runfit

Oh, I'm not saying anything one way or another - I'm just pointing out that the previous poster removed himself from one site, yet still has information at this site - both having been acquired by the same company.

ChaseTheMiles

I willingly signed up at Flyertalk, and FT gives me a message box. If you read my post carefully, you'd see that The Frugal Travel Guy obtained my email address based on a communication that was meant for another event. Nothing against TFTG, and I would not have complained much if he had stayed a private blogger. I still may visit his site from time to time but I don't need to be on his email list.

HikerT

I love how TPG pimped a couple referral links today at the end of this post:

http://www.thepointsguy.com/2012/01/...eworld-megado/

Would anyone in their right mind waste 100K UR transferring 1:1 to BA to "fly British Airways"? What horrible advice.

bangkokiscool

I read just about every blog out there, as well as FT and Milepoint. I am a little puzzled at the hostility towards bloggers. My wife and I just started last year with the BA 100K sign-on bonus, and to date we have 1.5 million miles across multiple programs. I know I wouldn't have gotten them without bloggers help. TPG turned me on to BA miles and how to use them, convincing me to go for the BA card. His series on "maximizing xx miles" is excellent and I have not found a similarly comprehensive one-stop shop to learn the in's and out's of program rules on routing, MPM, searching availability, etc. Some of the newer bloggers are really excellent too -- Darrius' (Million Mile Secrets) blog post on how to pay taxes on miles-earning cards was a masterpiece and must have taken many, many, hours to put together.

Yes, some bloggers just scrape FT for information. That's OK. FT can be a jungle sometimes. The way it's organized, I could go months forgetting there's a specialized forum for Tahitian cave dwellers who eat forest monkeys. Some strict moderators make it a little intimidating sometimes. I appreciate it when bloggers bring promotions to my attention, because sometimes the airlines themselves don't tell me about them! For example, I recently bought US miles at a 50% discount because I read about the promotion in a blog. US Airways never sent me an email to invite me to do it, so I appreciated the heads-up very much.

I look at bloggers as I look at the general FT community -- the help is there, it's up to individual users to determine if it's worth their time to read it. They're all pieces that go into making an educated consumer of miles and points. Yes, it can get annoying to get CC pitches all the time. And I really appreciate it when bloggers like Darren point out the absurdity of using points cards when cash back cards may make better sense for some folks. But the way I see it, bloggers and their readers have to have a symbiotic relationship. I benefit tremendously from their knowledge, so I am either resentful nor annoyed that they get paid from advertising or commissions. In fact, I'm glad for it. If bloggers don't earn any money they will stop blogging or put their information behind a paywall. That would be a tragedy, in my opinion.

HikerT

I don't have a problem with bloggers using referrals to support themselves. When they start giving bad advice in the interest of generating a referral they should be called on it. For example, what legitimate reason was there for TPG to have pimped the sapphire and ink in the blog post? If the post was about optimizing Avios via short haul redemption I could perhaps see a valid angle, but the only way he can connect the blog post to applying for Chase UR cards is by encouraging suboptimal redemption of the UR points.

TravelerMSY

The real slippery slope is when someone pushes a credit card link when there is a better offer available in the marketplace that carries no bonus for the affiliate marketer. And yes, the high-fee Amex products are not just suddenly more attractive now than they were 3 years ago.

But it's a free country, and the bloggers do provide valuable analysis and find all kind of deals that I would never have found on my own. Just keep their compensation in mind, and try to steer it to whoever you think deserves it the most.

coremill

This whole post raised a number suspicions. Why was TPG rerouted non-stop in BA New First while others booked in F were downgraded to business and had to fly longer itineraries? Why did they then give him 25,000 bonus miles AND 2 SWUs as compensation? The AA forum has a running "Guide to/and Listing of Compensation" thread, and I have never seen anyone given SWUs as compensation for anything, let alone for having to fly BA F instead of AA F and arrive an hour later than expected (the horror!). This sounds more like "let's keep people who are in a position to give us good PR happy" rather than "proactive, stellar customer service!".

It's probably just an IT glitch, but it doesn't help that comments are also closed for this post. Hmm.

MTHTravel

I think its self-explanatory that a blogger or any other public person is better treated than a no-name customer. I don't say it should be like this, but its how marketing works.

Furthermore, its not Brians fault when he get that kind of compensation that I would never get. We should keep that in mind. However I hope its an IT-Glich and not intended that comments are disabled. I hate censoring on blogs.

coremill

I know how marketing works. And I never said it was Brian's fault for getting that compensation. However, I think it is his fault for pretending that he is being treated normally when he says things like, ''I assume because I am an Executive Platinum, they put me on the London-Dallas non-stop aboard a 747, though some other First Class passengers were downgraded to Club World Business Class and most business class passengers had to re-route on other airlines or via Newark, Chicago and Miami.'' That's more than a little disingenious. How many of the people who were rerouted in J were EXP? Given that the MegaDo trip is full of elite FFs, likely a lot. How many of them were given 2 extra SWUs? We don't know. But if Brian is going to accept it he should stop being disingenious and pretending that this is ''proactive, stellar customer service'' and acknowledge that it's likely special treatment for people with influence, especially when he's reviewing these products.

belfordrocks

Just reading the blog post in question, I do agree it seems questionable- the plugs for the completely unrelated Chase cards (with direct referral links- not even a page dedicated to explaining benefits etc) to be very poor form.

Astrophsx

I say post your feelings in their comment section about it being totally unrelated.. I'm sure if enough people post on TPG's blog he will take notice.

In an unrelated note. I've noticed many Boarding Area bloggers and some other popular new travel bloggers with Flyertalk accounts that are months old with well under 200 posts. So are these people lurkers who finally decided to get an account when they started their blog, or did they create a second account on here to go with their blog??

I just don't get why someone would want to take advice from someone who has 45 posts on frequent miler unless they were some sort of very experienced traveler. I would put Frequent Miler asides since he seems to be more focused on the points game via shopping.

Astrophsx

Just noticed "Comments on this entry are closed", what's with that?

belfordrocks

Perhaps he anticipated the backlash over his blatant referral-panhandling...

ma91pmh

Anyone who thinks that The Points Guy is anything other than a paid interactive advertising machine for a variety of companies is delusional. Himself included. I still read the blog there are some interesting pieces now and then, but I read it the same way I still read Conde Nasty Traveler.

The latest piece on getting the upgrade to BA F, 25k points, two extra eVIPs ... I mean come on? In fairness he does at least disclose his compensation. Though seems he may actually think it is just his good luck! Let's not forget that the whole MegaDo thing has become a huge marketing opportunity for the alliances, and they know that the likes of TPG et al will be relaying it live to a lot of people, so this is real cheap advertising for them.

ma91pmh

I read this in the NY Times today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/te...eviews.html?hp

At least this band of advertisers (aka bloggers) do disclose most of the time: