and name are largely unknown to this hobby/community; she’s not Suzanne Rubin. Linking and highlighting her tweets was an asshole move, and the last time I read that asshole at VFTW.
As to OMAAT, well, if rich idiots want to give a gift to another rich idiot because they enjoy vicariously living through his blogged experiences, acontece. There are many ways that people choose to spend their money that I consider idiotic.
In more interesting news, trees in northern Borneo have been found to be much more productive than trees in the Amazon in producing volumes of wood production in their growth and thus sequestering carbon. That’s only moderately promising, but it’s cool.
I keep re-reading that comment and can’t help but wonder what kind of person are you???
It’s great that TBB allows all comments because that lets commenters reflect badly upon themselves. This week on the blogs has made me sad on so many levels, and that includes this blog.
I’m a misanthropic academic overly concerned with grammar and interested in science and philosophy blogs because the travel blogging community seems devoid of any ethical considerations, whether with regard to the environment or to other people. I’m very wordy in my writing. I’m a card-carrying member of the ACLU.
Don’t let me get you down or make you sad. I’m normally this much of an ass.
I agree with Gary. Self identify that you’re a spokesperson and then think you can voice opinions freely on that one area you work at is stupidity run amok.
And what’s up with that hating on OMAT? Jealous much? Is it any worse than MommyPoints pimping out her daughter?
This is someone who has no real negatives of picking a random city to live in, or just to live in hotels for a year. Someone who willingly will fly on a plane to a city of no interest for him just to turn around so he can make a blog post about it.
Pretty sure those of us with rich lives are not jealous.
I’m on the same page with you with regard to the kickstarter campaign, but I find this particular line of attack — the notion that he doesn’t have a traditional job, doesn’t have a home city right now, that he is living out of hotels, that he blogs about luxury travel – to be a really unfair indictment. At the end of the day, he *is* a travel journalist. It may not be a subject or method that appeals to you, but that doesn’t make it illegitimate. Who says his life isn’t “rich”?
For example, Drew (Drew Who?) seems to have no real negatives of picking a random city to live in, chooses cities often based on hotel mistake fares, lives in hotels permanently, etc. Doesn’t have the traditional job in a permanent home base. Not a rich life?
The kickstarter campaign is ridiculous on its own merits.
Ben is NOT a travel journalist! He is a miles and points blogger. There are many great travel writers and bloggers out there – it’s a different world from miles & points writers. Posting some pictures of the hotel’s rainshower, airline salad in F, and only “reviewing” hotels, airlines, and providers than give you an excuse to slip in CC links doesn’t make you a travel journalist!
I get that we all like to throw around the pimping term here with respect to bloggers that sell credit cards. But please don’t bring in Mommy Points’s daughter with that term. Criticize MP for selling credit cards, criticize her for using a kid to help sell credit cards but saying she pimps her daughter is inappropriate. I’m glad most here don’t know what it looks like when someone does pimp their child. It’s horrible and inhumane. Mommy points certainly does not come anywhere close to engaging in a such horrific behavior.
Says a lot about what this blog has become. George should genuinely look at himself in the mirror and ask whether he is proud of the tone he sets and the misogyny he has welcomed here.
Misogyny runs rampant in this community. I’ve addressed the topic previously on my own blog and have both experienced and witnessed it. Makes me want to puke.
Maybe it is misogyny, maybe it is not. I don’t know. I know we live in a male dominated culture and I know the internet makes it easy to put people down. Take the two of those together and I have no doubt any internet community will be hostile towards women. Is it misogyny or just people being insensitive and not thinking about what they say? I hope it is just the later. I would like to think in real life members of this community, or any community, don’t hate women. I certainly don’t think P’s comment above means he hates women. I think it was just something said without necessarily thinking of what it actually means.
+1
This whole thing just blows my mind!
1. Why does this product (Residence) even exist? It’s basically a 1st class train cabin in a metal box with no view that isn’t also shared by the whole plane including economy. At least on the train, you can watch the landscape! For those really needing privacy, the first class apartments offers that at 1/5 the price. For those who just want a good night’s sleep before arriving in LHR or AUH, the biz product is perfectly fine. The Residence is wasteful and ridiculous! If anyone from Etihad reads this, can you please buy a few thousand sq miles of rainforest as a wildlife sanctuary to make up for this?
2. Why do we need a particular blogger to do a review? The Dannii Minogue videos do a good job (albeit way over-acted) of showing what the Etihad products has to offer. I am sure that once the product is launched, she will do another video with the butler and food service included. We don’t need to see the crumpled up towels and all that. Hopefully she will resign from the Bruno Tonioli school of acting before then!
3. I have no quarrel with Lucky. I think he’s probably a very nice young man and he is polite on his blog when people disagree with him. But I think his followers are way over the top. I’m glad Lucky is a travel blogger and not a Jim Jones type or God help us all!
4. I have no idea who Leslie is other than the c/p quotes from her Twitter account but my opinion of AA rose. At least they have SOMEONE there who has some common sense!
5. No I am NOT jealous! I blog about supporting conservation and saving endangered species through eco-tourism and making eco-tourism accessible to more people through miles & points, I would be the worst kind of hypocrite to set foot in one of those ridiculous Residence things. I’d be embarrassed! I still feel like an interloper in biz but justify it for long-haul when I have enough miles because we are mid 50’s, I have a bad back, my husband has gout and we need to be in somewhat good shape to go birding once we arrive after a 12 hour flight. Between 1980-2011 I did thousands of flights in economy and if that was the only affordable way to continue traveling I would go for it.
6. I get that people have the right to spend their money how they choose but seriously? If you have $50-500 laying around and want to be entertained (leaving charity, philanthropy & education out of this equation), take your kid to a ball game, zoo, concert or museum. Have a spa day with your BFF. Take your spouse to the latest musical and buy her a new dress. Do something with someone special to provide a lasting memory. If you are really that curious about the Residence, wait for Dannii’s next video which will be available free of charge on YouTube.
For the record I agree with harvson3.
@ Jim: See my line above. He is such a misanthrope 🙂
@ P: I do not agree with Gary. I think Lucky got more shit than probably deserved…and I am sure he can handle it, especially when he looks at the kickstarter page and his page view metrics and his affiliate dashboard 🙂
@ Adam: It’s a free country. I would never do the things he does. But the kickstarter thing was a very creative move nevertheless!
@ Richard: I pretty much agree with you. And the kickstarter move was ridiculously brilliant 🙂
@ Scott: THANK YOU for commenting about this “saying she pimps her daughter is inappropriate”. And thank you again. Please to the commenter, reread Scott’s message. Thank you again.
@ Not ingy: Thank you for your comment. People say things every day. If you don’t like it please go to a Disney blog. You were never going to click on my Amazon link anyway lol. It is what it is….just a comment by someone on da internet. It happens every second online. It’s okay. We will get over it. Nobody will visit this page in a few days. Peace.
@ Tara: Thanks for the thorough message. I agree with almost all your points. But, at the end of the day, people will spend their money as they see fit and many will do it on things we find stupid. And we can just bitch about it but…they will still do it. It is what it is. I need to track down this dannii because I like free stuff 🙂
That’s right Mommypoints isn’t pimping her daughter. She is probably slaving her since the only thing MP is doing is using her daughter to pose on pictures and her daughter does not get any of the earnings (which is debatable).
When did things devolve from pointing out bloggers who put their interests first (i.e. clicks ahead of best offers) to saying that a person slaves her daughter because she puts pictures of her kid on a blog that is about family travel with miles and points? She puts pictures of her kid with grandma, or disneyland, or ski trips. So what? Again it is a miles and points blog about family travel. It is not like she is doing an Emily with her. It is stupid comments like this that make me think Rick is right sometimes.
+1 million
Comment #203 from Gary’s AA / OMAAT post:
“i am always amused about how bloggers “circle the wagons” for one another…
the good ol’ boys network”
Guess he hasn’t discovered TBB yet?
I subscribed to those comments. I think it was a mistake…so many of them!
Hi,
I am posting this from my phone. I am having an incredible awful time to get on wifi on my laptop in the DTW SkyClub this morning! Last time this happened to me was in the DFW Centurion Lounge. Have no idea why it happens, all I know is some massive windows update just happened. So, I am shut out of my own Comments section and being productive until my flight 5 hours later, uggggh!
So…it may be a while. Sorry!
Who’s Drew? Go Seth! Looking forward to meeting some fellow angries this weekend. Just be kind to me. I’ve had a hard week. A very hard week. Oh, and thanks to Matt for invoking what my husband refers to as an “extralegal sanction”. It was the right call.
Nice meeting you! Sorry about your plane delays today and thanks for the kind words about me and this little blog I have. See you Saturday!
+ way more than 1 for Harvson3.
Gotta get going here. I certainly don’t want to board my flt to CLT in my current attire 😉 ! Safe travels to all traveling and a good weekend to those staying put.
Looking forward to meet on Saturday.
Enjoy CLT the folks that are going
I still respectfully disagree with Matt about banning Ingy. Don’t think that should’ve been done
Hey Steve? Proud of you 🙂 You stood up on a solid principle in this hobby that all sides of the conversation should be heard. Politely, respectfully but all sides should be heard. The banning, or so he wanted to believe, seemed kind of 1939 to me. And over miles and points? WoW
thank you
rick
Quiz time!!!
Who said this???
..you did the right thing. You and other bloggers spend hours working on their blogs. Putting up with that crap is not in the business model anywhere or anytime.
Um Rick, hate to break it to you, but I don’t think my reasoning for not wanting you banned is the same as yours
You know how sometimes a movie is so bad, it’s good?
Similar logic would apply to why I think it would be GREAT if you were there 🙂
I love movies!
Hey Rick-
How much did you contribute to Ben’s campaign?
I tried to contribute $50 but didn’t see myself on the list of contributors.
For the record, TBB contributed a big fat zero!
Death of LifeMiles
I think Matt did a great job in reviewing the big “no no’s” when it comes to exploiting a deal. What surprises me is that it was (Who is Drew?) who exposed some of the best “errors” in the LifeMiles reservation system. He even went further in his news letter and did everything short of adding arrows and pictures of Emily. Now, I have no idea how many people subscribe to his monthly letters but once in print, word of mouth takes over. I’m well aware there is a lengthy FT thread on this but at least no one ever says what the specific advantages you may realize by using LifeMiles.
My 2c worth.
Thanks for the comment. It is always a very fine line indeed. I think the mega effect comes when it hits…the big blogs. Newsletters/FT threads in page 117…I think they may be okay. It’s a complicated subject.
And the competition is on like Donkey Kong… Drew is raising money to help fund an adoption. I think that is way cool. Maybe all the bleeding heart OMAAT haters can monetarily express their outrage and help a special needs kid get a family (instead of just whining – put up or shut up).
Do you watch alot of Fox News?
Uh…no. News channels are a waste of time…except when I’m overseas and news is the only English channel. If I watch TV it is probably Amazing Race 🙂
Been so busy in Charlotte and my laptop does not cooperate with me in airline lounges for some bizarre reason. If Drew is doing this I think it is GREAT! I will catch up to it, I am running a little behind!
I do watch 60 Minutes. I used to watch Nightline but stopped when Ted Koppell left.
I contributed.
I swear my laptop is anti lounge or something. Can’t connect any wifi at DTW! So you are all spared my snark remarks as typing on.my phone is too cumbersome.
Actually I like it, need a break from all you angries LOL.
And as I predicted VFTW came out w/ the usual Ink Bold pump post 🙂
GEORGE: CONNECTIVITY WILL BE WITHHELD UNTIL YOU QUIT INTERFERING WITH OUR EFFORTS. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING.
I knew it!
Sound like international masturbation month is getting the better of you. I have a feeling that CLT DO will be filled with wankers.
Lol, that was really funny. And yes dear readers it is true! May is masturbation month! #education
Since it’s Friday, that must mean it’s time for MommyPoints to manufacture an excuse to get a CSP link into a post (her slogan should be “MommyPoints – where every Friday is the 1st Friday of the month”)
And in this instance, she actually killed 2 birds with one stone, not only inserting a link into a post that had nothing to do with it, but also managed to make a perfect case-in-point to those that accuse her of using her daughter as a prop to peddle credit cards. Even Dan, who pushes credit cards as hard as anybody, was able to avoid finding non-sequitur ways to push credit cards in an (excellent) post about his son
A link to the PH Vendome was included as well.
Lol. “Vendomed” should be an verb referring to “overplaying entitled arrogance” as in “Dude, stop vendoming your new Prius.”
It was a great deal at 22K pts, when Hyatt had no cheaper options in town, and they gave free breakfast to anyone using points. It really was amazing.
Lol… But I must not push as hard as anyone, DD gets far more traffic than FTG (according to Alexa at least) but they kept their AMEX links and I did not…
I don’t think I put a cc link in that post, http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/44233 Maybe you can suggest where the best place would be to gratuitously put on in there?
Only a mild poke at Lucky there as well as I’m pretty ambivalent. I’m torn between good for him and how utterly ridiculous it all is to spend $1 per second in the air for a relatively short flight. Though I think that’s exactly where he is as well.
If I do crowdfund it’ll be for this: https://twitter.com/DansDeals/status/464539484848418817
😉
Much better crowdfunding Idea – you and your forum lifers should figure out a way to either crowdsource, manufacture spend or mistake fare your way into de-facto chartering the entire Four Seasons plane, similar to how you guys essentially did for the Delta Hawaii flights
Not THIS would make for an awesome Dans Deals DO:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mo-four-seasons-private-jet-20140425-story.html
To answer your questino above, did you make sure to get 5 points/dollar for that hot dog :)?
Finding a glitch to charter a Virgin Galactic flight, that’s where it’s at.
No 5x for concession stand spend, but 5x for the Stubhub ticket bought from Stubhub GCs from Lowe’s. No links at any rate in the post, guess I know to brush up on my pimping skillz…
I am about to doze off here trying to get to every comment…but running out of energy…
I am going to force myself to dream about crowdfunding me many things tonight…
So glad that Drew stopped writing for FTG. Waiting for Andy to do the same. No need to associate good reputations with that trainwreck.
FTG is where good bloggers go to die
Fortunately Drew showed that you can rise from the dead and that being associated with that sight is not a permanent dignity killer
So there’s still hope for Andy and Ariana, the other 2 bloggers on the sight who have some semblance of miles and points expertise
i hope one of his articles does not appear there in the near future or we may have spoken too soon!
The move from Like to Love was purely coincidental – TBB Management
I can’t agree with you on that second blogger. As a writer and an editor she’s both written and let slip by far too many factual errors. I don’t have much faith in her “miles and points expertise”. FTG definitely hired a tier-C, no-name blogger and that’s exactly what readers have been seeing.
All in response to Steve’s above comment…
If I only saw her writing on FTG.com I’d agree with you, but I’m going off my having read her prior to her FTG editing days when she was a solid blogger who clearly didn’t mail in her efforts
She wasn’t Drew good, but she was still a worthwhile read
Steve can apply for a position here but I think he may be way too successful with his lawn mowing business 🙂
Editors Note: The amazing Amazon link is up at the top right!
Maybe I need to give her blog another read, but every time I’d drop all I’d see is another formulaic post about the best ____ hotel points redemption for ____ category hotel properties or another post detailing more of her one trip downunder. You’d think that one trip to Aussieland was the only time that she traveled with how many times it got brought up.
One thing we all agree on …… we love you, Drew.
Thanks for not loving me!
My god, there is a thin line between funny and ridiculous.
Oh, who am I kidding!. There is a huge difference between funny and ridiculous, and this kickstarter thing is not funny. It’s beyond ridiculous. It’s nothing short of idiotic. The AA lady is totally right. I’ll be sad if they fire her for speaking out her mind.
They are not going to fire her, they made that clear. It appears she too off the American Airlines off her twitter profile, now says Spokesperson for an airline or something like that.
Oh, and I agree with you.
Well, that’s a good news. Have fun in Charlotte.
I meant, speaking her mind.
Last.
(Posted from a great room at the Hyatt House in CLT)
It’s gonna be great!
Dear Abzy,
I am having a hard time deciding between two boys I like.
The first one is very tall, almost gangly. He makes lots of friends and he’s quite lucky. He has a job at a large company, and his boss is so happy with his production that he almost changed vendors because my guy was having an argument with one! He wants me to help him pay for a vacation, but he hasn’t invited me along, he just says, “we’ll see….”
The second guy wants to have my baby! Well, his sister-in-law’s baby. Or his sister and her husband. Whatever, a baby’s involved. This guy’s nice, with a good head on his shoulders, he owns his own business, but also he’s kind of a cheapskate. When we go someplace together it’s always through some kind of a deal that he’s cooked up.
I like them both, the first one ’cause he’s dreamy, and the second one because he actually takes me places. He also cut his hair for me!
Can you please give me some advice?
Signed, Need A Kickstart
It’s early Saturday am, stayed up kind of late for me last night so reading this I must admit I have no idea what you are talking about…i need coffee asap!
Oh wait…maybe I can imitate some of my favorite bloggers:
“Get Both. And huuuuuuuuuryyyyyyyyyy!”
“But make sure you pay using a BarclayCard Arrival so you can get 2.2% cash back” LOL
Regular reader / lurker here. I post rarely, but I enjoy TBB’s talking points and the usually friendly banter that ensues in the comments.
I’m commenting now because I am having a hard time identifying the reason why people are now so emotionally charged about Lucky’s Kickstarter campaign to sample the Etihad Residences. During this past week there seems to have been a discontinuous step up in the enmity toward Lucky, and not just from the heretofore unknown AA spokesperson, but from several other corners as well. Given that:
(1) Lucky has been flying around the world in upper classes of various airlines for the past 5+ years and has built a reputation and a hugely successful blog with a vast readership doing this. Lucky is a brand as much as he is a person.
(2) The Gulf States have been in a continuous battle to try to outdo each other in order to attract the monied elite. There are now luxury hotels, ostentatious residences, high-end shopping, and the world’s tallest building where 20 years ago there was sand. In 8 years there will be a World Cup being competed in one of the States. On the airline side, there are now gleaming new terminals, one with an entire floor devoted to upper-class travelers, and lots of A380’s. The development of the Etihad Residences is only a small salvo in this larger battle.
Therefore, given the existence of the Etihad Residences, it’s logical for Lucky to try to actually fly them as a way of growing his brand. Anyone in the business of attracting eyeballs to their blog knows that doing something like a seemingly outrageous Kickstarter campaign that generates publicity is great for their business. (And I don’t see this as really anything too outrageous or ridiculous, as some are calling it.) I would hazard a guess that there are several blog owners who wished that they had thought of and implemented this first.
Lucky, I am presuming, usually funds his travel by using revenue from the blog ads, his award-booking business, and credit card referrals to either generate points or pay airlines/hotels outright. Isn’t the Kickstarter actually more open and transparent than usual? Sure, he could afford to pay out of pocket, but why should he when people are willing to give him money? It’s not like the people donating don’t know what they are funding. Presumably anyone who funds the campaign can afford it. Indeed, those people think enough of Lucky’s product that they are willing to provide what amounts to a voluntary subscription fee. And in the end we all benefit, because regardless of how unobjective the review will end up being (especially now that Etihad have acknowledged they are aware of the Kickstarter campaign), I bet the majority of people here, including me, will end up reading it anyway.
Another point is that Lucky is well attuned to the reputation that he has built. I think it will be interesting to see how Lucky handles the case where he gets more than what he needs to fund his trip. Let’s say the Kickstarter campaign ends up generating $30K. Does he donate the overage to charity? Does he reinvest the excess revenue into his business? Can he return a pro-rated amount to his backers? How does he handle that situation?
Anyway, apologies for the long, stream-of-conscience comment, but I don’t really find the existence of the Etihad suites, nor Lucky’s subsequent response, too surprising in retrospect. I admire Lucky for his business acumen. In this era where most blogs say largely the same thing (a frequent lament here at TBB), at the very least Lucky endeavors to distinguish himself by attempting to give his readers something different and unique to read about. More power to him.
You make some excellent points and I thank you for taking the time to comment!
I stated that I think it was a brilliant move which definitely fits in with his brand. I think some of the wording he chose “I know it is ridiculous guys and it is not going to happen blah blah blah)” turned lots of people off, including me! Innovative? Yes of course. I am not sure what happens if it gets up to $30k. I think Kickstarter stops it when it reaches the goal…but I could be wrong.
And shortly after that we get a Q&A on them Chase cards. Because, you know, we have not them fed to us earlier 🙂
I have no doubt he will do it. I will read the review. But I will not donate. I prefer to donate to Drew’s site to help change a life of a child.
“Sure, he could afford to pay out of pocket, but why should he when people are willing to give him money?”
Sure, I could afford to buy my own groceries, but why should I? I can sit on Times Square on my carton box, and let people give me money. More power to me.
Emotionally charged? Nah.
I am sensing you will not be contributing to this Kickstarter?
You should start a kickstarter to build a First Class Carton box 🙂
Now, THAT would be a great idea, since we would be building something, other than a review 🙂
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