I've only really been in this game for about four years. I started off reading FrugalTravelGuy and noticed from time to time he would write about his experiences using his miles. I remember contacting him a few years ago and asking why he didn't do more detailed trip reports? He pointed me in the way of boardingarea and said that it was more the specialty of the blogger at One Mile At a Time.
Never quite added up for me.. Full time college kid traveling all the time. Was he paying for these flights or using miles (he does a lot of posts on how to rack up miles)? I remember he said he flew a lot to Europe to see family, I think? How does someone like Lucky fly 65% of the month? I kind of stopped caring as I enjoyed seeing the first class products and the non-stale writing.
Fast forward to today... I see this in my twitter feed:
Then I go and read some of his recent trip reports. They seem rather jaded.. instead of just showing what the product is like and giving a few small opinions.. he is saying how he is upset that while on the ground he didn't get to drink his favorite champagne till he was in the air due to some sort of tax and all the sudden has become a food critic. So it is pretty obvious that these trips aren't being given for free by the airlines with those kind of reviews.. yet.. when something goes wrong on a flight he doesn't get as upset as someone who just paid $5-10k for the seat might be.
Putting all thoughts of his writing style and method of reviewing aside. How does someone like Ben travel in first so often? I get the feeling that someone like Daraius at MillionMileSecrets and the Points Guy have most of their travel funded from credit card sign ups, at least that is what I get from reading their blog (I know they make their living off of credit card sign ups). I'm also aware that you can get things like SPG points for referrals.
It's kind of like reality TV for me. I want to think that it is all being funded by miles so I can say to myself hey I could do that too! Just gotta save up more miles!
Don't get me wrong! For the most part.. I enjoy hearing reviews and seeing trip reports. I think it's great that these people get to travel, but I'm very curious how much is funded by miles and points. They usually have to put a disclaimer correct? If a trip is being funded by an airline or hotel?