kokonutz

Saw a photo from Tommy777's the face book wall this morning:



With the caption: "Ready for the largest frequent traveler event in history. Welcome!!"

Kudos to those guys for their success in terms of numbers.

But personally, that seems like hell to me: sitting in a room with, what, a thousand other people getting lectures about frequent travel? This event is about 9 miles from my house, but I wouldn't go if they paid me.

Anyone go? How is/was it?

nsx

I went to the previous FTU in LA. It was a total blast.

koko, you have my permission to kick yourself now!

cblaisd

+1

tom911

Looks like the event is covered well on Milepoint, so you might want to read the thread there.
http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/...old-out.49197/

MSPeconomist

I'm not at FTU but I did attend the Freddies and Travel Executuve Summit. These events were extremely fun and informative.

amolkold

I am at FTU, though have visited a limited number of sessions. FTU LAX was helpful and this has been a great one so far!

eponymous_coward

My thing about FTU (went to LAX, am pretty much not going to go to another one unless it's in SEA) is that it's more about mileage accrual than about travel.

It was fun buying some of my favorite bloggers drinks and chatting, but the sessions were mostly uninteresting to me. I'd have enjoyed more about the experience of travel then "here's how you milk the Vanilla Reload/Bluebird deal".

kokonutz

It does seem like the event is mis-named.

It's about points and miles hoarding, not traveling.

And more to the point, what is there to learn in that setting that cannot be more efficiently learned on FlyerTalk?

nsx

Accumulating and redeeming, with a touch of traveling (e.g. using the ITA search tool).

There are some tricks people will tell you one on one that they wouldn't post on any board or blog. Certain tricks would end in a flash if posted. They're nothing Earth shattering, but they can be fun. The entertainment aspect of this hobby is not to be overlooked.

eponymous_coward

I'm not so sure about that... more that it's pitched at people who aren't FTers.

I would be more interested if it was less miles/points, more Rick Steves or Anthony Bourdain (in other words, talking ABOUT travel and the experience).

The thing is, though, a lot of the bloggers who are presenting are staying in Hyatts/Hiltons/Marriotts/etc. and getting the breakfast spread in between quick weekend jaunts to Singapore through NRT, IST and FRA. That really isn't what I am interested in- I loved being able to eat street food and see the organized chaos that is Bangkok when I got up in the morning, as opposed to a sterile hotel lounge.

jaymar01

And you get information without all the attitude.

kokonutz

Points and miles programs (and especially elite programs) were developed to attract business travelers. Especially those who were, you know, frequent travelers. And back when FlyerTalk started in 1998 that's what it was all about: people who traveled frequently figuring out how to maximize return on that lifestyle by keying in on elite programs, miles accumulation and taking advantage of the occasional mistake fare or mega-bonus.

But starting with FlyerTalk and now through the entire cottage industry of blogs and boards, the points and miles programs (and even the elite programs to a lesser extent) game is about getting aspirational trips and/or getting a trip or two or three for 'free.' It's about churning cards and manufacturing spending to rack up a ton of points for a first class ticket to the Maldives or blowing a ton of points at the W Leicester Square.

What's weird is that the miles and points programs really appear to prefer the latter paradigm to the former. Or at least seem to be by their actions.

United in particular has gutted its million miler and diluted its elite program. As a result my business travel now goes to the cheapest business or first class fare rather than 100% to United.

And yet I (and most FlyerTalkers, it seems) am racking up more points than ever through creative spending and credit card bonuses.

And so, to circle back around to eponymous_coward's point, these programs that were set up for frequent business travelers have been co-opted by points and miles hoarders, leading to weird situations like aspirational/adventure travelers staying at sterile business hotels.

nsx

Yes, that's the odd part.

My guess: This is a result of the Ponzi nature of these programs, in which devaluation must accelerate to stay ahead of the expectations of points earners.

From the beginning the programs were unsustainably generous. All Ponzi schemes are desperate for new players. The credit card issuing banks provide these new players to the travel companies. Even if the banks do not account for the majority of the miles and points issued, they do account for the majority of the revenue to the FF programs. That revenue is, to the travel company, discount-priced advance sale of its product.

To the travel company, someone opening a new credit card account for 50k miles is a buyer paying (via the bank) $500 for a ticket for travel a year or more in the future on a flight where the avoided cost is probably half the $500, maybe a lot less if the points can be further devalued before redemption. This is a highly profitable customer.

The bank is an indispensible partner in keeping the FF scheme alive. It stands to reason that the travel company treats the bank and the bank's customers well.

eponymous_coward

Well, if you have premium seats going out empty on every flight (or, better yet, you can sell miles that lead to partner redemptions of empty premium seats), you can either recognize $0 revenue and have that seat fly empty, or you can give it to that aspirational traveler who just churned some credit cards and recognize considerably more than $0 revenue.

Of course, airlines are also figuring out that they need to trim premium seat capacity in some markets and match prices better to market-clearing prices instead of "you only need to sell one million dollar glass of lemonade" prices, which reduces that premium seat inventory... oh, and airlines and banks are minting miles fast enough to start proving Gresham's Law correct, as people snap up the good opportunities, which leads to devaluation, which leads to bigger bonuses, which leads to...

And so it goes.

freeloader

i went, and i was very underwhelmed.

met a lot of interesting people for sure. but 99% of the material was waaaaay too basic (a complaint i heard from more then a few people, many of them new). many of the sessions repeated a lot of the exact same materials

seems like lots of new people are involved in this hobby. most were inexperienced (though again, many thought it was too basic). a lot of newbies i met can off as extremely arrogant and a little know-it-all-ish; though many were nice. There were young bloggers hyping their blogs with wearing shrits with their blogger name pasted in large letters, which gave me a chuckle

SPG no showed in a session they were to sponser, which was dissappointing. i was looking most forward to that session.

$20k raised for charity!

overall, i loved meeting and talking to a bunch of interesting people, but the education aspect of it was disappointing.