We laugh at credit cards that do not exist yet but should, get you free FlexPerks points & an Uber ride, visit Barcelona to check out the slowest construction ever, The Sagrada Familia, & review an article “Can Airlines Make Money?” & more!
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Personal Finance Digest has a really fun post about credit cards that don’t exist (but should). Such as: beer affinity card, political card, Catholic Church card, etc. You forgot this one, oh wait, it exists!
Free $30 for first time Uber uses with Chase For new users. Maybe you can get your mother in law a free ride, no?
Can Airlines Make Money by Priceonomics. One of the best articles on the subject I have read, I think it is a must read! Here are some excerpts:
- Six major airlines went through bankruptcy in the 2000s, and from 1979 to 2014, airlines lost $35 billion.
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For years, the dismal prospects of flying people around the world has been almost cliche. Until this past year, when airlines started making record profits. It’s unclear how you should feel about that.
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Today, deregulation is generally viewed as a success. Fares dropped, ridership increased, and airlines developed the hub and spoke system…The real surprise of deregulation, however, is that few to no airlines were able to make a consistent profit. The airline industry has never enjoyed a stretch of profitability that lasted longer than 6 years. Overall, the industry has lost $35 billion since deregulation.
- “…The only harder thing to start up than an airline is a nuclear plant.”
- Over the last decade, the number of major airlines, who control 85% of domestic traffic, has decreased from nine to four.
- No one has technology that the others lack, and frequent flier miles, blue potato chips, and friendly staff do not differentiate airlines enough to overcome the fact that price is the only metric most customers care about. As Peter Thiel implies in Zero To One, this is why airlines are not monopolists—they are businesses whose profits are competed out of existence.
- The debate is slightly less hypothetical, however, because airlines are now enjoying record profits. If you believe airline CEOs, the profits are here to stay.
- According to executives, airlines have entered a new age of profitability. The International Air Transport Association estimates that airlines globally will make $29.3 billion in 2015. That’s nearly twice its 2014 profits, and North American airlines made half of that $29 billion. Executives sound cautiously bullish.
- In 2015, dropping fuel prices saved airlines $35 billion—more than global profits—compared to the previous year.
- Given historically precedent, however, the next disaster or recession that sends fuel prices up or demand for air travel down could put the industry in the red.
- In search of profits, airlines spent the last ten turbulent years, and the last 3 decades since deregulation, cutting back on flights to smaller markets and focusing on profit centers like New York, Washington, and their regional hubs.
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The airlines may have finally found profits, and even achieved sustainability. Yet 37 years after the government deregulated the industry so that we could benefit from the wonders of competition, airlines have only achieved no-bailouts levels of profitability by monopolizing airports and stranding half the country. In other words, we wanted cheap flights. Instead we got baggage fees and connections through Houston. [bold font is mine for emphasis, LOL because it hurts to cry]
Well, I hope the above was educational. If not, maybe this graph can explain it a little better. Time will tell but I am sensing AA CEO Doug Parker will have the last laugh. Brace yourselves for the news of the “enhanced” AA award chart dropping soon! Let me know what other hobbies you are looking at okay? #sosad
Okay, it’s Sunday and the above link took a lot of space here. I thought briefly about doing the monthly support TBB post but I decided against it at the last minute and spent the time to produce this instead. Just one more link before I let you guys play outside.
The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is finally almost done, hooray! Hey, it only took 130 years. Only Greeks can work slower than them Spaniards lol.
Okay, one more. Because it would be a crime not to laugh as you are about to leave my site…
Thinking of going in for the Prestige card to get two $250 airline credits & the 50,000 ThankYou points. With $$ from me being First in a long time with my own Credit Card links this could work out nicely. But having both this one and that Platinum card makes me feel like an entitled Titan. Any valid arguments not to? Any rumors this one will go to 75k or 100k perhaps? 🙂
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Sam says
Even on Sunday, first smells great.
TravelBloggerBuzz says
I am always first at my local Panera each morning, first coffee does indeed smell great!
Nick @ Personal Finance Digest says
El Segundo, CA.
If Citi ever does go to 75/100K on those cards, it would probably be in the next month or two. They always seem to do an increased bonus at the end of the year on at least one of their cards to goose their year-end numbers a bit. Of course, they’ve had a pretty good year, so they may not need to this time.
TravelBloggerBuzz says
Been going in my mind back and forth on this the whole weekend. I am now veering towards waiting. Reason is I have some Centurion lounge visits in the next month and a stay in a SPG property in February where they always take care of me as a lowly Gold. So….looks like I am taking a chance and banking (pun intended) on a higher bonus. A $450 fee with a lowly 50k signing bonus seems so wrong. Then again, Amex has had an official 40k bonus for so long…
I love how Citi has become so much more competitive lately!
harvson3 says
Warning about the prestige card: their search engine for flights is terrible. Really terrible. It may be hard to get 1.6 cents value out of each point.
TravelBloggerBuzz says
See message above. Decided to stay in the sidelines and to wait for a higher bonus. I think I am all set for them airline credits for a while anyway. Wondering if they use the same engine Delta used to (and mostly still do)? Lol
Mike says
The Citi Prestige card, that is for AA miles isn’t it ?
Buzz, that was a great post on the airlines ! Thanks for that.
Keep up the good work, we appreciate it.
TravelBloggerBuzz says
Citi Prestige is for 50k ThankYou points. Having this card, it allows you to use the the ThankYou Network search engine and redeem your ThankYou points for 1.6 cents per point on AA flights. Which is a pretty good redemption IF you can get the search engine to work properly because it SUCKS as harvson3 indicated above.
The airline article: Yeah, it was awesome, thank you 🙂 Showed the history of the economics in this industry. I think the profits are here to stay and outlooks is cloudy to gloomy for The Hobby. But then again, shit happens you know. Unforeseen events like 911 (knock on wood!) or, at some point, a real recession will hit and then we ‘ll see if these airlines go back to their old ways. I think they mostly won’t #sosad
Too Nashty says
I’m waiting until early December to get 3 years travel credits out of it, along with a few Ameraprise Plats.
TravelBloggerBuzz says
Look into that Prestige “year” a little more, it is not calendar year…I think it is “December to December” statement, meaning you should get it now to hit the December statement and then you have many months to do the second $250 in 2016. Or I got it completely wrong.
Everyday card coming for 25k MR points…to preserve them points 😉
BC says
I believe Warren Buffet said that airlines have never made any money. Looking at your analysis… I think you’re right.
The fastest way to become a millionaire? Wake up as a billionaire and start an airline.