We whine about the end of Redbirds, take some shots at bloggers just like the old times, we vent a rant towards Club Carlson hits, watch in awe HD footage from Berlin in 1945, we visit awesome hotels and landmarks, learn some life lessons, read about Retirement reality, and shake our heads in unison about some really strange world records.
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
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I let a day go by and then all hell breaks loose. This is going to be a little longer than expected, getting back to the roots lol.
It is finally here. No more loading Redbird by credit cards. TBB predicted this so many months ago it is quite embarrassing actually! This could not go on just like the Club Carlson free night award, both lasted much longer than anticipated. Still, when deals die is like a knife in the back taking our inherent from birth right to travel hack hehe. Since I saw this happening I never switched my Bluebird cards to make them Red. I guess I am way too lazy (or busy?) these days to mess around with the potential customer service hassles of switching these babies around. So, good luck to all those who may be switching back…you may well need it! One of the huge downsides of this hobby is getting stuck in an endless loop of customer service hell…I freak out at the thought actually! Anyways, it appears the memo is indeed correct and no rumors. Dans Deals broke the bad news in the blogs.
If you are upset please take it out on the miles/points bloggers out there who never stopped blogging about Redbird! I tweeted this earlier on Tuesday “The fact that so many bloggers can not stop blogging about all kinds of birds has absolutely nothing to do with the “birding” hobby #ouch” and I meant every one of the 140 characters in it 😉 What is ridiculous is that several Titan bloggers felt obliged to let us know about this when the last time they were in a Wal Mart or Target were back in the days before they discovered the credit card affiliate income! But hey, it is good for clicks! But make no mistake, the more this “weird” activity is blogged about it contributes to faster killing! At the same time this is da Internet age and information will be blogged out loud. My beef with this has always been this: Some of these bloggers out there are definitely NOT experts but portray themselves to be experts in all miles/points and now the kewl MS (Manufactured Spend) only to attract eyeballs to their blogs and then convert them with a hideous attack of credit card affiliate links. But I am not done yet. This is indeed some type of “craft” (channeling my inner Marathon Man now lol) that should be practiced by a certain type of individual who has “it”. The vast majority of people out there do not have “it”. This “it” can be honed after practice and learning/reading in obscure threads in Flyertalk and Saverocity forums. I cringe and feel sorry for newbies who come along a Titan blog post about Redbirding and then get beaten up/mauled. Ya know, just like getting travel rewards credit cards seven at a time when you are only looking for a cash back card! (The reader who guesses correctly the blog with this “responsible” practice wins a lollipop!). I could go on but we have lots of ground to cover. Like I don’t have better things to do…working hard for your two clicks lol.
You should read Mile Nerd every day. He had a Manic Monday post with the promos you need to know, always a quick read. That Chase Ink Plus for 60k Ultimate Reward points is a good one in case you have not had it before (or you have closed it for 24 months that is). You can even get in branch and save the annual $95 fee the first year! Mile Nerd followed the manic post with another longer rant-ish post about this hobby, level 201.
Mrs. TBB got the Citi Premier card too! Citi takes their time to actually mail the card. The packaging it comes in is pretty impressive! We get our cards in the best place in the galaxy! #hint #lookatthattababove!
Travel is Free shows you how to book stopovers with miles online.
I need to let my anger flow out here. Listen Club Carlson, your hotels were always a step (or two) below what we can get elsewhere. But your generous program put you on the map and you were part of our decision and yes the free award night was a major reason for it. You never really gave any meaningful benefits to your Gold elites. The vast majority of the lower level properties were dogs. Treatment was so uneven we just could not count on anything. No shock you did you away with the free award night, we all expected it…months ago. But then you had the audacity to hit us with another painful category devaluation, seriously? Your decent Radisson Blu properties are now 70,000 points for ONE night, exsqueeze me? So yeah your program NEEDED to be generous and STILL does. But the writing is on the wall, you are just not up to the competition comparatively speaking. Ok, I feel better. Can anyone recommend a hotel that can combine with EASY award flights during very limited dates (due to school schedules) to start burning me about 500,000 Club Carlson points #facepalm #happensalotwithme
Now a collection of Club Carlson posts:
Club Carlson 2015 Award Category Changes (Read It And Weep)Â –Â Loyalty Lobby
Dear Club Carlson: It’s not Me, It’s You – The Deal Mommy     Deal Mommy says to Club Carslon: “But your abrupt change in personality leaves me cold.” Oh I so agree!
MASSIVE Club Carlson devaluation decimates European redemptions – Head for Points     Yeah, Europe (the only continent with plenty of the better properties that were great values) was decimated, up about #40% ouch!
Remarkable HD Footage of Berlin from July 1945 – Twisted Sifter    This is a must watch video. I have never seen scenes like this right after the end of the war. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
50 incredible hotels you should sleep in during your lifetime      Many of these have appeared here before. As an aspiring Titan if you can help me get there I will do a trip report for you hehe. RELAX, sit down, BREATHE! Just kidding about the Titan thingie all right?
These Mad Men-era posters will make you long for the glory days of flying    These are awesome and beautiful and other nice things.
There’s a bridge in Japan that’s so steep, it looks more like a rollercoaster – Lost at E. Minor     Wow, crazy!
 Incredible aerial pictures of the world’s great landmarks – Matador Network  Â
7 Important Life Lessons Everyone Learns the Hard Way – Marc and Angel Hack Life    Not much about our kind of hacking but this may help someone. If it does remember to come back and go mad clicking on our links lol. I can see Delta Points now fuming how I am pumping in EVERY post…I wonder where is the troll these days anyways. I miss you…not!
18 Behaviors of Emotionally Intelligent People – Inc.    Great read! I need to work on that caffeine intake issue…
Retirement Reality: 8 Charts You Need to See – Retirement Cheat Sheet    Excellent.
‘Misery’ in America is at a 56-year low    Yeah, stop whining.
39 of the strangest world records ever set    Wow, talk about weird!
Apparently the Silvercar rent an Audi car company is now pricing them at $39 per day in May. You can email me or Direct Message me for a referral if you need one. For the person I was referred to…hang on, one day I will rent one and you will get your $25!
And we end with a collection of funny pics for your entertainment of course as always!
TBB
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Yippeeeeeeeeee!
I share your enthusiasm! It’s a fantastic resume builder! Put me down as reference 🙂
I know we like to think highly of ourselves but I’m fairly confident that our little hobby (or big hobby) did not contribute to the demise of credit card loads for RedCard. Trust me that the ability to load cash easily from a credit card was not lost on more nefarious types.
Yeah it’s the scammers, sure. But my point is that this activity piles it on which increases the number of times a “manager” may be bothered to deal with one of them suspicious looking hobbyists hawking yet another cash register unloading 😉
Stil third, don’t know when I will be #1
Never give up!
I never switched from blue to red either. Just seemed like it might be short lived so why all the hassle to change? Lasted longer than I thought too!
Agreed!
“I used to be with ‘it’. Then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’. And what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to you!” -Abraham Simpson
It is an awesome quote!
One of my favorite Grandpa Simpson quotes, right up there with the story about the time he took the ferry to Shelbyville.
Never switched to red either. Knew this would happen. No big surprise.
Just read a comment at Frequent Miler where a poster said having to switch back to Bluebird sucks. And I smiled 🙂
Not sure why people have to switch back to blue. You can redeem gift cards still and cashiers don’t bat an eye. And you don’t have to go to f-ing walmart. That alone makes it worth keeping.
What are you talking about? I have been blogging about red birds, blue birds and birds of all colours all along, and I have no intention of stopping! :p
That bridge in Japan would totally freak me out, made me queasy just to look at it!
I’m really glad I burned most of my Club Carlson points last year, those trips would have been impossible without the Visa free night. I knew something like this was coming so I went on a point-burning binge. I’m down to one last hotel program – IHG for the Chase annual free ($49) night, most hotel programs just aren’t worth it anymore.
Yeah hotel programs are just not what they used to be…darn economy is primarily responsible 🙂
The switch between AmEx prepaid cards is usually seamless. Sometimes it takes a 10min phone call. You missed out on a couple years of Serve loads (~$24K-$36K+) and/or $30K+ of fee-free credit loads at Target. The only benefit you had over those that switched? Paper checks. And today RedBird is still superior, as it takes Vanilla….for now.
Still depends on convenience and If you’re in the right states!