Originally Posted by
mnscout
Sharon,
I'm not offended either. I just find your friend's predicament too funny. She should not have any trouble finding blogs specifically dedicated to travel reports. There are plenty of those, and they are written by people who pay for their travels the hard/traditional way and have nothing to do with credit cards. Even funnier, a lot of folks whining about the bloggers here on Flyertalk hate travel reports and wish there were no distractions from earning/finding/manufacturing miles and points. A blogger who can make everyone happy has not been born yet.
I also find it funny that your friend would rather sign up for a credit card on a CC website for a smaller (in 99% of the cases) sign up bonus, all just in order to make sure that the blogger in question does not get paid. Going to those extremes brings to mind an old adage about the conflict between the nose and the face.
Just saying.
Well it's my friend & not me, so I don't have a dog in this hunt.
But she signed up for some blogs cuz they were FTers & thus figured she'd get more input re: travel because they were. She just didn't expect the daily posts to be basically credit card churns.
And come on, let's face it - a lot of them are simply that at this point. For those that are into churning, good on ya as the saying goes. Those folk can then choose which of the (many) bloggers they want to give the referral fee.
I have no idea of whether my friend went to a credit card's site to sign up or did decide that she'd go through a blogger or didn't bother applying at all. I just know what she said at the time.
I'll have to take your word for it that the ONLY way a person can get a BETTER offer from a credit card company is to ONLY go through a blogger's referral link - and that they can't get it any other way
BTW - as others have said, for every person chasing down (whatever) travel deal there is, there are plenty of other travelers who are oblivous & don't actually give 2 patooties, so I don't see bloggers as any more threatening than I see FT or the guy sitting next to me on the plane who discovered some deal. Some will take advantage of stuff; others won't. It all works out in the end.
PS - To get back to the OP's question. No, bloggers are not ruining FT. I think bloggers would have a long way to go to cover the breath of topics, regions, frequent flyer programs, commmnity that FT offers.
Cheers.