Adam1222

This was a particularly insane post. "The St Regis SF is amazing because my SPG Ambassador told them I was coming. They knew my name just from looking at me! I wonder how?! Gee it's a swell hotel. Also, book travel through Ford. We'll need a revenue stream when the credit cards dry up."

char777

There's a rave review of the Dunkin Donuts coffee in the new Mint review. If it's from the same supply chain as the Dunkin Donuts grocery store brand, then it's simply a rebranded Folgers. I guess "Great Caffeine!" doesn't necessarily mean "Great Coffee!"

Astrophsx

To be honest I took a flight the other week with JetBlue and their coffee was better than any other domestic flight I had in recent memory. It actually came to me hot, with a lid, and acceptable flavor. When I fly first class international with a non-domestic airline it's not drip coffee, it's typically an americano.

There is a difference between Folgers and Dunkin' Doughnuts. Even if the beans were the same as the store-brand... DD's coffee typically leads in taste test over other national store brands. It could also be that maybe they prepare their coffee in a different method or type of machine on board? To me it's a legit review as the stuff I get is just above what I would consider warm coffee and is typically stale or watered down. Someone mentioned in his comments that United uses Illy coffee... can't recall having had that, but in some taste tests DD was rated slightly above Illy.

char777

Fair enough. I have not flown B6 in years (mostly because their network doesn't work for my needs), but I would be skeptical of anyone serving DD in the air. I know it has a following, but outside the northeast, I don't think it has the same appeal. I stuck with UA and Starbucks for years, which was fine, and I even sucked it up with the FreshPoo swill. I fly mostly AS/DL now, so I'm back to the somewhat-drinkable Starbucks, though I'd love to try illy on UA soon. When I used to go to the illy cafés in SF, I thought it was much better than the run of the mill SBUX.

pairofkeets

Is there really such thing as a "greatest credit card?" They are all very niche, some more broad than others. Sure the CSR has a nice sign up bonus and higher earning on rather broad spending categories, but unless you literally live on the road like Ben does the difference between the CSP and the CSR is marginal. At the rate that points are declining in value that difference is becoming less and less. I will agree that it is one of the better "premium" cards out there, but it all depends on where you're situated. It's still an open and close in a year card for most in my opinion.

In my opinion, the sign-up bonus pretty much determines the hype of any particular card as far as I've seen. 100k CSR, 3 Nights at the RC, 100k AA miles, the first have a 450+ AF that isn't waived the first year in addition to high spend requirements. I'm guessing that the AA exec card was pretty similar but I'm not 100% sure so I won't make a blanket statement. And yeah you could cancel and get it prorated but you still have to depart with that money at some time. You still pay something for those miles.

I'm not trying to start a fight with you or anything, just offering my opinion. I was just trying to point out how ridiculous this Ritz Carlton thing is. He used to push the Citi Prestige so much that it was pretty much One Prestige Card At A Time, but even then it was more or less limited to a post a week regarding it. But in the past week its been DAILY with this card. He must think his audience has the memory of a gold fish. If the CSR is so good, why isn't that pumped into oblivion? He probably makes good money on the CSR for sure, but its a lot easier to sell the idea of 3 nights at the Ritz, especially since its not on 5/24 yet. Speaking of which there was another post:

"Save $100 On Domestic Airfare With This Credit Card" 09/09

I don't dislike the blog, but this week has been really lacking content, more so than usual. I still look at it and check the headlines and see if there is anything interesting. But I do agree with a lot of others who say that he pumps whatever is paying best at that particular time. And it might not necessarily be a per app thing, but numbers can be made up in volume so that "no-brainer" Citi Double Cash might have been less money per app, but if 10 people (arbitrary number) get approved for it, he's probably coming out ahead.

alexrg

Another race bating post today...

"Did American Handle the Black Lives Matter Situation Correctly?"

Some of the stuff Lucky said in the post is pretty ignorant, in reference to Black Lives Matter:

"Some view it as a positive driver of change, while others view it as something which has enabled high level violence, even if unintentionally. I don’t think either side is wrong."

But the comments were so much worse. It almost seems as if the comments section has been taken over by the Klan. Comments referring to the president as a virus or that saying that, since the White House is called the White House, it should only be occupied by white men (emphasis not mine):

Only problem with his belief is that racist Obama has 4 months left in the WHITE House to keep dreaming...

I am sick and tired of all of this stupid race bating... the mildly racist posts about Chinese tourists, the stupid posts about the Air China magazine, and now this post about a non-incident on board an American Airlines plane. An employee wore a pin some people didn't like. How many people care? Probably not many.

But Lucky cares about it. Anything to get clicks, anything to get attention. And if brings out racist trolls, he doesn't care. Because he got more clicks, more money.

AAExecPlatFlier

Best reader quote:

"Haha. You are the trump of bloggers. Anything to rack up the publicity and money."

kokonutz

Doesn't TPG have an ad that says something like "Check out the 30 greatest credit cards that I keep in my wallet"???? @:-)

JetAway

[QUOTE=alexrg;27192147But Lucky cares about it. Anything to get clicks, anything to get attention. And if brings out racist trolls, he doesn't care. Because he got more clicks, more money.[/QUOTE]

Gary's been doing a lot of this stuff lately too. Doesn't add anything to the M&P purpose of those blogs and is best left to other types of websites.

Adam1222

I think I see this *slightly* more charitably. Ben probably doesn't post stuff like this to start controversy. He posts it because he lacks an understanding of how the world works outside of the tiny bubble he has created for himself. I don't think Gary would have posted this, because Gary is an adult who has had to navigate the world a bit more than Ben, who basically went from a first generation German family to Lufthansa First Class to Emirates First. None of those places are known for instilling a deep understanding of racism, the forces that lead to division on topics related to race in America, or the people who are posting vile racist things on his post. (Also, ... is "high level violence"?)

He probably has no idea why he's endangering the security of an AA employee by posting his picture, even though AA took it down.

Does Ben know Black people? I'm sure. But keep in mind, this is a guy who considers himself an emissary of gay Americans when he goes to the Park Hyatt Maldives. His lack of self-awareness basically makes him an idiot savant. This is why the criticism of him being sheltered and spoiled is more than just "I wish he did more than critique luxury hyatt and SPG properties." His refusal to grow up and learn about the world in any fashion leads to irresponsible, dangerous posts like this.

bitterproffit

It's clickbait pure and simple. Post controversial topics, get people to start a flame war, watch the website hits go up through the roof. I don't see anything wrong with it, but lets call it what it is. Part of me believes that some of the more extreme racist diatribes in the comments (i.e Melissa) were plants to get even more comments and more views. Nothing gets eyes on page like a good controversy.

char777

It's telling that he approves comments like that but then deletes the one I made about Dunkin Donuts on the B6 post.

alexrg

My word... has Lucky started moderating comments?

I've noticed he's been pretty defensive lately...

Martina70

Is there a link to this blog/story/comment? It sounds like a fun read.

TIA

84fiero

Indeed. That post has way more comments than any other post this week. Not uncommon with bloggers, news sites, and lots of online entities these days...but like you said, call it what it is.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if some of the comments are plants.