I really don't understand why Gary thinks the AA changes were minor or why he defended them and allowed them "one free pass." AA's "surprise" at the anger was even more pathetic.

Ending all stopovers, eliminating the entire OW Explorer award, and massively increasing anytime awards isn't small at all.

Maybe I exaggerated calling it a MAAsacre, but how were the AA changes minor?

Gary has a relationship with the AA program folks. Apparently (as we just learned) he does not have a relationship with the BA program folks.

Coincidence?

YOU decide.

It's an interesting debate.

Is it better to go soft to maintain a high-level contact or tell it how it is and risk losing said contact?

Does the community benefit more from telling the industry how it really feels or by maintaining a connection that may prove useful in the future?

Replace "the community" with "Gary", and I think you'll have the answer to your question.

The above linked VFTW post sounded like a little kid excusing his behavior with "Oh yeah, well you MADE me do it!"

Sure, BA could throw some devaluation out there with little to no notice, but that doesn't mean that every little snippet someone comes across is evidence that the hammer is about to fall. He jumped to conclusions and has egg on his face. Now he's trying to say the egg on his face is the fault of the hen, who laid a cracked egg one time back in 2011.

Something along the lines of what you suggested above would've been classy, professional, and restored some credibility.

I can't think of any time where we received any actual benefit. And I don't count an "exclusive interview" where nothing of any substance was revealed.

And really, it's unlikely any of these high level AA contacts are going to reveal anything juicy unless he agrees not to disclose. "Hey guys, I have inside word that US-Europe in F will be increasing 25% next month!"

Most of the assertions made by gpapadop/TBB in the 27 Aug post and comments are not factually accurate.

It is unclear whether the group cares about the meta-analysis of the bloggers being a work of creative fiction versus just taking issue with the other bits, but there it is.

Which one? He made 2 posts yesterday. And, more specifically, which assertions?

I just finished an interesting PM back and forth with sbm12 and am tired to repost my arguments again

Just a few notes. My site was never about "facts", I get enough "facts" from so many expert bloggers trying to sell me something every blog post it appears! My site is about entertainment mostly, some educating and rarely some inspiring. I leave the "facts" to the true experts, cough!

As readers of BA blogs, we would like to know more about how they make their money. I think it will help us make better consumer decisions. I believe this space lacks transparency BIG time and then we get called on for not getting our facts straight? In a hobby site nevertheless? When some others in BA going totally nuts on Amex cards suddenly trying to convince us they just became a better value lately while another one disputes this "fact" selling the same cards? I mean, how ludicrous is that?

I am not angry, just amused.

Sorry you are so tired. Take a nap then come back and post the controversial bits!

I did notice that suddenly the Gold Delta SkyMiles� Credit Card from American Express is getting a lot of digital ink. VFTW's commercial was by far the worst: SkyPesos still suck. But here's my affiliate link because you get 50k of them.

Pretty funny stuff.

At least OMAAT spent some time to come up with some reasons why his readers might want to want to click on his affiliate link for those skypesos....

Of course the irony is that Gary's bad commercial was definitely more accurate: skypesos still mostly suck.

The ones about revenue at Boarding Area.
And yet you present your criticisms and "analysis" of the blogs as some form of truth. You can say "it is just entertainment, not real" as much as you want. But that's not actually what you're presenting and if we're going to call people out for sharing bad info on blogs then it has to cut both ways.

I am not at all surprised by the defense mounted nor the deflection attempted. Rather than admit you got it wrong you're fighting back with:
1) I'm not really trying; and,
2) I don't really know and I disclose that.

Pretty weak IMO.

I won't pretend to defend the posts about the value of SkyMiles and the CC bonuses for signing up. No need to beat that (already very, very, very) dead horse. But that's not what was presented by gpapadop as the basis for several of the erroneous claims made.

Didn't he cite a source for that? Loyalty Traveler, which is a BA blog?

So is this a case of a blogger getting it wrong then that wrong information being picked up and talked about by another blog as gospel truth....AGAIN?

He cited a source and then made up a bunch of stuff based on an oblique reference. I've read the original material and the additional theories which it precipitated. I remain quite comfortable in the assertion that the information presented by TBB is a work of fiction.

That seems to be the P&M blog theme for the week: take a piece of benign information and then extrapolate fiction out of it. @:-)

Anything fact or fiction that drives Tabloid Buzzards Amazon links is fair game!

And if bloggers are going to be called out for that then they all should be. :-: