I am not finding anything really worthy to feature here as far as miles/points go lately. Perhaps I am becoming immune to the posts just repeating the same content and lame reasons to pump more affiliate credit card links. I think it is a very sad state of affairs. Every day I am more proud of my three Blog lists separating the good blogs from the ones that are just nothing else but marketing machines. But I see it as part of my journalistic duty to cover the Blog Buzz in this space and continue to disgust myself looking at such loads of crap aiming to pick out the diamonds! There, I feel better. Shall we continue?
I am going to try to stick to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday Buzz posting schedule. I may throw in some other stuff in the other days if I can manage. I have tax returns coming my way and I intend to be done by the time the whole TBB family takes off to Maui for our next adventure! After that, if I am still standing, I will reevaluate where this baby is going.
I must say I am hooked and enjoy doing this! I especially like the interaction with readers. YOU are the reason this blog exists and thank you for spending a small part of your day here! I am honored and humbled. I love receiving positive feedback but I also appreciate the negative feedback as well. I enjoy being called names (“coward” is my favorite!) and receiving ridiculous lawsuit threats too! Okay then, just shut up TBB and get on with the show!
Frequent Miler has a post about Evolve Money. There is a long thread in Flyertalk too. I am getting warmed up about the coming avalanche coming at me with client tax returns so I am sticking with what I know as time is short nowadays. Have fun with it you guys. I continue to be amazed with all these different payments systems coming online! I am not sure how long this one will last…A few days ago I got spammed in Linkedin to buy into “Paradise coin” which is going to explode like Bitcoin. Yeah, right…shaking my head…
How about the brand new “Nothing Class”? “Airline Introduces Brand New ‘Nothing Class‘”. If you wanted to laugh this is a good read. A few hilarious excerpts:
Nothing Class members will enjoy a limited, if well-defined, set of benefits that include:
- The right to enjoy the spacious gate area longer than all other passengers.
- The ability to buy snacks within the terminal later than all other passengers.
- Extended time in terminal rest rooms.
and my favorite part is this about the current boarding process, mega LOL material!:
A typical airline’s boarding sequence goes something like this:
- Supermodels
- Famous actors
- Heads of State
- First Class passengers
- Diamond class passengers
- Members of the armed forces
- Platinum passengers
- Passengers traveling with small kids or elderly parents
- People who have worked on a Pixar movie
- Gold passengers
- Silver passengers who just paid extra to become Gold passengers
- Silver passengers
- Customers without overhead baggage
- Members of marching bands
- Honor roll students and their parents
- Athletes wearing copper bracelets
- Customers willing to throw away their luggage in order to board the plane
- Passengers lacking medicine to stop their noses from running
- Everyone else
Looks like Delta continues to move into Alaska Airline’s home in Seattle…And now Alaska Airlines announced flights to Tampa, New Orleans and Detroit (with double miles!). I am starting to wonder if there is a personal vendetta between the two CEOs. This has been a crazily run industry. I sense developments later this year. If you had a choice to earn Alaska Airlines or Delta miles (just the miles, no elite/other considerations) and you answered Delta, please leave my blog immediately! 🙂
Help find missing travel blogger Harry Devert! Read more about him at this article by Matador Network. I pray this guy is safe…
Alex Honnold Makes First Free Solo Of 5.12 Big Wall In Mexico Video. From The Adventure Blog. Just a teaser lasting 1.36 mins. Rating of 5.12 on the Yosemite Decimal System means “the surface is as smooth as glass and vertical”. Oh, it only goes up to 5.13! MUST CLICK, you FEEL the insanity of what this kid is doing. I am scared just watching him, I want my mommy 🙂
Stunning Wildlife Shots From The World Photography Awards Shortlist. From the dodo.com. Wow!
33 Powerful and Creative Print Ads That ‘ll Make You Look Twice. At Bored Panda. Powerful and creative indeed!
Advertising School: Texas Creative, University of Texas, USA
The Financial Advice the Next Generation Needs. From Think Advisor. I may be featuring here the very best personal finance articles I find, perhaps one in each Buzz post? I like to educate you know. And this article is a MUST read from a colleague of mine. Show it to your children and pound it to their brains they MUST start EARLY and avoid debt! Probably the best personal finance advice in the universe! The compounding that can happen is incredibly powerful if not magical! Easier said than done.
Isn’t this an incredible shot or what, wow!
TBB Kids somewhere in the Great Wall in China in 2009:
Hey, you can say whatever you want in the TBB comments. Clever and devastating things are more fun so go right ahead if it will make you feel better 🙂
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First?
you got me beat
first?
third?
Man, competition is getting tough!
You guys are nuts!
Helixcardinal wins! Not sure what but he is numero one today!
I have yet to squeeze much out of evolve. Not into 529s and store CCs (except BR). Sure I could spend a few ks on mortages and utility bills. But I don’ see how to scale this until they allow general bill pay to CCs. What am I missing?
I haven’t had time to even open an account! I just don’t think the company will last long…
Holy Moses, TBB, are you trying to give me a heart attack?
I know you are not, but with my rock-climbing 20something son traveling alone in the Dominican Republic this week, the story about Harry Devert’s disappearance followed immediately by Alex Honnold’s climb had me, well, not actually shaking but certainly shaking my head with worry. I really hope Devert will surface safe and sound – very scary – and I assume Honnold lived the tell his tale – I couldn’t watch more than a few seconds.
Good thing you added that sweet pic of your kids on the Great Wall. If I knew how to do it I’d post one of my son from when he was there too. Let’s see, I think it was in 2007….
PDX’s snowmergency has finally lifted. I drove for the first time since Thursday and while I skidded a bit in the slushy snow going up the hill near our house, by the time I returned a few hours later the slush was pretty much gone, at least from the roadways. Everyone is so happy to see rain again, which is definitely not a typical reaction around here for February.
Meanwhile, the one of the unions that represents some city workers voted to turn down the contract negotiated by their leaders. Which means that if we get more snow, it could come when the snow plow drivers are on strike. If 6-8 inches can paralyze us now, I shutter to think what would happen then!
Sorry about that! Looks like the Atlanta area is in for another icy time.
Hilarious post on Dan’s Deals about the wandering toaster
It’s geting more mileage than most frequent travelers
I originally saw that very late last night and did not think much of it. I will look to take another look at it, thanks.
Can I borrow your mommy when you are finished? That stuff is crazy!
I hope he is alive years from now…
+1 on Harry. Went to HS and played soccer with him – good kid.
That is cool, he is really something!
Here is a paraphrasing of the bloggers reporting on the Chase Freedom 1.35 cpp thing:
BIG NEWS! YOU CAN GET UP TO 1.35 CPP WITH YOUR CHASE FREEDOM CARD IF YOUR TICKET IS WORTH X AMOUNT!!!!! mumble mumble mumble [insert CSP link], insert [insert CIB link], [insert CIP link]
TPG even managed to get in 2 links for each of those 3 Chase cards…. in a post about the Chase Freedom!
I think that criticism may be a bit unfair in this case —
(1) The reporting was genuinely useful/interesting. How many people knew about this feature? I’ve had that card longer than I’ve had any mileage card (6? 8 years? whenever it came out) and I certainly didn’t know about it. It’s interesting to me that it’s just buried there in the T&C. Game changing? No. But unique, new content that isn’t the same stuff we’re shoveled every day? Yes.
(2) The CSP, CIB, and CIP links are all relevant to each other — all part of the same ecosystem, so it doesn’t at all bother me that when you have one link, you usually have a link to all four. And the links to US Bank Flex Perks card doesn’t bother me, either, as it’s a directly relevant comparison. It’s not like he threw a bunch of Delta links in there this time.
“The CSP, CIB, and CIP links are all relevant to each other — all part of the same ecosystem”
I have no idea what that means or how it justifies putting in those links in posts that have nothing to do with the above 3 cards, but I’m sure TPG likes that spin
No, the links are relevant to a discussion of maximizing the value of Chase Freedom points. There’s the way we all know about, transferring to a card where you can move points to miles. And there’s this new way.
So Mommy Points actually offered new knowledge with this. It was a good post. TPG couldn’t wait to use that knowledge to sell cards.
The most amazing thing is that he actually gave credit to MP. He almost never gives credit, and very very little of his content is actually original.
“There’s the way we all know about”
And yet they always seem so eager to re-remind us
Do they pimp AA cards in every post about traveling to Europe, since one of the best ways to maximize transatlantic travel is 40K off-peak rewards?
Miles Professor has written about that. They were all over the Citi 75k/100k offers. Only FTG (the senior citizen) wrote about the 30k offer back in the day, warning his readers away from “zombie” apps.
You’re completely missing the point
@ StickyWicket
>>>>>>The most amazing thing is that he actually gave credit to MP.
I had to rub my eyes to make sure they were not deceiving me!
I agree with all your post actually but that excerpt was unique and I just wanted to make my inflammatory comment on it to keep the TBB Comments tradition going lol.
@ Steve:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Do they pimp AA cards in every post about traveling to Europe, since one of the best ways to maximize transatlantic travel is 40K off-peak rewards?
Yep, exactly. Hawking merchandise FIRST, readers are secondary…
I found the timing of Evolve posts strange, coming as they did (at the major blogs) after most of the payees had been shut out. I get my account unlocked when I prove that my 529 is legit. That’s all well and good; it’s not an urgent priority.
Will have further thoughts on this soon, if I manage to get around to arranging them.
Recent discussions of the (now gone) 100K BA Visa offer seem to cast the $30K companion ticket in a positive light, but for most middle-class families, I’m not convinced that it is. We may or may not be middle class, but I’m far from able to convince my wife that spending >$2K in taxes and fees on a reward ticket just for TATL business seats is a good bargain.
And that Alex Honnold story made my palms sweat. All stories on Alex do that to me.
Looking forward to your comments on Evolve. Life is getting to me I need to narrow my focus a bit 🙂
I always thought that BA companion ticket was ridiculous. Then again, if I had the $$$ of 5 commission apps in one day I would think it is no big deal and could make posts about it serving more of the same cards —-> more $$$. And round and round we go…
Have fun in Maui! Finally got my 7 tickets booked (same flight, even!), but we’re flying out of San Diego. Oh well.
You managed 7 awards seats in the same flights? Wow, that’s impressive. We are going there in early April. Can’t wait to get out of Dodge, it’s been a rough winter!
TPG posted about the 100k BA Visa today — after the offer had already been pulled. Called out on it in the comments what did HE do? He pulled the post. Like it Never. Even. Happened.
It has happened before. I think he is traveling. I wonder what the staff is doing all day long…
VFTW discovers that DL has great business class award space to Europe for the fall. Shouldn’t DeltaPoints have been all over that, discovered it, and have been first to publish?
Why ask why…Bud Dry 🙂
Read some previous blog posts. I went after all these guys in the body of my posts for over a year. DP was mentioned here almost daily. I now just put them all in my “Blogs I Ignore” list’.
DP: I know you read me. Get Lisa to at least proof read your posts…please! You ‘re welcome. Chase sucks 🙂
Speaking of proof reading – I called out one of the guys from upgrd for not proof reading. He called something a “hostel” takeover twice – once in the body of the article and once in the comments. I mean come on. We’re not talking about a bunch of douche-bros checking into a hostel in Barcelona. It was hilarious and enough for me to put that on my own blogs to ignore list. But yea DP is the worst when it comes to proof reading. Hobby or not, take some pride in the misinformation / credit-card shilling you engage in.
I go over the post several times and catch/correct the mistakes. When I am done late at night last thing I do on my bed is going over the post. If I catch a mistake…I can’t sleep. I go downstairs to my home office and fix it.
DP has dyslexia. Due to this I think readers will be better served if another set of eyes goes over the post and corrects the obvious mistakes.
Last I checked it was proofreading:)
pickypicky 😉
Is anyone else creeped out by the fact that in the rookie wednesday post, DP has hearts around his “Point cards” link?
I’m more creeped out by his link to the Delta Amex in his Discover It post. And that he shills the Starwood Amex, as though the best thing to do with Starwood points is transfer them to Delta.
George, could you stop putting shameless Amazon plug in the first paragraph of each posts? I know it earns you a million drachmas daily, but your landing page looks like one big shill:
http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/644/8657384837.png
You might as well do away with the landing page!
Wow, thanks a lot for that jpg. I did not realize it looked like that because I almost never go to that landing page (I know, I know). I need to change my routine and placing of my shameless marketing plugs 🙂 Wow, if I had landed on that page I would run away…this will be fixed!
Same here. I never noticed due to only clicking though twitter.
It looks so shameless!
Fixed it. Attribute it to dumb mistake and not pumping tendencies/losing credibility for dinero 🙂
I’m with you, George–there’s been a shortage of points/miles/bank stuff in the last week or so. Maybe the snow’s got marketing departments delaying stuff until next week?
British Airways 100k offer coming back and going (and some bloggers writing about it even though they didn’t get a commission!), Etihad honoring its mistake fare, cheap business class to South America, Delta releasing tons of business class awards to Europe, Lufthansa releasing first class awards to and from Canada, And Lucky flew somewhere. Not the busiest week either, but not for nothing.
The BA offer is for two years. And I have already gotten 200k out of it so I am not that interested 🙂 Tried to get it again but Chase shut me down…
I am not going to Sri Lanka to pay money to fly business class, I don’t care what airline it is.
Why pay for business class tickets to South America when I have no time and too many miles 🙂
I am not paying an arm and a leg to fly LH First class and still need to get to/back from Canada!
Lucky is always flying, what’s new 🙂
I blog what comes to me and I post stuff that every one must know and/or I think is a MUST know (i.e, Evolve Money from this one post). I just make it up as I go along actually. Are you entertained, learn something or sometimes get inspired? If yes, this is what I am trying to do…
Really, I can’t believe I am still here blogging away! It’s crazy and it fits me I guess lol.
Whatever became of Ramsey?
I think he posts under different handles these days…