I have no problem w/ them leveraging the awards at the time of their choosing, but IB itself was the one who said the winners of the awards were being announced in March & when asked about it in mid-April (a month later), instead of being open & upfront - hey, we'd like to have the announcement & the trophies done on the same day, kept responding w/ next week & next week with , and then did announce the day of the Freddies.

So presumably they care about the Freddies & leveraging. I don't have a problem w/ them announcing on the same day as the Freddies, btw. From a marketing standpoint, stealing a bit of thunder makes sense. I just don't like the disconnect on what we were told & what actually happened. BTW - some FTers did attend the Freddies.

FWIW - just as there's room enough in the world for more than one travel BB, there's room enough in the world for more than one travel awards. Neither the Freddies nor the Flyertalk Awards are the only industry awards out there.

I'd be more interested in how they came up w/ some of the items that the various programs were being voted on. As one person in the Marriott forum said, Marriott does have a # of strong points, but the one that was up for voting was actually its weakest & had the Marriott FTers scratching their heads. Must have been FT newbies who suggested that one. LOL

And my bet is that next year UA will be farther down the list, given the mess post-merger.

Cheers.