smedleyb

I read The Points Guy and Frugal Travel Guy daily.

But all roads lead to FT.

belfordrocks

...at the expense of his readers.

No matter how you justify it, transferring Chase UR points to worthless Avios is not a wise idea by any stretch of the imagination

The same award costing 100K miles + $100 fees using CO miles could very well cost 250K+ miles plus $500+ taxes on Avios. Oops.

amolkold

That part of his blog post really struck me as odd, mostly because he is EXP only because he status matched as a part of the DO. Before last month, his loyalty was with DL, not AA. He simply just flew a few AA flights and matched to EXP, with as much flying as a GLD member would have to do. A 2011 PLT flew more on AA than he did. So how many others on this flight were EXP? Likely very many!

jonnydoe1234

Two words: tax deduction. This is a full-time job for bloggers like TPG, so presumably to cover their bases with IRS when deducting these trips as business expenses, they post the useless reviews.

Mountain Trader

The value spot with Avios points now is short haul trips on BA partners which cost a lot using cash. A good example are many of the flights to Canada from East Coast cities. Where there's an award worth taking with Avios, using Chase UR points to get needed Avios makes a lot of sense.

bangkokiscool

This has been an interesting discussion, but I think folks are off-base with the Avios accusation. Go back and what he read -- he literally pointed out Chase UR transfers to Avios at 1:1 ratio. That's a fact, nothing more and nothing less. Whether someone thinks that's a good value or not is totally subjective.

I used up all my Avios before Nov. 16 to redeem CX F tickets (5 of them). A day later, I found myself needed to go from CLE to JFK with 12 hours notice. Walk-up tickets were outrageously expensive. It took me less than 5 minutes to transfer 4500 UR to Avios and ticket online via ba.com ($2.50 in fees). In that instance, it was an excellent use of UR points for me.

belfordrocks

Yes, that's all fine and dandy, but the award in question (in TPG's post) was first class transatlantic... for which Avios is certainly not superior- for the lack of routing flexibility first and foremost, then also taxes/fees, quality of partners, award availability etc. etc.

dbh1

I've been doing trips reports for a while now and never got any negative feedback so it is interesting to hear that some people don't like the concept. I set it up as a separate blog so people who are not interested don't have to read it. I also offer subscriptions to either all blog posts or just points post for the same reason. I like to think my travel blog advise is helpful to those that want to read it. For example, I used some starpoints and southwest points to go to the Phoenecian in Scottsdale. I wrote a long review detailing things such as the free sun tan lotion in the spa bathroom (which if someone told me, I would have left mine at home - I like to pack light) and how I got around without a rental car. So would an article such as this turn you off from my blog? Or by having my blogs separate, do I make everyone happy?

I am very supportive of FTers that call bloggers on giving bad advise clearly based on our financial incentives. There is no justification for that. Those who do it give us all a bad name and should be properly lynched. If I make a mistake, please slap my hand, I will fix it immediately (and not moderate your comments so please keep them civil). Some of the other complaints in this thread seem to be more about preference and skill level. If you don't like seeing lots of pictures of first class cabins, don't read those blogs (though I like those reports; I have been pretty unhappy in first before and generally find business class to be my cup of tea; knowing that a route's first cabin stands out may make me consider shelling out the extra points). Also note that FTers aren't our only audience. In my case, they are not the targets at all. Please don't yell at bloggers for giving the same old advice you see on FT when the blog is written for people that don't have the time to peruse FT.

belfordrocks

Trip reports > credit cards any day

HikerT

Nothing more nothing less? Can we have an intellectually honest discussion about this? The only motivation was to make a loose connection to UR and pimp those cards. Nothing more nothing less. If you see it as simply discussing options you have blinders on. Sure, viewed in isolation it's not terrible advice to sign up for Ink or Sapphire or transfer 1:1 to BA depending on your goals or immediate needs. The problem is the context of the article was flying international first class on BA. He specifically said "if you want to fly on BA". There was no context or mention anywhere about redeeming on short haul or how best to use avios points. If he really wanted to discuss options to "fly on BA" he would have mentioned the BA card and companion ticket and encouraged waiting for the next 100K offer.

guera

We've got two threads going on right criticizing all the bloggers. I have been following them closely, enjoy reading them, and find that there are some valid points being made.

But admit it folks, if we had some nice mega-offers out there it would take our minds off some of the shortcomings of our daily reads.

Bring on the deals!

84fiero

I don't necessarily blame AA for being smart and making sure their high publicity event gets good reviews. But I agree it's disappointing to see the recipient(s) having the nerve to call ir "proactive, stellar customer service" Just be honest and say "Yeah my luck I was a blogger on this MegaDO and got these extras"

I mean, like you said AA doesn't have a history of anything near that sort of compensation for such a minor glitch (at least in TPG's specific situation). I've had to overnight due to a combo of MX and lazy, surly Gate Agents messing things up. Sure AA got me there eventually but after writing to customer service and waiting about 3 months, I got 10K miles. I appreciated it and felt it was more than fair...but 25K and two SWUs for an hour arrival delay and riding on BA First? Give me a break!

hobo13

Did I just read on somebody's blog that AA just had another OWMD flight go mx??? This is becoming comical.

The only blogger with the (warm) nuts to actually call a spade a spade is currently in China.

lovetotravel

Let's try to put this in some context. There were other bloggers on this trip in the same situation, even EXPs. Did AA treat all participants so affected in the same manner or just TPG? I don't know.
If all were treated the same then great. If not then some got preferential treatment? If so, then point taken.

mnscout

And this here is yet another tribute to the "validity" of blanket statements. For ME in NYC Avios points are priceless, not worthless. Every single trip to the Caribbean and many to Canada takes less on Avios than it does on AA. Everybody has different needs. I, for one, do consider transferring some of my UR point into Avios, because at least to ME it makes perfect sense.