Lets go on a wild ride through the Vanilla Reloads possible demise at CVS stores, learn about Amex Upgrade Offers & Authorized Users, US Airways joins OneWorld, Award Mapper, travel to Greece, fly like Superman and other nonsense.
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The blogosphere has been abuzz about an infamous memo by someone supposedly working at the CVS headquarters informing store managers to only allow the sale of Vanilla Reload cards by (oh the horror) cash only. This is the memo:
Prompted some hilarious reactions on twitter:
@katruns26point2: The end is near
@PFDigest: Effective March 31, CVS will only accept livestock, strings of seashells, and other forms of barter for Vanilla Reloads.
@FlyerTalkerinA2: Look at the bright side… No more Emily pics at CVS holding them!
@FlyerTalkerinA2: Oh God please don’t abandon us! RT @katruns26point2: I’m at St. John the Divine church praying for VR
I used to have a client who worked at a CVS pharmacy who then moved to Walgreens. I can tell you the management quality and systems are like a night and day. CVS just does not implement well in general and computer systems and staff training are just not strong. I guess we will all find out tomorrow April 1st. If true, it may take a while to trickle down to all stores I hope. I am amazed this has lasted so long. I am done with my four Bluebird cards for April already because I had heard this was being discussed. I just did not realize these guys can move so fast. This may be the end of an era indeed…
I just requested $500 in cash back (as a statement credit) in my Blue Cash (old version) Amexcard and I was on track to do more. I will definitely miss making money using this 5% cash back on drugstores Vanilla Reloads. Ok, no need to hide it, I am crying over here. Thank you for your support in these difficult times…
Amol at Hack My Trip also had an interesting take on this whole Manufactured Spending space from the Walla.by founder who used to work at Green Dot. Very interesting views. If you think about it this whole loading money stuff can lead to some wild stuff. I am pretty sure the regulators will step in at some point with some heavy handed methods to stop the bad characters doing bad stuff. Unfortunately, it is going to affect us innocent capitalists taking advantage of our inherent right to travel for free or close to free 🙂
Frequent Miler wrote “How to find Amex Upgrade offers“. I was not aware of these offers. I may click around next time I am in my Amex account online.
Million Mile Secrets improved the amazingly boring trip reports by at least not repeating in the captions what he wrote before every pic. I guess that was too much to handle and then he proceeded to add not one but TWO sections titled “You can do it too!” to do what the site does so well—–>sell credit cards, what else!
Milenomics on some excellent advice in “Adding American Express Offers to Authorized User Accounts“.
United shuts down the Wandering Aramean useful tool. Great job ahole Smisek, we see you exceeding client expectations as usual.
Saverocity reviews Award Mapper, a very useful website for hotel award searches! TBB mentioned this site some time ago. Does this TBB guy miss anything? #jokepleaselaugh
Another big day today with US Air officially part of Oneworld alliance. Which means we can now book US Air flights with our British Airways Avios points, woohoo! Hack My Trip has the initial scoop on this and it appears domestic availability is already loaded in the BA award search engine, woohoo again! I may need to cancel my backup Southwest reservation for the Mile Madness DO in Charlotte now if I can get me direct flights on US Air using Avios from Detroit #goodtimes.
I usually call to get a retention offer on a credit card about ten to eleven months after I get the card. I forgot to do this on Mrs. TBB’s Amex PremierRewardsGold card. So when the annual fee of $175 hit the account I called determined to cancel. Amex offered a statement credit for $175 or 25,000 Membership Rewards points. Wow! Yes I took the points. Stupidly, I transferred 85k Membership Rewards points out to British Airways the day before. If I knew I would get this retention offer I would keep the MR points to wait for a transfer bonus or some immediate need that may come up. So…learn from my mistakes!
PFDigest wrote “The Delta Points Situation”. You wanna see something entertaining? Click to see the altered image with TBB deleted and the eleven arrows, take that MMS! I was anxiously waiting for the next fireplace interview (will the fireplace be there in the summer time?) but nobody showed up so Delta Points interviewed himself! Maybe I should interview myself here one day, I can use the content having no credit cards to pump daily!
49 Reasons to Love Greece. At Buzzfeed. I think they nailed it! Who am I to argue?
Panoramic Photos That Will Change Your View of the World. Wow!
If the Vanilla Reload situation proves to be a cruel joke I will be doing this!
This is what it will look like if Superman had a GoPro. Check out the video at Twisted Sifter.
The personal finance article of the day is this: Shut up already, it’s not 1929
And I leave you with this…
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs I Ignore
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George
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First!
Just got $1999.98 of VRs shortly before 10pm pacific (1am eastern on D Day). Now to find the 24-hour stores!
I second the second — at least for a second.
Now I know what four-thirds means…
If fraud is the real issue with VR’s, why do they allow any prepaid credit cards at all to be bought on a credit card? The answer is that they don’t lose money on those, because others largely don’t come in $500 increments, so their merchant services fees are covered by the activation fees. This is a dollars and cents issue, not a fraud issue.
Exactly. Fraud is just a convenient excuse.
@STEVE I like your Dealspin article on How To Book A Hotel Room For Someone Else Using Your Points/ thanks, NOOBITUP. C.R.
Thanks!
That hotel booking for others article was very good indeed but did not want to include both to prevent Steve from getting a big head…
So…you too are messing with me right? 🙂
Nope. I swear that I have no idea who Ramsey is. I can’t help if the articles are so good that, whoops, head starting to swell…
Sorry I thought I was talking to the other Steve
!.
Mondays are total insanity around here;-)
I thought Ramsey and the other Steve were messing with me….Will I be hearing voices now too? 🙂
Fifth.
Loved that photo of Times Square!
Happy April Fools Day to all you fine folks!
While I agree that the primary factor if the CVS change is true is cost/.benefit, I also wouldn’t dismiss the impact of fraud. It is easy for us, who (I think) are not typically involved in the credit card fraud world (other than as unlucky victims from time to time) to over look the magnitude of that game.
A couple of years ago, a friend had a credit card hit with a fraudulent charge. It turned out that the fraud charge derived from a swipe of her card into a scanner at an Asian restaurant in Longmont, Colorado, which is, let’s just say, not Las Vegas. After an investigation that took months, it was determined that three people had moved to Longmont from LA for the specific purpose of getting jobs at this small, local business so they could scan credit cards, get the numbers and make purchases using the phony cards they had made with customers’ valid cc numbers. Totals ran into mid 6 digits last I read.
Think about it-three people come 1,000 miles to work in a small diner-type place to get cc numbers. Then think about what folks like this could do with GCs.
I’ve never been to Greece. Is the water really that blue, or are all these photos I see enhanced?
Many visitors ask themselves that question. Dionysus returns every summer with a boatload of norther European visitors resulting in a short period of intense partying. Most are lucky to return in a reasonable healthy state. They look at their vacation photos and wonder what really happened. Was the water really that blue? In most cases it’s the melange speaking.
@ Shaun: Congrats, it’s a special group you belong to now 😉
@ Amol: You sound like that CNN reporter reporting from the latest weather related disaster 😉
@ Brian: Lol, very funny. Got your email, too busy this week.
@ Steve and Paul: We don’t know the exact economics behind this practice. Of course it makes them money selling them somehow, otherwise why would they be doing it for so long? But I think there comes a time that the frequency of high dollar amounts ($5k) raises eyebrows somewhere and the costs of dealing with it just overcome the profits. I think we may be at this point. The Walla.by guy makes a lot of sense. And I know for a fact that CVS quality of management is just not that strong as it is over at Walgreens. I must admit I stopped going to Walgreens and have been buying crap sometimes with VRs 🙂 Time will tell as always…
@ TWA44: Today is March 31, slow down 🙂
@ Sam: This reminds me the payday lending industry. The outcries became so heavy that it has now been very strongly regulated. I think we will be seeing more fraud related stories in the news in the near future, I am actually surprised we have not seen that many yet. Lets hope for the best. No doubt this CVS/VR/BB thing has been the best thing since sliced bread, errr, US Mint coins I mean 🙂
@ Nick: Yes, it is true, it is that blue! Only the water in Tahiti compared to it out of all the places I have been. But, full disclosure, I am a little biased 😉 Record number of tourists in 2013 in Greece about 18 million.
@ ABC: I am sure that is a contributing factor, hehe. I have done my share of partying with lovely blonde Scandinavian girls in my high school days…oh I really miss those days!
There is no need to rush, George. Take your time.
Hey all, I finally figured out the perfect video that exemplifies Rick. Rick is obviously older, but you get the gist. http://youtu.be/TnZiuruuXLA.
Please leave the Troll alone.Please.
Nothing mean spirited there at all.
That was funny but it is better not to instigate as it is clear a sense of humor may be missing 🙂
Why u so angry Scott? lol
Whenever I see Mcfadden I chuckle…
Oh I have a sense of humor, but not at the UNinitiated expense of people’s feelings. If they dish it out, I’ll give it back.
Scott as long as Steve is nice, I will be as well. Join him will ya? I didn’t look at the vivideo
Rick
Seriously, nothing mean about it.
I just downloaded 22 free Fodor city guides to my iPad. You can too:
http://fishing4deals.com/2014/03/31/2014-fodors-travel-guides-now-free-on-itunes/
I got them all, but was especially happy to see one city I already have tix for and a second that I may visit in the fall. Thanks, Fishing4Deals. Nice tip. I’m especially happy to have the interactive maps. In fact I think it is worth a few more minutes to get them onto my iPhone too.
Thanks for the heads up!
I don’t really care who wins that dumb and pointless award, but for the sake of hilarity, can we at least get a drive going to make sure you receive more votes than Delta Points?
Thanks. I don’t care for these things…I find whenever I try to self promote something for my gain i feel gun shy. I don’t know how other bloggers pump them affiliate links non stop.
On a second thought, my brother in law must have stopped using my Amazon link 🙂
Travel is Free has a solid article on suggestions for domestic award travel
Apparently “sign up for the 25K Southwest card [insert link]” didn’t make the cut
I marked that down for further review. Actually pretty busy in the blogosphere today for a Monday, not as much Chase link heavy as usual. LH Flyer in that Saverocity fiduciary blog post commented he heard from one of them affiliate types that to get (and keep) Chase links you need to have 150 apps per month…HOLY Mother of God! No wonder you see so much pumping!
As I can’t post the answer with my real name, my new handle for sensitive stuff is anonomouse.
The 150 number is way high
It’s high… but that’s what they require. Of course policies change, but right now they won’t even consider people under that number. 100% fo real.
Hitler learns about the end of the Vanilla Reload cards at CVS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHqXQ3GbFRg&list=UUCdOK_bdwbOhNdau7HIttqA
My really lame attempt to match the glory of that infamous Office Depot Hitler video. I found it not to be worthy of adding it to the body of a blog post but worthy for TBB comments.
It is intended for Satire only. And I do realize that Hitler was MEGA ahole and this has absolutely nothing to do with the unimaginable acts he committed. So, lighten up, okay?
I know I can do better…
Please be gentle, gracias
bravo! love the emily name dropping
Wow, congrats, that was great! I forgot about that Amolcold’s classic. I should try my hand at this.
I liked it and think you did a great job with it based on your known computer skills.Way more than I would have ever even attempted. Congratulations on the humor.
The best part about US Airways joining OneWorld is that it’s too big of a story to ignore today, but there’s no obvious way to tie in affiliate links for it (a few plugged the UR cards to talk about shorthaul awards from CLT or PHL, but at least they put some effort into their posts)
Heck, even MileValue and TPG put in a solid days work today. When was the last time we said that?
Only one blog/blogger chose to instead spend the day shamelessly plugging credit cards other than covering actual newsworthy topics.
I won’t name names, but he’s a frequent commenter on this blog
I think Lucky had an incredible blogging day today.
Hey, give a thumbs up, at least we got the link to the Benz card this time;-) And the content was fine compared to recent tries. (save the affiliate links…staff needs to get paid over there!).
The TPG post about the low cost airlines was good, he can afford to buy such content lol.
I haven’t visited MV’s site as two days ago that pic of him yawning on the flat bed has given me nightmares.
At the end of the day, this site is about entertainment! Some education too. Rarely, even inspiring!
End of the quarter tonight, tomorrow will be a SUPER huge day. Regular blog post in Danger!
What happened to the “Ignore” part of Blogs You Ignore? C’mon George!
I haven’t visited MV or TPG because what the heck’s the point?
I need to make it clear that I still follow the sites on my Ignore list purely based on the high journalistic ideals of what TBB stands for. I need to do it to make sure they still deserve to be there.
What I mean by ignore is not buying the product they are selling. I need to make it clear from now on. I need to edit the Ignore list and put this cautionary language on the very top!
I will get to it…one day
I disagree. He was not the only one. One blogger pimped the whole freaking portfolio on the US Airways post. The BA card, the UR cards, the Amex MR cards, and even the freaking SPG card…disgusting.
My previous post was not disagreeing with George but with Steve.
Agreed with what George said.
Apologies Chris if I missed someone as I don’t visit every blog every day
I went under the assumption that if even TPG and MV can string together a few respectable posts on the matter, than everybody did.
Which blog/blogger, other than the one that thought the most pressing topic of the day was “Here are the results of my latest app-o-rama” mailed in their effort today?
I won’t name the blogger for decency, I’d just say that it’s one of those BA ones.
Breaking News…APRIL 1ST VANILLA RELOAD UPDATE PORTLAND OREGON, News Flash VR situation unchanged here in Portland Oregon, we still DO NOT have CVS stores here.
Buzz Those beaches in Greece are magnificent! Now if the can only do something about the guys in thongs.
18.4 lbs down today! I think I need to get my Speedo out soon hehe
Now the rest of the miles and points peeps can see how we live.
Hey George, someone at F2B has pulled an April Fools Day joke at your expense! LOL! I’m glad you finally got some credit card links!
I just checked my affiliate website, that Carnival card is making a killing! 🙂
Almost fell off my bed reading that you’d joined F2B!
In other news, I think I am the only reader who attended the 2013 Frequent Business Traveler’s Globerunner Award ceremony. Actually I won 2 ‘seats’ to the ceremony on FT and had a contest on my blog to giveaway the second seat. The winner who I brought as my guest was Matt (Saverocity).
Sounds like a small affair. How was it?
I was there….I was at the table next to you with the two ladies from LX and the lady from SQ. We spoke about your blog after the awards were over and you gave me your card, not for your 9-5 job, for your blog,
it was nice but small. I think this contest might put them on the map.
to @it’sme – who are you? who were you representing at the luncheon? email me at willrunformiles@gmail.com
“two ladies from LX and the lady from SQ” – What?? Now you tell me? If I knew that 😉
Sounds like a startup type publication trying to make a name for themselves. That Jonathan guy was really nice via email to me.
Gary, VFTW is indeed Mr. Fancy Pants. Today he posted selfie on a flight wearing a Nero Jacket. Was his Members Only jacket at the dry cleaner. I think he maybe their last member.
In other news….Credit Card Salesman MMS mails it again, as he posted this as a reason to signup for Amex Plat. today…”Access to airport lounges American & US Airways Clubs until.. March 22, 2014″,……………WTF it’s 4/1/14, read what you cut and paste, you owe it to your readers and the Mercedes card mention at the end was weak. He does not have his readers best interest in mind for sure.
He talks a big game on the “honesty” front but he’s an empty suit
I hope he gets his mother in law some nice vacations for all the times he uses her in his sleazy used-car-salesman tactics
And in case there was any doubt, a post titled “AMEX Business Platinum Card Bonus Increased to 40,000 Points!” had irrelevant Ink Plus and Ink Bold links. Of course it did.
I agree. In my Ignore list. Great sales skills for sure.
I am so behind I need an intervention to make the TBB post tomorrow!
Darn brother in law is all done shopping at Amazon, orders have dried up!
He’s actually terrible at selling, but he’s really good at having people find him
And in this space, it’s better to convert 1% of 30000 of readers than it is to convert 25% of your 1000 readers
He does a really good job at making sure no matter what topic I am googling, his name will always be at the top of the results, even though the post being linked usually has little to do with what I am searching
Even Rick and FTG haven’t mailed in their blog over the years as much as MMS has. TPG is the only person who can come even remotely close
Best. SEO, Ever. TPG too. I consider that good sales skills for exactly the analogy you indicate (the 1% vs 25%).
This is just utter trash, I tell you:
http://first2board.com/whatsyourpoint/2014/04/01/welcome-first2board-travelbloggerbuzz/
How do you stop people like this?!?
I know — let us team up, George. You and I. We can then…uh…wait a minute…
This is BRILLIIANT!
I am still laughing.
Mission accomplished.
Thank you, George. You have made my day!
Love the fact that you buried the bonus feature Hitler video in the comments section – Bloggers, are you listening? now THAT’S the way to keep your audience engaged!
I did not think it was worthy enough of inserting into the body of the post as I just did it in one take thinking I can go back to do some obvious edits. But I did not figure out HOW to do that! So I just let it stand as is. After over 1,000 views I am inserting into the body of the post tomorrow. I think it generated some laughs. The one about consoling Helga was my favorite 🙂
Best April 1 post of the day may have to go to Nick at PFD – I’m sure he was inspired by you.
Yep, that’s in already. But look at the link above by Brian Cohen taking off on the April Fools joke post about me by Mr. Pickles.
LOTS of good stuff today on the blogosphere….I can’t keep up this pace guys, it is insane!
I do not get it. Why would Thousand Mile Secrets write an article about the ATF? What does the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have to do with travel, miles and points?!?
ATF? WTF?!?
I was inspired by how rich I’m getting from ATMs! I don’t know how much longer these things will keep paying out, so better get in the game now!
I have a majority of the travel bloggers in my RSS, so new posts just pop up after they’re published. It’s been a hectic day, so I’m just now catching up on those posts. Did anyone else happen to catch the real FTG post this morning? The one from Howie not that silliness from Rick about his poker games… What an epic disaster. These “experts” at FTG really just need to stop writing all together.
The link’s dead now. The post is off the site, so I’ll just copy and past it here for those who missed it:
Maybe I’m delirious, but this is not an April Fools’ joke. Yesterday marked the day where US Airways officially transitioned from Star Alliance to Oneworld, and it’ll likely make award travel more difficult within the US when trying to travel on Star Alliance (specifically internationally, if you need to connect domestically to your international gateway city).
However, it opens up the door to leverage British Airways Avios (as a partner in Oneworld) and their fantastic distance-based award chart for some additional great value. As an example, In February we did a Travel Challenge to Montreal … New York to Montreal on AA using only 4,500 Avios each way versus $450+ for each ticket. The addition of US Airways and their route network opens up the country even more for great value; especially if you’re on the east coast.
Living in Savannah, we have minimal service from American Airlines – currently just 3x flights a day to DFW, but plenty of service from US Airways (8x to CLT, 1x to PHL and 2x to DCA going away) this is a welcome addition. Most importantly, all of our travel to see family is up and down the East Coast; a place where US Airways is a dominant player.
Running the numbers, as long as my total distance flown is under 650 miles one-way I’m out only 4,500 Avios in coach. Here we go – the Great Circle Mapper site will help me see where we can go for those Avios; 650 statute miles converts to 564.8 nautical miles (nm). We care about nm as that is how the Great Circle Mapper will show results in our map. Given we’re going to have to fly through Charlotte, we have to take 213 (statute miles) or 185.1 nm off the total available travel distance, leaving us with 379.7 nm to fly from Charlotte to stay within that 4,500 Avios super sweet spot. Below is what that looks like on the map and includes cities such as: Atlanta, Nashville, Asheville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, and Baltimore.
If we expand past 4,500 Avios and go to 7,500 Avios for a one-way, we gain another 501 miles, which brings us to a total of 815nm from Charlotte and then we have access to almost half the country, a nice slice of the Caribbean, and Canada:
Being so close to Charlotte we’re huge winners, but keep in mind that Philadelphia (4,500 Avios / 7,500 Avios/ 10,000 Avios one-way) and Phoenix (4,500 Avios / 7,500 Avios/ 10,000 Avios / 12,500 Avios one-way) are US Airways’ other hubs and are great sources for some excellent redemption value. Flights to Hawaii from Phoenix are just 12,500 Avios. (Actually EVERY non-stop flight that US Airways currently operates out of Phoenix is 12,500 Avios OR less — see above links). Philadelphia to Paris is just 20,000 Avios. The best part of all of this is there are no fuel surcharges. With US Air a part of Star Alliance, it was possible to redeem awards through ANA (American Express Membership Rewards Partner), but the rates are even better with BA in many cases; especially on these short hauls.
This is huge! A standard domestic round-trip award is 25,000 miles and with access to this distance-based chart, we now have access to pretty much everything in North America, Central America and the Caribbean at that domestic award price.
A great example of how we can save a ton of miles here is Sara’s trip to Glasgow. Her routing is SAV-CLT-PHL-GLA-PHL-CLT-SAV — 3,970 miles each way, requiring 20,000 Avios each way. Currently, I have this booked using 60,000 AA miles out of my account. If space is still available when US Air becomes a part of Oneworld, I’ll book the flights using Avios and will cancel my AA award and redeposit into my account (as an Executive Platinum with AA, I can cancel/redeposit the miles with no fee); 40,000 Avios vs. 60,000 AA miles…I’ll do that all day every day!
Have a trip you’re thinking about taking? Map out the distance and you may find yourself getting a great value in miles.
You can rack up British Airways Avios through the British Airways Visa Signature Card or through our three favorite point programs that allow yout to transfer to British Airways Avios and associated credit cards:
Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Ink Plus, Chase Ink Bold, Chase Sapphire Preferred
American Express Membership Rewards – Amex Platinum, Amex Platinum Business, Amex Mercedes Benz Platinum, Amex Business Gold, Amex Premier Rewards Gold, Amex Everyday, Amex Everyday Preferred
Starwood Preferred Guest – SPG Personal, SPG Business
While Star Alliance definitely loses with US Airways becoming a part of American, I think as a whole us points and miles junkies are big winners.
HAHAHA wow… that needs to be saved… and highlighted.
Its mind boggling how little howie knows. How after 3 years, do you NOT understand the Avios program. Too busy pimping cards i reckon.
Another embarrassment in a long line of them for FTG. THESE are the experts. How ridiuclously misleading was that post.
And yet he’ll be a presenter at the chicago “seminars”… cant wait for that talk.
Is that post real? Have we established that it’s not an April fools prank?
Surely nobody who has been blogging about miles and points can be that stupid about some of the most basic aspects of the miles and points world, right?
Then again, 60,000 Korean miles gets you to Bora Bora in business class, so…..
No way was it an April fools joke… It was just a clueless “expert” trying to push links….
Getcha Chicago seminar tickets soon….
My Dearest PT Steve, Well the day has finally come where I surrender to you and admit the following:
You are very smart in the world of miles and points. Certainly smarter than I ever was.
You are perfect in every way and never make mistakes as Howie did this morning. His apology post will be forthcoming. I now that will never satisfy you so I’m just gonna admit you are the best there is. You should run a blog. You would be the best, there is no longer any question.
I surrender to your superiority in the field of miles and points and all of us at FTG do as well, I’m sure. You are the best critic in the world.
Now that we have humbled ourself to your perfectness, let me tell you how I got to this ephinany (sp). I realized today that slamming other people for making mistakes may be all you have going for you. It is obvious that most other blogs delete your attacks and this has become your place to shine at the expense of others so be it. If you personal self esteem is so low that this is what you need to feel better about yourself, the nameless faceless guy represented in anonymity by the five consecutive letters S-T-E-V-E on the internet than I can surely give you this victory. The other readers on this blog have asked you to quit. They called you a pontificating troll on FTG so I have to believe this is all you got going for you.
You win S=T-E-V-E and anytime I see that name on the internet, I will now bow to your wisdom. Congratulations on your victory for whatever it means to you and does for your self esteem.
Rick
There’s making a mistake… And then there’s exhibiting that you have zero understanding of one of the major programs that you blog about.
If I exhibited such ignorance at my job, I would be fired btw
Totally agree with Jay. “ephinany (sp)” is a mistake.
Misunderstanding the Avios program such that readers are seriously mislead is indicative of not being the expert one professes to be.
At least the current owners took the post down.
Oops, I meant misled. My mistake 😉 !!
Rick, you make me shake my head (a lot).
It’s for real. Howie starts out the fixed post with an apology: http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2014/04/us-airways-in-oneworld-is-a-big-win.html
Here’s what a FT thought of the post:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22630954-post45.html
And to answer his question, yes, FTG does have an editor, but she knows far less than Howie does. It’s obvious because she didn’t know (or care?) enough to stop that post from going live.
Are the writers at FTG unionized? There can’t be any other possible explanation how their is such little accountability for such obvious unexpertise (unless the goal isn’t to be an expert in what you’re writing about)
This isn’t something like fuel dumping or Frequent Miler rocket science content – this is like someone whose been teaching Chemistry for 5 years not being able to locate Hydrogen on a periodic table
Unionized? Can’t say I’ve ever heard of unionized bloggers.
My theory: There’s no expert at IB who truly understands how bad these mistakes are. They likely don’t care either because the noobies that they are targeting doesn’t know Avios any better than Howie the mistaken expert and Ariana the clueless editor.
It’s not like they could get a truly knowledgeable expert to join their blog either because it would be a near fatal blow to that individual’s reputation, so onward they will stumble with poorly written, mistake laden, boring posts.
As long as there are noobies, there will be suckers who read the blog. Those noobies should eventually learn better than to trust FTG and that there are far more informative blogs out there, but they’ll just be replaced by the next wave of noobies and that’s how bad bloggers prey on the unsuspecting.
Every blogger has covered US’ switched to OW now and FTG has by far done the worst job of them all.
“Every blogger has covered US’ switched to OW now and FTG has by far done the worst job of them all”
yeah, but only one blog covered the most important miles & points topic of our time – the world series of poker
ROFL. I get that bloggers are human, have their own interests, and want their readers to connect with them on that level, but really… I think that I’d rather look at more pictures of MMS’ Emily than read Rick’s post about his interests. The poker ones aren’t nearly as bad as this one was though: http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2013/07/i-witnessed-an-attempted-senior-rip-off-of-me.html A walk in shower? Yes, all of your readers totally tune in to hear about that, Rick.
Brace yourself for the nauseating stench of “HURRY ACT FAST” post bombardments about the CSP
I love Hackmytrip, but I don’t think he fully realized the can of BoardingArea worms he just opened.
Even if the rumors are completely false, they’ll be used as an excuse to “strongly encourage people to sign up immediately
You have to have a can of BoardingArea worms when you have a weblog called Flying With Fish.
BTW, the awards website is working. If, like me, you couldn’t vote when you tried a few days ago, surf on over and give your fav blogger a vote:
http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com/2014/03/vote-for-the-2014-frequent-business-traveler-globerunner-awards/
Guys, there is a new blog post let’s move there!
Let’s make the points on the blogs and give them feedback to improve. At least that post at FTG was corrected, so let’s applaud that too!
It has been widely known how I feel about the content there. Why keep repeating ourselves?
For the record, I absolutely despise all types of gambling. Gambling is a horrible disease. I am very biased against it as my uncle was a big time gambler who ended up losing everything and was run over by a truck one day. My dad drilled the message “gambling is evil” in my brain that is embedded like a chip now! I still feel bad for blowing some change in Vegas years ago in those stupid slot machines. I STILL feel guilty about that…hard to believe!
Let’s move on…
George, unfortunately the angries appear to constantly repeat their criticism as it is all they have in life. They hide anonymously on the net and slam and slam and slam. It obviously makes them feel better about themselves to tear others down.
I can admit that mistakes are made on FTG and pontificating troll Steve and jay and ffhigh don’t like some of the content. My question then becomes why do they keep reading and the answer has to be because it gives them somebody to demean so they could feel better about themselves. Most people would just quit reading the blogs they don’t find valuable, OR, if truly engaged would send a note to the blog editor pointing out the error.
The only reason to slam, is for slamming sake only. It does no good for the blog, just makes the slammers seem less like low self esteem loser.
And yes Steve, you are brilliant and should consider applying for a job at IB. You are obviously way smarter than me or anybody connected with FTG. There. Do you feel better about yourself now? I surrender Steve. You are the answer
Just bumped into this site and am loving the attitude & sense of humour.
Looking for the best way to hit a spend threshold I’m a few Thousand short on this year, without having to actually buy stuff !! Well, stuff I can’t exchange or cash-in later anyway !!
This was a non issue with the VRs. Everything else requires time and more hoops plus Wal Marts.
Check some of the blogs I list in my Like list:
The Free-quent Flyer
Frequent Miler
and some focusing on MS stuff:
MilesAbound
Miles, Points and Mai Tais
I am taking a break from frequent trips to CVS stores at the moment.
I can not do the exchange or cash-in later thing, way too time consuming and some of it crosses my ethical threshold.
If you want entertainment, check the blog posts with LOTS of comments. It’s probably because the Frugal Travel Guy founder trolling away in my site and our vicious exchanges 🙂 Grab popcorn lol.