MP was just because he was out at FT

Indeed.

I rarely check MP anymore (and I'm a Premium member). Seems to be dying a slow death.

Re-brand MilePoint as Inside Flyer as part of a brand creation?



Here's the thing: the entire frequent flyer game is dying a slow death.

Anyone who wants to survive in this space long-term is going to have to move beyond the points and miles paradigm.

And while Randy's horizon may be shorter than his track record, Tommy is clearly looking toward the long-play.

Randy says on Facebook that his new venture suffered a DDOS attack today. And that is was carried out by his competitors.

Do we know what the venture is yet?

Is this related to the malware littered all over Boarding Area that they can't seem to get rid of?

competitors??

The death of the FF game is a LOT slower than I ever expected it to be. What I did not see coming 15 or 20 years ago was the ability to accrue so very many points through the incomprehensible generosity of credit card issuers toward churners, or that this clearly unsustainable generosity would continue for well over a decade.

The real gold mine in travel is TripAdvisor. Supplant them and you will make hundreds of millions of dollars. And let's face it: TripAdvisor reviews have a lot of deficiencies, not the least of which is inability of customers to engage in conversations about properties.

Which competitors, and located where?

Hotel reviews have been on MP team's radar for quite some time. It also seems to possibly have been on IB's radar as they created a forum called "Expert Hotel Reviews" on FT.

https://twitter.com/ranflyer/status/644609011426422784

Weird... DDOS attacks are commonplace nowadays, FT got one Sep 2.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't really out to get you. ;)

Sure, but for all of TA's deficiencies, it has the advantage of crowd-sourcing.

And for elites, there is no better review source than the FT hotel forums.

A marginally better mouse-trap in that space would be nothing more than a content-less MilePoint alternative to FlyerTalk.

It's gotta be something bigger than that!

It's a bizarre claim.

I mean, I'm no IT Sith Lord, but how can you have a denial of service attack on a service that is not yet functional!?

I can't understand why anyone would spend the effort and resources to attack FT or Internet Brands as if they were some evil empire. The few people (and governments) sufficiently capable to execute cyber attacks are not normally irrational.

I suppose there is the motive of ransom payments, but I presume that IB like other companies refuses to start down the slope of paying extortionists. By now, criminals must know which companies will pay and which companies won't, so there's no need to waste effort on the companies who won't pay.

A DDOS attack on a new site could be an effort to learn whether or not its owners will pay the ransom. Or it could be a demonstration of capability in preparation for a future ransom demand.

I guess, not knowing exactly what this new venture is, hard to know what entities would be "competitors", but... based on MilePoint, I don't know that the competition is exactly shaking in their boots.

Well, a lot of people may be visiting the countdown clock on a regular basis!

Is a DDoS really something reputable companies like IB, TA, etc. engage in? Maybe it is, I just have no idea about this stuff.

That's my point! To have a denial of service there must be a service to be denied. What service is being denied other than the opportunity to look at a count-down clock!?!?!?

Given how infected Boarding Area is, the KISS principle would suggest operator error. @:-)