kokonutz

True, but there are very few last-minute airline award tickets sought (or paid tickets for that matter).

So the flexibility of the market for air travel may not be as instantaneous as it is for uber, but neither does it need to be. It's certainly flexible enough to respond to the market in order to offer 'market based' prices within the time-frame of a typical purchase rather than flat rates. Just like Uber.

Kagehitokiri

airlines do not have uber's flexibility. (nor do they have hotels' flexibility.)

davie355

kokonutz

Gary spent some time today again making his ridiculous arguments that ANYTHING is to blame for higher fares, fuller planes and fewer award tickets, ANYTHING is to blame...except airline mergers.

I was googling some of his older comments misdirecting blame for these phenomenon away from the mergers but stumbled on this instead: http://mercatus.org/publication/tran...tection-issues

Comments Gary co-authored in response to proposed DOT consumer protection/transparency in fares rules that would apply to non-airline travel sellers.

I was a little shocked to see that the comments oppose these proposals. The key point being that allowing websites to post airfares in whatever manner they want is critical to 'innovation.'

They certainly put his airline merger apologistism into perspective.

lwildernorva

Hi, I'm GLeff and despite my only claim to fame being the owner of a frequent flyer blog, I get to pound on somebody who has actually made a difference in the real world sometime during his life.

Yeah, Ralph's probably not as important as Ralph thinks he is. But vastly more important than you.

Astrophsx

Not a Hyatt Visa Cardmember? You Can Still Get 20% Back on All Your Awards

There is click bait... and then there is straight up lying to get you to read a story.

davie355

This is up there with "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

If "not a Hyatt Visa Cardmember" means "not now and never will be," well that's one thing.

lwildernorva

As I've said before about pushing credit cards, it's capitalism, and I can live with that--although this was certainly stretching the point. Gary's either satisfying and enlarging his audience with posts like these--or the opposite. That's the marketplace.

But, when I encounter a different approach, it's refreshing. Doing some research for a trip to Ireland in April (my sixth and my fourth in thirty months, but I figure I can always learn something), I ran across a blog, http://infiniteireland.com, run by a young couple that has a passion for trips to Ireland. In one of the comments for one of the posts, about a suggested packing list for Irish travels, a reader asked about the host's preferred credit card for Irish travel. She responded with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, mentioning the no forex fees and the 40K Ultimate Rewards points.

And then stopped. No referral link, no plea even to let her refer the reader so she could pick up 5K UR points herself. Just the host's honest opinion in response to an honest question.

I had almost forgotten that could even happen on a travel blog.

I realize it's a niche blog, probably fortunate to have 1% of Gary's numbers. Maybe not everybody would even agree with some or all of their advice. But they've got one more reader today because for the first time, I actually subscribed to a blog. And I'll certainly recommend the blog to others who are researching trips to Ireland.

nsx

Today's post: Shut Up, He Explained

HMPS

Really, looked up the post you quoted. Find nothing wrong with it.

As to what he says ( don't know him, don't read him)....each one of us has the remote to swithch the cahnnel. But this bashing will not change what he likes to do or where he makes some $.

nsx

Correct. It's just that Gary's title so closely fits that memorable quote.

Astrophsx

I interpret the title to mean you can still get the 20% bonus without having to be a card member... when you click on the link you find out that if you sign up using his link you can eventually qualify for the offer.

GuyverII

I haven't been to his site in a few weeks but physically, he looks terrible. I hope he's ok health-wise. Maybe it's just the tv that makes him appear bloated.

obscure2k

You do raise an interesting point and that is how one stays healthy on a long term diet of first class food and drink

davie355

Simple. Drink water instead of Coke. Eat fruits instead of cookies. Swim in the hotel pool.