New AMEX Centurion Lounges, Hot Belarus, Delta Screws Skymiles Members, End of Bumps

We bring you news of new AMEX Centurion lounges, visit hot Belarus, how Delta screws Skymiles members again, we are near the end of bumps, we alert you on how Amex wants less customers, the best places to work, visit Thessaloniki, learn about fake influencer BS, remember President 41 and much more than it should appear here to justify the 79 cents the blog brought in yesterday, sad!

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More details on this new lounge: Amex to open its first Centurion Lounge in Europe – at Heathrow Terminal 3.

More details on Royal Air Maroc joining OneWorld: New Avios partner coming: Royal Air Maroc is joining the oneworld alliance. It is always nice to have a new continent of course, actually Oneworld will gain “34 new destinations and a surprising 21 additional countries.”

If you were interested to visit Belarus, you should read this: 12 Places to Visit in Belarus – Europe’s Hottest Emerging Destination.

Since we are onto emerging destinations in Europe, how about this? Why the Greek city of Thessaloniki needs to be on your radar.

Holy crap, this is how much “influencers” make, wow! How and why do influencers make so much money? The head of an influencer agency explains. When I hear the world influencer…first thing that comes to mind is…FAKE!

A micro-influencer, which is someone that has 10,000 to 50,000 followers, is actually pretty valuable. They used to only pick up a couple hundred bucks, but today, they get a minimum of a few thousands dollars a post. Influencers with up to 1 million followers can get $10,000 [per post], depending on the platform, and 1 million followers and up, you’re getting into territory where they can charge $100,000. Some can even get $250,000 for a post! Especially if the content is on Youtube and the influencer is in the gaming industry. People with smaller followings [who are known as nanoinfluencers] can make between $30,000 and $60,000 a year. The micro-influencers can make anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000. Celeb influencers make way, way more. [WTF!!!!! am I doing here you guys? Sad!]

Very interesting list: The 100 best places to work in 2019, according to Glassdoor. Some of them I never heard of! Surprised to see In-N-Out at #3. And surprised to see Facebook down to #7. I wonder if they give free surgeries to employees of “Intuitive Surgical” lol.

1. Bain & Co.
2. Zoom Video Communications
3. In-N-Out Burger
4. Procore Technologies
5. Boston Consulting Group
6. LinkedIn
7. Facebook
8. Google
9. Lululemon
10. Southwest Airlines
11. Salesforce
12. Intuitive Surgical
13. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
14. Slalom
15. Power Home Remodeling
16. HubSpot
17. DocuSign
18. Ultimate Software
19. McKinsey & Company
20. Paylocity

For some reason I can not put my finger on…I got emotional in several moments during the tributes to the 41st President of the United States. I absolutely did not agree with the Bush politics. But, you know, looking back…I see GHW Bush maneuvering the end of the Cold War as one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of mankind! And his genuine kindness, sense of decency and service to the country were unparalleled. And of course the devotion to his family as well. Maybe I have missed putting country over partisan politics in the current toxic political environment, I am not sure. I will forever remember Bod Dole giving him a salute standing up from his wheelchair! And then this: George W. Bush’s emotional eulogy for his father ended with words about his mother..

This is just amazing! Guy Connects 9 Small Planes by Their Wings and Creates a Giant ‘Flexwing’.

LOL attack! Police Release A ‘Wanted’ Post On Facebook, The Guy Himself Responds And They Have A Hilarious Conversation. Hope they gave this guy a break…just because of his sense of humor!

Your personal finance fix: Grab the Roadmap. Must read on the importance of starting to invest EARLY. I have a saying I use in my regular day job, you know, the one that pays because this gig as a blogger certainly does not, woohoo! “The more, the earlier (you invest), the better”. Very important message for younger folks starting out! Be like Sam, not like Frank 🙂

Great info, we are going all in on fulfilling the “Educate” part of my blog’s mission today! Visualizing American Income Levels by Age Group.

Approximately 21 million people in the U.S. workforce earn over $100K. Here’s how they break down by age.

There are two commonly held beliefs around income and age:

1) Earning trajectory is largely determined by the time a person is 35-years-old
2) Income is positively correlated with age

The majority of people in the work force make their greatest income strides between the ages of 30 and 35, with median income jumping by 26% during that short time-frame.

After the age of 35, the percentage of people earning $50K or more is surprisingly consistent until retirement age, hovering between 42% and 48%.

Lets get some people angry next. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is an organization that has some, how shall I put this, controversial practices…to say the least! Do I disagree with some of their tactics? Hell yes! Do I disagree with what they stand for? Hell no! So, their latest one is this…I expect hateful comments lol.

Of course it was going to be Delta Airlines to introduce Basic Economy Awards. You don’t win the top prize for Best Loyalty Airline Program at the The Points Guy awards for no reason, LOL. Can’t wait for TPG to raise the valuation of SkyMiles again, bwahahahaha.

American Airlines added two more airlines to its online award search engine. Nobody cares about Cape Air but S7 Airlines could come useful if Russia is on your mind. AA is keeping its word to keep adding them, wow.

Amex is just getting ridiculous out there! With the continuing bank restrictions, is there any wonder this hobby is just not what it used to be? No wonder Mile Nerd is ending his run…it’s just tough to keep going. Unless, and I don’t wish this…okay, I do for my self serving entitled purpose to travel for free, sad! Check this out: A Closer Look at Recent Tightening in Consumer Credit. Just getting tough out there and we who have been around the churning blocks….may be wanted again. Soon…THE SOONER THE BETTER…lol!

The latest survey shows a decline in application rates for credit over the previous twelve months, and an increase in rejection rates in 2018, compared with 2017.

As I was saying about AMEX you guys…I am getting ready to file my first CPFB complaint! If they are going to pull this bait and switch crap…why even bother with this company in the future? #disgusted.

If you needed yet another reason to be pissed off at Amex, well, here is another one: American Express Requests Bank Account Access During Credit Card Application. I am getting visibly very pissed off at these guys. I depleted my MR points but Mrs. TBB has about 200k left. I was thinking son may go for a Platinum card but there is no way in hell he would get the bonus it appears. Maybe it is a bank to let go…it is you Amex, it is not us.

Lets pray for the good times to return again…before we have to find another hobby. Which may actually be healthier you know. Like running 🙂

No, we are not over with the hits! Now getting bumps is one of those things in the good old days. From a WSJ article yesterday titled “The Push to End Bumping Passengers From Flights” I found this gem below and I am ready to cry:

The number of passengers denied boarding by U.S. airlines was down 69% in the first nine months of this year compared with the same months in 2017, not counting their regional partners. Bumping at United, Delta and JetBlue each was down more than 96% compared with last year. United says it had two months this fall when it involuntarily bumped only six people out of 30 million.

Each post at Million Mile Secrets is getting so ridiculous pumping plastic away I almost vomit…every time, wow! “~$35,000 Worth of Travel for JUST $184: Two Round-Trip Cathay Pacific First Class Flights & a Free Stay at The Ritz Carlton Hong-Kong (My Best Redemption Ever!)”———->Proceed to vomit!

Is One Mile at a Time leaving Boarding Area? Post #3566.

And I leave you with this…Genius!

TBB
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