eponymous_coward

Keepin' it classy, like we do in the Smack Talk forum.

CLEguy

He would almost assuredly be enjoying Florida's lack of state income tax by declaring Florida residency. Though he does have to be careful. Depending on the state, if you "work" in that state more than a defined number of days per year you are liable for declaring the income earned during that period. In my consulting days I was filing in at least three states per year.

Kagehitokiri

did you miss discussion of ben's demographic?
creflo = televangelist

one could argue he is obsessed with many things unrelated to travel
i could not tell where line was between writing style and personality

84fiero

Hey at least no one here is begging you for money. Although I am shopping for a new car...just sayin'

Yeah I suppose so

Kagehitokiri

ive come to the conclusion that blogs can be like reality TV
at least blogs are 'real' and have redeeming value/information

jubbing

Eh, I don't really care - he travels a lot and it's interesting to see different lounges and planes, even how one lives through a suitcase on this (points or money, doesn't matter - just interesting).

If you don't like it - what other similar blogs are good?

cruisr

Travel is Free is the best, without question. I have learned more from Drew than anyone else. I don't know how he consistently produces such quality work without all the white noise that surrounds many on BA

Wandering Aramean also has a great blog. His travel tools are awesome

There is another thread on this subject that you can search for other good ones. I just visit three now and the third is Mile Nerd. NO cc pumping and a very intelligent blog.

jubbing

I think what annoys me the most is that most of these sites have users in the USA (Admittedly the best place to churn credit cards and earn mega points). However most people I'd gather do not live in the USA - so half the stuff get's thrown out the window when it's not relevant.

Still I love reading so thanks for the suggestions!

Sounder

So, after a OMaaT post critical of UA for having the nerve to divert to Goose Bay, now we have this gem which acts as if El Al is just a greedy, greedy money hungry company with no regard for its passengers for returning a flight back to Tel Aviv rather than diverting to Europe.

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...-theyre-cheap/

Is there any action an airline can take in these kinds of situations that wont whip the bloggers up into a faux-outrage frenzy?


How on earth would diverting somewhere in Europe which may or may not have El Al staff even present be more convenient for the passengers? How many people would have the necessary visas to enter whatever country they've just diverted to? Returning to TLV seems like by far the most reasonable choice here given Lucky's correct assertion that no passengers were ever in danger. The extra 4-5 hours of flying to return will likely be more than made up for in the convenience of returning to an airport with airline staff to support, and with most passengers having some kind of connections on the ground.

pricesquire

Couldn't agree more

jubbing

That is a dangerous road to go down. As long as bloggers aren't literally using their 'influence' to put companies in dangerous situations, it's fine. Troll or not - in my opinion that's his opinion, and maybe he's wrong, others may agree.

Eh.

Sounder

Perhaps you misunderstood what I meant to say, but I don't see how that's "a dangerous road to go down".

I'm just saying that sometimes it seems like there will always be misguided outrage from bloggers at the actions of airlines in abnormal situations pretty much no matter what the airline actually does.

FallenPlat

I've been critical of many of the posts here and, as I've said before, it always bears keeping in mind that it's good to add value -- some value, any value -- even in a Flyer Talk post.

So in the spirit of at least trying to add positive value, here are a couple of items from recent One Mile at a Time posts that go some way, I think, to explaining why the blog has so many readers and why so many appear to trust it.

First, here's a paragraph from a recent credit card post: "It just kills me inside when people use 1% cash back credit cards and think they’re getting a good return. If you just want a straightforward card which doesn’t have an annual fee, it’s tough to beat the Citi® Double Cash Card. . . . And in my opinion a no annual fee card which has this [2%] rate of return is what a vast majority of Americans should be putting their spend on."

That speaks for itself, no? I think the advice is dead-on if not exactly popular in the points & miles blogging space or necessarily applicable to many of you.

Then, second, here's something Ben said in the Blog comments after being lambasted for suggesting that EWR was easy to get to: "I’m an idiot, you guys are right about Kennedy vs. Newark, of course. Shows how little I fly to/from NY, and when I do, it’s almost always either connecting or into/out of LaGuardia."

That's quite a retraction! (I'll forgive the comma splice.)

That's also partly why I'm still a reader, or mostly anyway.

Kagehitokiri

sometimes opinions are not presented as opinions

el al post is another example of 'business analysis'

and the 'drama' element is reality tv style
if readers like it, why would they change?

eponymous_coward

Do you have problems with the Haaretz story and the "sources in the aviation industry" that story was citing "whipping up outrage", too? Because what's worse- a blog written by an enthusiast that's clearly opinion, or a newspaper article written by actual journalists that's put this idea in front of the public? Why are you reacting worse to the commentary than the reporting?

Seems to me you've strained gnats while swallowing camels because of your animus towards this blogger.