mkpolo76

I am new to FT but without FTG I would never have heard of this community and in that respect I am very thankful. I have researched a couple of threads but it takes a LOT of time to read through 170 pages and more. Just like others I do not travel for business and have no business expenses. So CC applications is the way to go for me.

freeloader

Which added nothing tangible other then an affiliate link, unless you didn't know that 5k SPG points has value

oliver2002

You're not disagreeing, 'senior*' blogger

I (thought) I said exactly the same: right now the chase & citis of this world don't have other channels, so they are going along with the show. The higher spend requirement is easypeasy for the avid credit card churner. If there would be another channel (lets say an opportunity for Chase to directly post on FT and offer a specific product tailored to FTers for example?) the card issuers may go for that. But there isn't right now.

As far as hogging is concerned, the deals we discover just vanish faster, though I doubt its because of bloggers, the analytical tools have become better or rather due to previous serious damage tools exist in the first place. In the TLV mistake fare it was not someone monitoring the twittering blogosphere, but the daily fare analysis report that put an end to the 'deal'.

* As usual I post as a member, unless specifically signing as senior mod

ingy

your suggestion of a ft specific offer is a great one and I'll pass it along again today. the folks at IB have been suggesting that sort of thing since I joined the IB stable in January but chase has not been receptive to the idea as of yet.

can you imagine a cobranded chase/ ft card that offers a 100k sign up and 100k renewal every year of $25k in spend and awards 10 points per dollar no matter what the category

mia

Chase could easily purchase a banner ad on Flyertalk with an offer which was not available elsewhere, or only available on similar sites. These banks are credit card factories churning out direct mail invitations in the hundreds of millions per year. They know what it costs to acquire an account, the characteristics of the applicants from each channel, and the revenue they will generate.

Card accounts are bundled and sold as securities, the same as mortgages, car loans, etc. Flyertalk-type applicants provide a source of high credit score accounts to blend into the pools.

soccerguy985

I agree, I think direct marketing would be the way to go. Target the FT community with direct ads for CC's with their best sign up offers. Maybe put these direct ads in the master credit card sign up threads.

cleome

I am a relative newbie. So maybe I should not comment. But I can't help seeing how many deals and loopholes the bloggers have closed.

Two very popular blogs today shared a loophole that is sure to get it killed.

The answer bloggers have is: "Information does not belong to anybody. Hence the posting"

Do they realize that probably nobody would oppose their sharing information if it did not get the deal killed?

The bloggers say they are helping people. Whom are they helping? The people who are spoon-fed by the blogs can't even take advantage of the information since the posting on a popular blog kills the deal. So what's the use?

The bloggers are surely smarter and more experienced than me. I am having a hard time believing they don't realize this trivial logic. If they do not, is there any way to make them realize that divulging loopholes helps nobody? Otherwise we, as a community stand to lose.

Am I missing anything?

mia

A post by Frugal Travel Guy and replies thereto have been exported to a separate thread, which is located in another forum. Please see the first post of the new thread for the rationale:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...ies-blogs.html

The focus in this thread should continue to be on the strengths and weaknesses of various blogs. I suggest reading post 825 before posting in this thread.

mnscout

How many? Why don't you enlighten us?

Mountain Trader

I was busy for a few days and missed all that.

A new low. That'll teach Travelocity to make a charitable gesture.

need2ski

Thanks for posting as I too missed it. It really is interesting reading through the comments...

BigWillyStyles

Just for comparison sake, Im on the opposite end of the spectrum than you are. I have disastrous credit, and I have to nickel and dime with a Netflix membership here, and an FTD Floral order there. It sucks to grind out miles like that but it does at least teach you how to learn the system from the bottom up. With that being said, Id much rather be in the position that you are in.

I think the biggest problem that I currently see, and one that will only get worse, are the tons of copycat blogs that are starting to pop up. You can go back over time of any industry that goes from an underground niche to all of the sudden going mainstream, and watch as more people start jumping in because they see their chance for stardom, even though in this industry stardom may mean blog hits and referral links. People start seeing fame and fortune and they lose their minds. Like for example, look at sports journalism today. It used to be about covering games and players, now the reporters are trying to become bigger than the story and have their own shows, their own endorsement deals, etc...Its completely jumped the tracks and practically ruined the QUALITY of that industry.

Within this industry I feel like there are (3) tiers of bloggers right now. The first tier are the true, great bloggers who have been around for a while. I think we know who most of them are. I wont name the bad ones out of respect to the moderator(s) here, cause god forbid I say someone's name controversially, but I think its ok to praise some of the good ones by name. Frugal Travel Guy, his insight just on credit card handling alone is awesome. Lucky I feel does the best when it comes to the air, and painting such a great picture of showing everyone what he's actually preaching. They are informative and educational, without sounding the alarms everywhere and rehashing all of the same info. Gary from VFTW also is awesome.

Then you have that next tier of the newer generation of bloggers who have gotten bigger recently, but completely lack all sense of decorum and would sell out an entire group of travelers if it meant that, oh lets say he and his wife for example, could finagle an extra pair of slippers from the Hyatt or an extra Won Ton out of the BA Airport Lounge. Or a guy who subliminally, or not so subliminally, pimps out his flight booking services for clients with practically every example of points usage he cites. Those are the guys who would step on the throat of everyone they lifted and learned things from if it means they can get on TV, and parlay themselves as the foremost authoritative voices in travel. Pfffttttt....

Then the third tier of bloggers are the copycat blogs of people who envy the 2nd tier bloggers, and want to be famous like them (with the definition of fame being that they have 1,000 followers on Twitter now!) and this is where it becomes information overload. They see a deal from one of the bigger bloggers, then they each broadcast it out, (often not giving credit and making it look like it came from them), and we end up with 500 blogs repeating that you can get 20 Jet Blue miles at Wendy's if you go get a chicken sandwich at lunch that day. You can often set your watch that if a bigger blogger does an entry on how best to use SPG points, it is only a matter of weeks before one of these thieves copies the entire theme of the post and passes it off as one of their own creations.

And with that all being said, the true 5 star players are the ones who you either dont know about, or are known about only here. You can take one thread of a mileage run topic and 90% of the posters on it are probably light years better than everyone on any field of points, miles, and status accumulation than the ones who are posting about it, so thank god for the Flyer Talk forums.

I personally think the great ones are great to follow and read and always will be, and will always lead the way, but the ones underneath them are going to be the ones who destroy the game we all know and love in one way or another. Good lord, if the US Mint thing was happening today, there'd be 50 knockoff blogs filming themselves walking into the banks with the boxes of their coins and bragging about how they just got enough free miles to fly their family to the Equator in lie-flat business cabin on Oceanic Airlines. And to be fair, its never gonna be destroyed, IM probably overreacting. There is too much competition out there and there are too many idiots running companies and marketing departments who are bad at their job. They will continue to make mistakes, and we will continue to gain from them and they really wont care, because for the 10,000 tuned in Flyers who have gotten 75,000 Chase Points and maxed out the best value off their cards, there are 50 million others who are clueless what a signup bonus is and are excited to cash in their 40,000 points for a pair of matinee movie tickets! You cant make comedy like this up. Welcome to the circus, be sure to stop and get some more popcorn at intermission.

oliver2002

Great post ^

Note that many reading the blog and just applying for CCs wily-nilly can ruin their credit asap. So they will end up on the other spectrum quickly.

One saving grace of the third tier bloggers (as you define them) is that they don't have a large audience, so the harm done is limited.
People like Dansdeals and the first tier you describe will & can do far more damage.

belfordrocks

Oh come on, please name names! Now I wanna know who the slippers dude is...

Tiki

If this is what I think it is and the bloggers mess it up, tarring and feathering would be too good for them!