kokonutz

75 or 80 bloggers!? What's the point of having individual blogs at that point...just open a 'blogger IBB.'

When FlyerTalk started there were less than that many posters...and the quality of information was just as high. ^

lacuadra

Hmm I am sure they will have to feed that many bloggers. What CC are they going to use to cater such event?

yerffej201

edit.

HikerT

Perhaps freeloader is referring to the barclay ad at the bottom of every one of your posts and to the top right of your posts. It doesn't appear to be a boardingarea ad.

ScottC

Yeah, that is actually pretty damn insane. I have rarely seen so many ads on any blog. I think I counted 14 banner ads for the same card till I gave up counting.

itsaboutthejourney

and don't forget you can 'support' this blogger using links to several hotels and portals.

HikerT

I've seen much worse as far as ads, but yeah, if you have an animated GIF promoting the same card in every post I would say it qualifies as pushing a card. Off to the right in text isn't so bad. At least Arrival is a decent card. Personally I'd prefer links for any CC go to a page with the application link, a discussion of the card, pros and cons, the blogger's opinion of whether or not they recommend it, and full disclosure if they are being compensated, but that's just me.

84fiero

Plus the list of "Credit Cards by Category (USA)" that shows up beside each post along with Canadian cards.

lacuadra

Personally I have no issues if a blogger provides informative and unique perspectives. Lucky for example , tests F cabins and provides good reviews, FM works his MS and VFTW provides, sometimes, very knowledgable advice.
They have earned the links on their site.

I just can't stand the ones that steal info from FT and post it as their own research. Or the ones that write totally misleading information and then censor anybody who tries to correct them.

oliver2002

A few days ago he pointed out to sign up for the M&M Jetfriends programme even if you are adult. Very wrong and misleading.

GUWonder

But possible if done with the "wrong/misleading" birthdate, right?

Or sign up using any (real or fictional) young child even if you are an adult, right?

Raffles

But this was only in the context of then being able to search for M&M award availability, which is not possible with a zero balance it seems.

If he suggested joining as a kid and then redeeming the 2,000 miles for (say) a Euro 10 iTunes voucher that would be entirely different.

I know you are fully aware of the lack of value in 2,000 Miles & More miles

oliver2002

Jetfriends 'status' in M&M also means your points don't expire. The point is you shouldn't sign up for it if you are an adult, which he suggested.

lacuadra

Lots of other bloggers are encouraging people to become "expecting mothers" to take advantage of Amazon's policy. Totally wrong

we also have radio personalities who fail to disclose how much they are getting paid by political instigators...and that is in the millions!

And finally we have bloggers who lie and give misleading information and to top it off, eat the entire buffet!

freeloader

Today's post on FTG.com takes the cake for misinformation. it finally got pulled - but wow.... do they have an editor? (or anyone who understands the programs they are reporting on??)... hey, at least they got the CC affiliate links right.

By Howie:
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.