We learn about minors flying alone, get into detail about the Chase Ultimate Rewards cards, burn JetBlue points to Cuba, more on the Ritz Carlton card, talk about rumors regarding the Intercontinental Hotels Group, shoot the breeze with some stuff about hikes and North Korean Viagra and bring you the best Buzzing section where I find myself losing it only to educate and a lot more stuff for YOU, because you remain #1 here. Thank you!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
I agree that Intercontinental Hotels Group will be the next one to be consolidated. 5 Reasons Why Intercontinental Hotels Group is Ripe for an Acquisition.
Another good analysis of the new Ritz Carlton credit card offer. I am passing on it as well. Of course all the pumping bloggers are going crazy about it because…it HELPS SALES!
I asked for some help on Twitter about this:
I want to get a RT plane ticket (with miles of course) for my friend’s daughter to visit us FROM Greece. She is 16 years old. Can I just book the ticket as I normally do? Or do I have to deal with accompanying minor fees crap? Is there a certain age it applies for international trips or does it depend by airlines?
It appears we are going to be okay. I think I will have her parents do this consent letter and notarize it in English just in case she is asked about it. And thanks to reader GringoLoco for forwarding to me this excellent website to sort out your unique situations regarding passports, visas and health regulations needed for the place you plan to travel to.
Scott McCartney’s column in the Wall Street Journal are always a great read. The latest one is titled: “American, Delta and United mirror one another on perks like Wi-Fi— as well as on fees and seat squeeze” and here are these telling quotes from it:
The big three airlines have dissolved into one big homogeneous blob,” says industry analyst Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel-industry survey and consulting firm.
“I feel like it’s a race to the bottom. One airline says we can give passengers less by doing X and others say, that’s a great idea,” says frequent traveler Dave Grossman, founder and chief executive of a New York-based medical-technology company who has flown all three of the airlines this year. “It doesn’t seem like any of them wants to stand out in a meaningful way.”
To my surprise, I found out on Twitter that a colleague of mine, founder of one of the most successful wealth management firms in the US, sold everything and is traveling around the US in a 19 food travel trailer. A Vagabond Life.
Check out this amazing 1800 year old mural discovered in Cyprus, wow!
10 American day hikes with incredible scenery.
Breaking News! North Korea has developed its own Viagra!
Personal Finance post of the day: Why even the best investing advice may be wrong. Please, do NOT rely on gurus, they don’t have to live with the consequences of getting calls wrong…but you do!
Stars and storms in Kasnas, Finland
The animals that live the longest. I could be tricking you with sneaky affiliate links but I prefer to educate. 507 years, amazing! In the process I learn too!#winning
BLOG BUZZ
Note: This section is geared to more advanced travel hacking enthusiasts!
In yet another stab this hobby can endure, it appears Citibank now limits us to one signing bonus every 24 months PER BRAND. This is the revenge the banks are taking against these weird churner people who keep bragging how many free miles and points can earn. Oh wait, it’s bloggers who keep doing that… Basket weaving hobby is closer now!
This is a pretty good rundown of a very sensible strategy regarding Chase’s Ultimate Rewards card ecosystem.
The Lazy Traveler discovers some good value in the JetBlue program. Cuba anyone? I hear some of you may have some points to burn in this program lately 😉
Flying Blue miles in the Pacific. Two words for you: Air Calin.
The pimpiest post of the day goes to: 21 Things I Love About the CSP card. Wow, just wow…just 21? I mean, for any newbies who happen to read this far into the post, it is ALL about SALES/CONVERSIONS in case you have not figured it out by now.
There went my breakfast, it was a mess!
Some have no shame, speechless!
I was asked why I do not call out the former Delta Points blog here…The reason is I was so traumatized when I visited it after a year and looked into his post about reviewing a turkey sandwich aboard Delta that I still can’t get over it #forreal Thank you for your concern about my safety, I really appreciate it!
Thank you to the reader who got a Capital One Venture Rewards card. I think the CSP would have been better 🙂
And I leave you with this…
Please help bloggers you appreciate & make a positive difference in your life by spreading the word about their blogs, emailing and commenting and using their few $ links, thank you!
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TBB
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First?!
Et tu, Citi?
Why couldn’t it be US Bank or…Comenity? Lol
Nice work on Twitter! I just saw gl’s 21 reasons…and I immediately had an u co trolled spell of swearing and yelling. Not the best of things at 05:00.
Doing this at 5.00 is NOT recommended 😉
Congrats to the medal winners.
May I assume you all are clean? No doping?
Not only clean, but I had read your post first. 🙂
There is the immortal Jellyfish too. It can live yet MMS is going to die. And my selection of Economy class and therefore choosing Suffering has yet again been justified.
Don’t be angry, get even.
Going to see client in the Thumb area of Michigan and also visit the world famous Cheeseburger Festival, I will have one or two for you, they are BIG!
Well its not anger, its a prediction. The first one came thru when MMS sold. Next, money will be missing and corporations like to eat and are always hungry for more. There won’t be enough to deliver , so there will be changes. Can TPG, FTG, and MMS coexist when there is not enough to deliver, to feed? My reaction is sadness as I had a big closing Citicard wave in 2015, so the time clock is about 12 months from bonuses that will not happen. But guess what, I’ll be getting Citi Gold Master and Hilton Reserve. Call it Despair. You enjoy cheeseburgers 🙂
Never underestimate the numbers of people who never had a CSP card out there!
Pretty soon we will have TPG and interns having booths in your local church, subway station or medical dispensary 🙂
Nice, a bright future I’m looking forward to. I would like to pick up a CSP from TPG at 7 11. By the way, Gold and Reserve may not be not a good strategy as I figured on my bike ride today. I will close AA Platinum and will ride out the next two years with my 300k+ balances in both Hilton and AA and supporting travels using other larger balances too. Next I can try the best offer in 2 years hopefully being Executive 100k. I will also be betting on Barclay as the 10% back of 100k is significant. There is a need to evolve, so I’m figuring out the strategy…
I see a thread started in the TB forum FlyerTalk on closing the EM&PR forum because, I guess, it offends the sensibilities by speaking negatively of business operated by someone’s friends and former FT big-wigs.
Seems funny it came about right after Randy Petersen did another drive-by post in the EM&PR forum complaining about complaining. Too bad RP doesn’t put as much effort into shaping up the shoddy practices on BA.
It would be great if a strong stand was taken against such practices ( you know, not justifying them because blogs are not a charity or some other pathetic excuse), plagiarism, etc…but then again, that would hurt page views, the main business of these ventures
When that ex-BA guy plagiarized me, Randy thought I was in the wrong for calling him out on it publicly.
That’s messed up. Randy strikes me as a very odd fellow.
Page views
I think this is the site you wanted to link to on passports/visas, etc.? You’ve got the cpb site linked twice.
http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/travelinformation.php#
The tool has saved the bacon of many people I know down here — lots of strange visa requirements even in transit for some countries when your passport is from Nicaragua or Colombia or Venezuela.
The airlines use (or did use?) TIMATIC to check visa requirements and it draws from the IATA database (or did?)…
Fixed now, thanks a lot!
I leave the link testing for the very end. Which is usually dangerous after drinking wine and watching the Olympics 🙂
looks like amex is sending out MR card offers without 1 per lifetime language. got Plat and BizGold 75k.
Good to know,thanks!
Just closed my Barclaycard Arrival Plus card
Wait 6 months? Pedro?
Will Citi product change reset the 24 month rule?
Pedro?
No clue with Citi and product changes. Sorry.
6 months from previous application. So you can probably reapply today if you got it last year.
Need to factor in the Sapphire Reserve card…apps for the familia 🙂
It is time for Pedro to make an appearance with an optimistic view of the Hobby while I am contemplating to pick up basket weaving or….wait a minute…., Drone racing!
TPG is looking for interns in NYC to work for $20 an hour…requirement: know how to link to affiliate credit card offers, woohoo!
2016 is my best year through 2/3 of it, hopefully a strong finish to top 2014 and 2015. I am not complaining as Chase started to approve me again, go figure. Amex sent 75k Plat and Gold offers w/o language my way, got Ameriprise, Gold, Green at 25k. BoA and Barclays are still good, so is Cap1… Pretty good year my man
Cheers,
PedroNY
Just saw the headline in MMS’s Friday interview…Can’t believe bloggers still pander to get in on that one to get some clicks back while the interns pepper it with the same credit cards he is always selling…
Probably is the quickest way to get in on my NOT eclectic side of what I do around here.
We all make mistakes…
I just never did one and I am proud of it. My Alexa rankings are not but who gives a flying crapiola about these numbers anyway, woohoo!
donde es pedro ?
Kayaking
What happened to turning the blog over to readers on Saturdays?
Totally forgot about it!
Maybe I do this one Saturday per month?
I just felt I need a break on Saturdays man…
Spent the whole day in Caseville, Michigan. Where Sprint does not have coverage! I survived it and liked it!
I am back!
Hey I wrote a song about the elections and have a pretty nice recording of it.
How do I get it out to the public?
I have no idea! I got your email and will listen to it later on Sunday. And will ask my friend who lives and breathes music, the dude who did the guest post here some time ago on music economics, he should know.
Mike-
Why not start right here?
Sunday morning let her fly.
I like to think everything starts here! 🙂
I just need to get the final mix mastered and into an mp3 file.
Then I could post a dropbox link, right?
See above and email very late tonight if I get a response.