Deal Killing Blogs: List deals which were pulled, and the blogs which published them.
Nov 19, 2012, 4:54 pm
#196
Join Date: Apr 2004
Programs: AA, UA, SQ, VA, QF, AF, BA
Posts: 2,865
Thanks for the concrete examples folks. I will add these to the examples to the list in the OP.
BTW, I assume this is the same female blogger from TX that also pushed and pushed and pushed people to sign up for Amex PRGs and Amex Business Gold CCs with her referral links last year, and told everybody who would listen how easy it is to "Bump The Bonus". Then of course lots of people got stuck in the middle when Amex axed the deal midway through cuz everybody and their mother was trying to get 100k Amex pts for Bumping the Bonus?
BTW folks, please keep the examples coming so I can further update the list in the OP. If anybody feels like digging through blogger's posts and seeing what deals were posted about, and which have died soonafter, please do so.
Also Tiki, thanks for the idea to not overtly identify the blogger which will cause them to move up in the Google rankings. I will try to edit the blog names while still making them identifiable to FTers.
BTW, I assume this is the same female blogger from TX that also pushed and pushed and pushed people to sign up for Amex PRGs and Amex Business Gold CCs with her referral links last year, and told everybody who would listen how easy it is to "Bump The Bonus". Then of course lots of people got stuck in the middle when Amex axed the deal midway through cuz everybody and their mother was trying to get 100k Amex pts for Bumping the Bonus?
BTW folks, please keep the examples coming so I can further update the list in the OP. If anybody feels like digging through blogger's posts and seeing what deals were posted about, and which have died soonafter, please do so.
Also Tiki, thanks for the idea to not overtly identify the blogger which will cause them to move up in the Google rankings. I will try to edit the blog names while still making them identifiable to FTers.
Nov 19, 2012, 4:59 pm
#197
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: TPA
Programs: spg gold
Posts: 406
The Houston Huslter
Nov 19, 2012, 5:00 pm
#198
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
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Posts: 48,955
Moderator reminder
Write about miles and points, not about each other. Write about blog content, not about the bloggers. A half dozen superflous posts have been removed or edited.
Nov 19, 2012, 5:00 pm
#199
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Because, Tiki, we are all birds over here for "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"
We are all 47%ers in this aviary. Some just naturally excel better than others at getting something for nothing. Do we have a right to criticize the ignorant and lazy for obtaining miles and points? No, we should praise them for being efficient for they waste no effort to get what others work hard for.
We are all 47%ers in this aviary. Some just naturally excel better than others at getting something for nothing. Do we have a right to criticize the ignorant and lazy for obtaining miles and points? No, we should praise them for being efficient for they waste no effort to get what others work hard for.
Nov 19, 2012, 5:11 pm
#200
Join Date: Apr 2004
Programs: AA, UA, SQ, VA, QF, AF, BA
Posts: 2,865
Because, Tiki, we are all birds over here for "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"
We are all 47%ers in this aviary. Some just naturally excel better than others at getting something for nothing. Do we have a right to criticize the ignorant and lazy for obtaining miles and points? No, we should praise them for being efficient for they waste no effort to get what others work hard for.
We are all 47%ers in this aviary. Some just naturally excel better than others at getting something for nothing. Do we have a right to criticize the ignorant and lazy for obtaining miles and points? No, we should praise them for being efficient for they waste no effort to get what others work hard for.
Of course there are also our pampered pet parrots who are spoiled rotten, I should know, I have 11 of them!
Nov 19, 2012, 5:36 pm
#201
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Times Square
Programs: SPG Gold, AAdvantage
Posts: 1,397
I've been on FT for 6 years. I read a handful of forums that apply to me regularly. MilesBuzz is one of them but USAir is not. Last summer I signed up for the dining program for USAir to not let my points expire because I wasn't sure my Aegean flight would credit in time. But I had never heard of Grand Slam until a few months ago when I started reading these train wreck threads in here. Then I had to rubberneck and see what these blogs were all about. Imagine the calories I could've saved if I had read a blog and heard about Grand Slam and could've saved my points from expiring earlier.
I get a bit of guilty pleasure reading them because some of them are really just so ridiculous. It's the same feeling I get when I read People magazine. I am sometimes embarassed to take pictures in lounges and planes to remember our trip because hardly anyone else has a camera out. Next time, I'll just pretend I'm a blogger.
I get a bit of guilty pleasure reading them because some of them are really just so ridiculous. It's the same feeling I get when I read People magazine. I am sometimes embarassed to take pictures in lounges and planes to remember our trip because hardly anyone else has a camera out. Next time, I'll just pretend I'm a blogger.
Last edited by sent; Nov 19, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Nov 19, 2012, 5:42 pm
#202
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: CT/ Germany - Ich spreche deutsch
Programs: UA 1K, Bonvoy LTTE, HH Dia, HY Expl
Posts: 4,657
Deal Killing Blogs: List deals which were pulled, and the blogs which published them.
I for one have gotten some very useful information from some of the blogs like gleff's blog. Do they kill deals? Maybe but so do some posts on FT. If the Club Carlson 50k deal dies it will be due to all the people posting about their phantom stays NOT because of the bloggers.
Nov 19, 2012, 5:44 pm
#203
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Oh, nobody likes a good old fashioned witch hunt like the cardinals! And when we get the stocks up and running on the village square be sure to buy your rotten tomatoes, eggs, and cabbages to toss from our produce stand.
Nov 19, 2012, 5:49 pm
#204
Join Date: Oct 2007
Programs: AGR, PC, HH no status as I stopped paying for travel
Posts: 1,454
let em blog
I regularly post deals on Flyertalk and I do not mind if a blogger uses them. So what I got my deal and hopefully those who follow the forum I post in got theirs as well.
What surprises me is when I receive a PM from a fellow Flyertalk user asking me to remove my post as he has been using the deal for quite a while and does not want it to die. The last time, was with my post in the hotel deals forum regarding a BRG in Houston Texas (which was still active earlier today).
What surprises me is when I receive a PM from a fellow Flyertalk user asking me to remove my post as he has been using the deal for quite a while and does not want it to die. The last time, was with my post in the hotel deals forum regarding a BRG in Houston Texas (which was still active earlier today).
Nov 19, 2012, 5:54 pm
#205
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
And I have 15 of my own "birds" which I look after - a whole colony of feral cat birds.
Trouble, naturally, is the pride of the colony and he specializes in destroying door mats.
Trouble, naturally, is the pride of the colony and he specializes in destroying door mats.
Nov 19, 2012, 5:57 pm
#206
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Madison, WI, USA
Posts: 14,162
You're not using common sense. Common sense would tell you that if you don't know the variables, you can't make a conclusion. Black and white is not involved -- you're simply making a conclusion based on insufficient data, and then declaring it must be true. You are the one thinking in black and white.
Nov 19, 2012, 6:02 pm
#207
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,758
You're not using common sense. Common sense would tell you that if you don't know the variables, you can't make a conclusion. Black and white is not involved -- you're simply making a conclusion based on insufficient data, and then declaring it must be true. You are the one thinking in black and white.
"We all know that VR’s at OD for all practical purpose is dead. Did the constant posting of this at blogs/forums/blogs kill this deal? If this deal was never posted on a blog/forum would it still be going on?"
Nov 19, 2012, 6:11 pm
#208
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Helsinki
Programs: A3 Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 1,014
Bloggers are partially guilty for killing the deal but there is another as important issue as bloggers. Lately flyertalkers have shown too much carelessness... During the Lifemiles & AZ promos a lot stupid things have been done like the same person making 500+ orders from the same shop using the same IP which causes fraud alerts with webanalytics (done by fters during the TACA promo), making 50+ reservations during the AZ promo, calling the airline because of seat assigments which could have been online...
Nov 19, 2012, 6:18 pm
#209
formerly known as Frugal Travel Guy
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Greenville, SC
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Posts: 1,925
Here is a different conclusion
How about answering these simple two questions that I asked and we will agree to let everyone else decide who is using common sense?
"We all know that VR’s at OD for all practical purpose is dead. Did the constant posting of this at blogs/forums/blogs kill this deal? If this deal was never posted on a blog/forum would it still be going on?"
"We all know that VR’s at OD for all practical purpose is dead. Did the constant posting of this at blogs/forums/blogs kill this deal? If this deal was never posted on a blog/forum would it still be going on?"
Oh wait a minute, that means the "blog hater" would lose out on the deal.
Oh wait a minute if we as bloggers killed the deal, then we as travel hackers just like you would lose out on the deal. hmm
No, I'll start the rumor that it was a "blog hater" that killed the deal. It is as factually difficult if impossible to prove as the other side of the coin.
Nov 19, 2012, 6:22 pm
#210
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Chicago
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You're not using common sense. Common sense would tell you that if you don't know the variables, you can't make a conclusion. Black and white is not involved -- you're simply making a conclusion based on insufficient data, and then declaring it must be true. You are the one thinking in black and white.
VRs at OD worked for quite a time. Then the bloggers got a hold of it. Shortly thereafter VRs are gone. Common sense dictates that one had something to do with the other. Common sense is not about proof positive, but basing your conclusion on prior experience and anecdotal evidence. That's why many a scientist has no common sense.