VFTW's latest speculative piece on BA here is further damaging his reputation on the BA board, here.

I really despise these "question titles" like this VFTW post, designed to stir up attention even when the post itself waters it down. I know, newspapers, local news, etc. all do it and it won't ever stop, but it can still be a pet peeve.

Although to be somewhat fair to Gary, the seed of the speculation is Randy Peterson's comments in Inside Flyer, which Gary seems to be of the opposite opinion.

I also don't get Mr. Peterson's apparent penchant for revenue based programs. My impression is that he seems to be actively advocating for it.

He buys expensive tickets; why wouldn't he be in favor. ;)

Randy has generally been all about earning points (he's also advocated for buying them at the check-in kiosk, something almost no one here would recommend in most cases) and much less about redemptions.

And there is something to be said from a business perspective of rewarding those who bring you the most revenue rather than just those you see most often.

The Iberia/BA thing was made significantly worse by the the subsequent non-retraction retraction. The BA board criticism that IMH links to is absolutely savage -- really through the savage zone and then out the other side. I'm afraid that I mostly read VFTW these days for the on-going AA/US merger series, which is actually pretty good.

I (might) like revenue based systems for the same reason. I don't spend quite enough to be at GS-type level but if there was a revenue tier below that with real benefits I might be tempts to end my airline agnosticism. But if all it means is the watered down current 1k, then fuggitabiutit.

There is for sure something to be said for sticking to what you know.

Gary should stick to talking about airlines he 'trusts' (ie, where he is chummy with the program execs).

That seems odd, why be so eager to earn points but not to use them? I guess that was part of the plot of Up In The Air.

I don't necessarily see anything inherently wrong with basing earning on spend rather than distance. It's the revenue-based redemption that would concern me depending on how exactly it was implemented.

Take a look at The Points Guy article on the Iberia 'devaluation' - http://thepointsguy.com/2014/08/iber...-airways-next/

No retraction, no edit, nothing!

from gary's linked blog post >

The Points Guy is reportedly No. 1 in the points & miles space and I've been trying to figure out why for some time now. Occasionally I'll see something interesting -- I'm thinking especially of his monthly points/miles valuation -- but even then his stuff is riddled with mistakes both large (you absolutely cannot "downgrade" Amex Platinum to the Everyday) and small (you don't get 10% off in-flight purchases with the Citi Executive World Elite Master Card). The comments are even weaker, if you can imagine, and I constantly have to keep myself from screaming, "Hey, look at FlyerTalk!" Delta Points can often be fun in an over-the-top bad sort of way, but The Points Guy is just fingernails scraping down a blackboard -- for me, anyway.

As for Gary, yes, he's much better when he sticks to what he knows.

Probably exposure and a clean looking website. He has done a decent job branding himself "the points guy" through televised interviews. I'm sure the fact that he is younger, "more hip", and has a bit of charm adds to it. Lets face it.. if CNN wants to interview someone and they have a choice between Gary and Brian... but that is just my opinion.

The fluff material is made for all readers. Probably some of the worst trip reports though (with horrible iPhone photos)... though it seems he has one of the larger social media folowings.

Extremely good SEO. Stacks of self promotion. Vast quantity of content. In other words, he puts a great deal of effort and time into his business. A thick skin helps, too -- you probably can't be a very successful blogger if shame kicks in every time you get something wrong.

Younger, yes. But I'd need to be pointed towards examples of anything hip or charming. (OTOH maybe not: this is a Boarding Area thread.)

I think I'm getting close to the age where I have a hard time knowing what's hip anymore:p

:rolleyes: It is the opposite of this:

http://i61.tinypic.com/mkddtv.png

This made me laugh....for a very, very long time :D

Well played, sir.

TPG is #1 because he's the most well marketed of the bunch.

I don't care how good BA is, the fact of the matter is the interface looks like it belongs on an aol.com offshoot, circa 1997-2002.

People looking to get into the miles game don't want to fan through 16 front page articles on the same topic. It's easier just to go to TPG. His website is clean, easy to navigate, and is very straight forward. (FWIW, I'll take BA over TPG 100/100 times.)

I for one don't "get" BA's latest overhaul. The whole thing seemed like an overplayed mess to me.

I applied/sent an email to BA recently with, what I thought at least, was a unique idea. I wanted to write a blog from the perspective of a luxury/leisure travel agent (Virtuoso). The gist of the blog would be highlighting the interplay between FHR, Amex, Virtuoso, Signature, and the overall miles/points game (by way of stacking benefits, strategically using system-wides verses relying on a guaranteed Virtuoso upgrade, etc). Typical - didn't hear back from them, not even a "sorry, but thanks for applying."

BA may be turning into a good-ol-boys network. Thread Tripping, anyone? (the only possible explanation for that guy getting a BA blog was due to his friendship w/ Randy.) Can that possibly be an actual good idea? Ha! Hey, let me scan FT all day, find a half interesting thread, write a paragraph about it, and get affiliate link money....sigh :td:

FTG is up there with him in quant "rankings" (not qualitative)

thats basically an inside joke