Greetings all - I'm the founder of the Cartel and happy (although usually passive) FlyerTalker. I've sent tens of thousands of people to FT through my blog and will continue to do so.

As a couple of people have said, the project isn't for active travel geeks who already know everything about the world of travel hacking. Most of my readers, and many other "normal people" (i.e. not us!) out there really have no idea how this works. We're helping them figure it out in a way they can relate to, and ultimately the results will speak for themselves.

Also, I haven't sent anyone to this thread and just discovered it through Google myself, so the implication that my people are "spamming" here is absolutely incorrect. It's OK if you don't like the service, but please don't imply that it is somehow fraudulent.

Mostly, I wish everyone here well and if you are already an expert in this world, hang on to your $1. Happy travels to all!