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The Points Guy: We never accept free flights [merged TPG discussions]

The Points Guy: We never accept free flights [merged TPG discussions]

Old Jun 19, 2015, 11:14 am
  #46  
 
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Ooopsie!
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 2:49 pm
  #47  
 
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Maybe he meant since BankRate bought them?
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 4:00 pm
  #48  
 
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Originally Posted by Astrophsx
Looks like he is censoring comments pointing out the he and his staff have taken comps from the travel industry.
He is indeed censoring comments on it. If the policy changed at some point and they once took comps but no longer do, he only needed to say that rather than pretend the past didn't happen.
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 4:06 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by 84fiero
He is indeed censoring comments on it. If the policy changed at some point and they once took comps but no longer do, he only needed to say that rather than pretend the past didn't happen.
The cover-up always has worse consequences than the crime...
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 4:21 pm
  #50  
 
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I'm a TPG fan, especially of their monthly points/miles valuations, but a number of their recent posts have been almost laughably careless.

Oh, wait, here's something odd. I was going to cite today's "cards worth keeping" post as an example, but the comments calling out one of the larger set of errors I also spotted are now . . . gone.

So I'm still a fan only very, very guardedly.
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 4:30 pm
  #51  
 
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Also, I've never seen many blogger make any mention that they contact an airline's PR team before a flight. How does one give a faithful review of a product if they are giving an airline or hotel's PR department a head's up? TPG I believe might have done this for his first Emirates A380 flight.
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 4:45 pm
  #52  
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I seem to remember him admitting (maybe a year ago?) he took free EVERYTHING during his first year or so "on the job"...

In fact, I read a TR of his - Tokyo - that specifically mentioned his getting comped for the whole thing.
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 4:52 pm
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Originally Posted by pricesquire
I seem to remember him admitting (maybe a year ago?) he took free EVERYTHING during his first year or so "on the job"...

In fact, I read a TR of his - Tokyo - that specifically mentioned his getting comped for the whole thing.
There are lots of comp'd trips out there among travel and M&P bloggers/writers...and in the two TPG examples that Astrophsx posted, it's disclosed right in the posts what was provided for free. So I don't know why TPG is being so weird about it in this instance.

I'd bet that whichever admin/mod posted that (surely TPG "himself" doesn't monitor & respond to daily comments anymore?) didn't know any better, assumed they never took comps...and now rather than simply correcting the "never accept", is doubling down. Kind of comical.
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 4:58 pm
  #54  
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kind of odd not to say 'was accepted in past'

although may be a 'definition' problem
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 5:14 pm
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And another example of a blogger doing something shady. Color me shocked.
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 6:26 pm
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Let's not lose perspective. Even suggesting that the blog is somehow dishonest is going too far -- and then some besides.

I think the blog's principal problem is that it's become more than slightly slap-dash. Many of the poorer posts are the quasi-encyclopedic ones that simply attempt too much with too little. Others, such as the trip reports, could do with some, any, personal verve, a spark. The Cuba series was simply appalling all the way around.

But more than a few of the posts are pretty good, which is what keeps me checking in to see if there's anything worth reading. There often is.
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Old Jun 19, 2015, 8:02 pm
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Originally Posted by FallenPlat
Let's not lose perspective. Even suggesting that the blog is somehow dishonest is going too far -- and then some besides.

I think the blog's principal problem is that it's become more than slightly slap-dash. Many of the poorer posts are the quasi-encyclopedic ones that simply attempt too much with too little. Others, such as the trip reports, could do with some, any, personal verve, a spark. The Cuba series was simply appalling all the way around.

But more than a few of the posts are pretty good, which is what keeps me checking in to see if there's anything worth reading. There often is.
To me, stating

I never accept free flights either, nor does anyone at TPG
when that's clearly been shown not to be the case, counts as dishonest to me.

Now, as I said up-thread, it could be that current TPG policy is not to accept free flights and the statement posted in the comments response was a flip response from a staff member who didn't know or assumed that policy had always been in place. Had they corrected the error when it was pointed out (in more than one censored comment), that would be one thing. But deliberately deleting such comments and continuing to let the statement stand as-is, sure looks intentional.

And again, there isn't any reason to hide the fact that some trips are comp'd - it's not exactly uncommon.

It makes one wonder about the nature of the trip reports...are some comp'd and not disclosed? What else is being posted on the site that is inaccurate or misleading?

Years ago I read TPG quite a bit, it used to have some pretty straightforward information and analysis in some areas. For a time I referred newbie friends to it as one of the resources to get started in the hobby (along with FT and others). Over time I visited less and less as it just sort of deteriorated compared to what it was.
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Old Jun 20, 2015, 6:31 am
  #58  
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Originally Posted by Astrophsx
Also, I've never seen many blogger make any mention that they contact an airline's PR team before a flight. How does one give a faithful review of a product if they are giving an airline or hotel's PR department a head's up? TPG I believe might have done this for his first Emirates A380 flight.
Do people do that? I would never have the cheek.
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Old Jun 20, 2015, 7:36 am
  #59  
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Originally Posted by Raffles
Do people do that?
All the time.

I'm a member of a "travel blogger" group on Facebook. A solid 50% of the activity is people asking for recommendations of [company in city ABC] who "work with bloggers" which is apparently the code for "give us free crap because we'll tell all our friends."
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Old Jun 20, 2015, 7:38 am
  #60  
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Originally Posted by FallenPlat
Let's not lose perspective. Even suggesting that the blog is somehow dishonest is going too far -- and then some besides.

I think the blog's principal problem is that it's become more than slightly slap-dash. Many of the poorer posts are the quasi-encyclopedic ones that simply attempt too much with too little. Others, such as the trip reports, could do with some, any, personal verve, a spark. The Cuba series was simply appalling all the way around.

But more than a few of the posts are pretty good, which is what keeps me checking in to see if there's anything worth reading. There often is.
Agreed, and a good perspective.
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