Alaska confirms: 'travel hackers' killed their Emirates Offerings
Apr 3, 2016, 3:17 pm
#93
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,257
Agreed, but we can certainly take some lessons from the LM forums.
I certainly agree we can't stop them outright, but we can sure try to delay the onset of that fateful day...or in EK's case
EK is certainly a harbinger of what's to come...but the bloggers really only have one real source of accessible information...hopefully we can come together as a community to try to make the most of this hobby without sending it into a premature burial.
Unless they're coming up with the "methods" themselves...they're essentially lurking on these forums and hawking the information out to generate page views...and huge CC referral payments
That blogger (HWMNBN) who went on a media tour with his exploitation of EK routing rules really put the proverbial nail in the coffin for us...admittedly there were a confluence of factors, but some guy running around with 5 AS credit cards isn't going to stay off the radars of EK and AS for very long.
We must admit that the airlines have dedicated individuals who monitor FT and willingly allow FTers to utilize miles for certain awards that may be a bit creative. But when these creative methods are making headlines of the major media outlets, the party won't last for much longer...
This is a hobby I thoroughly enjoy and take a lot of pride in; FT is a solid community with a lot of awesome folks. A lot of my trips wouldn't be possible outside of Y without the knowledge I've developed during my time on FT. Hopefully I'll be able to continue taking these trips outside of Y until the day I drop ^
I certainly agree we can't stop them outright, but we can sure try to delay the onset of that fateful day...or in EK's case
EK is certainly a harbinger of what's to come...but the bloggers really only have one real source of accessible information...hopefully we can come together as a community to try to make the most of this hobby without sending it into a premature burial.
Unless they're coming up with the "methods" themselves...they're essentially lurking on these forums and hawking the information out to generate page views...and huge CC referral payments
That blogger (HWMNBN) who went on a media tour with his exploitation of EK routing rules really put the proverbial nail in the coffin for us...admittedly there were a confluence of factors, but some guy running around with 5 AS credit cards isn't going to stay off the radars of EK and AS for very long.
We must admit that the airlines have dedicated individuals who monitor FT and willingly allow FTers to utilize miles for certain awards that may be a bit creative. But when these creative methods are making headlines of the major media outlets, the party won't last for much longer...
This is a hobby I thoroughly enjoy and take a lot of pride in; FT is a solid community with a lot of awesome folks. A lot of my trips wouldn't be possible outside of Y without the knowledge I've developed during my time on FT. Hopefully I'll be able to continue taking these trips outside of Y until the day I drop ^
There's only one thing that the bloggers care about: making money. Period. They make money off idiots who click their links to open new credit cards.
Their motivation is very simple, and anyone who denies it is either dishonest, delusional, or clueless (or some combination).
The banks' recent moves that drastically limit credit card churning will have some impact - have you not noticed how recently the bloggers have shifted to fill space with all kinds of other content? And every time a program massively devalues its program also makes it harder for the bloggers to sell their lies to clueless noobs who think they can take their family on vacation to a 5-star resort in Tahiti just by opening a few cards and visiting Walmart every week. So all the wreckage of the past year (including Alaska's perfectly predictable gutting of this part of their program) does have a silver-lining: because that helps make it harder for the bloggers to make a fat living by exploiting suckers.
As the banks and airlines all continue to tighten the screws (and they will, more and more, as long as there's an army of bloggers whose lives depend on feeding off of driving masses through every existing exploit), this will help put some of the less dedicated (less greedy) bloggers out of business. But the worst abusers will hold on to the bitter end.
The only way you can help stop them from wrecking every FF program is to not use their affiliate links. It's all they care about.
Apr 3, 2016, 3:22 pm
#94
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
The only way to stop the bloggers from wrecking everything is to hit them where they're motivated.
There's only one thing that the bloggers care about: making money. Period. They make money off idiots who click their links to open new credit cards.
Their motivation is very simple, and anyone who denies it is either dishonest, delusional, or clueless (or some combination).
The banks' recent moves that drastically limit credit card churning will have some impact - have you not noticed how recently the bloggers have shifted to fill space with all kinds of other content? And every time a program massively devalues its program also makes it harder for the bloggers to sell their lies to clueless noobs who think they can take their family on vacation to a 5-star resort in Tahiti just by opening a few cards and visiting Walmart every week. So all the wreckage of the past year (including Alaska's perfectly predictable gutting of this part of their program) does have a silver-lining: because that helps make it harder for the bloggers to make a fat living by exploiting suckers.
As the banks and airlines all continue to tighten the screws (and they will, more and more, as long as there's an army of bloggers whose lives depend on feeding off of driving masses through every existing exploit), this will help put some of the less dedicated (less greedy) bloggers out of business. But the worst abusers will hold on to the bitter end.
The only way you can help stop them from wrecking every FF program is to not use their affiliate links. It's all they care about.
There's only one thing that the bloggers care about: making money. Period. They make money off idiots who click their links to open new credit cards.
Their motivation is very simple, and anyone who denies it is either dishonest, delusional, or clueless (or some combination).
The banks' recent moves that drastically limit credit card churning will have some impact - have you not noticed how recently the bloggers have shifted to fill space with all kinds of other content? And every time a program massively devalues its program also makes it harder for the bloggers to sell their lies to clueless noobs who think they can take their family on vacation to a 5-star resort in Tahiti just by opening a few cards and visiting Walmart every week. So all the wreckage of the past year (including Alaska's perfectly predictable gutting of this part of their program) does have a silver-lining: because that helps make it harder for the bloggers to make a fat living by exploiting suckers.
As the banks and airlines all continue to tighten the screws (and they will, more and more, as long as there's an army of bloggers whose lives depend on feeding off of driving masses through every existing exploit), this will help put some of the less dedicated (less greedy) bloggers out of business. But the worst abusers will hold on to the bitter end.
The only way you can help stop them from wrecking every FF program is to not use their affiliate links. It's all they care about.
I don't think there is much we can do. What happens, will happen. Hopefully at least this time AS learned their lesson about devaluing miles without notice.
Apr 3, 2016, 3:30 pm
#95
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
Alaska knew what was going on. They were just as happy booking the awards for us, as we were booking them. Why do you think they allow people to get 3-5 AS cards? They are making money hand over fist selling miles, and with the credit cards. They made 34 million alone selling miles last year; thats huge for a small airline!
AS knew what was going on they knew people weren't buying miles to redeem them on a SEA-LAX flight on their metal. EVERYONE was buying the miles to redeem on their array of great partners( EK, CX). So they were making millions selling miles and credit cards, and not losing revenue to seats because nobody was redeeming those miles on their metal.
This was bound to happen, but I just wish AS would have gone about it better. Sure the bloggers didn't help, but what are you gonna do? They are not to solely blame for this, or really blame at all. The internet is the internet, and information is gonna get around no matter what. If one argues bloggers ruined this, one could argue FT ruined it just as much. A good deal is not gonna stay secret forever.
AS knew what was going on they knew people weren't buying miles to redeem them on a SEA-LAX flight on their metal. EVERYONE was buying the miles to redeem on their array of great partners( EK, CX). So they were making millions selling miles and credit cards, and not losing revenue to seats because nobody was redeeming those miles on their metal.
This was bound to happen, but I just wish AS would have gone about it better. Sure the bloggers didn't help, but what are you gonna do? They are not to solely blame for this, or really blame at all. The internet is the internet, and information is gonna get around no matter what. If one argues bloggers ruined this, one could argue FT ruined it just as much. A good deal is not gonna stay secret forever.
Apr 3, 2016, 3:32 pm
#96
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: CX MPC
Posts: 106
Alaska knew what was going on. They were just as happy booking the awards for us, as we were booking them. Why do you think they allow people to get 3-5 AS cards? They are making money hand over first selling miles, and with the credit cards. They made 34 million alone selling miles last year; thats huge for a small airline!
AS knew what was going on they knew people weren't buying miles to redeem them on a SEA-LAX flight on their metal. EVERYONE was buying the miles to redeem on their array of great partners. So they were making millions selling miles and credit cards, and not losing revenue to seats because nobody was redeeming those miles on their metal.
This was bound to happen, but I just wish AS would have gone about it better. Sure the bloggers didn't help, but what are you gonna do. The internet is the internet and information is gonna get around no matter what. A good deal is not gonna stay secret forever.
AS knew what was going on they knew people weren't buying miles to redeem them on a SEA-LAX flight on their metal. EVERYONE was buying the miles to redeem on their array of great partners. So they were making millions selling miles and credit cards, and not losing revenue to seats because nobody was redeeming those miles on their metal.
This was bound to happen, but I just wish AS would have gone about it better. Sure the bloggers didn't help, but what are you gonna do. The internet is the internet and information is gonna get around no matter what. A good deal is not gonna stay secret forever.
Apr 3, 2016, 4:02 pm
#97
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,257
I care about this community because I've also taken advantage of so much, but at the same time I have also had help from blogger like onemileatatime. In the end you're right it does come down to money. They will stop doing what they're doing once people stop clicking their links, but that will never happen. There are too many chumps that really need to be lead in this hobby, and bloggers are the perfect vehicle for them.
I don't think there is much we can do. What happens, will happen. Hopefully at least this time AS learned their lesson about devaluing miles without notice.
I don't think there is much we can do. What happens, will happen. Hopefully at least this time AS learned their lesson about devaluing miles without notice.
I think it's pretty obvious what they learned - about a year ago, in fact - that bloggers were playing large numbers of people for suckers, at their expense, and they (Alaska) decided they were not going to be played for fools by some low-life creep living in his mother's basement. Chase learned the same lesson, at around the same time. So did Amex. The other players will catch on soon enough if they haven't already (in large corporations, it can easily take 6 months to a year for a plan to be developed and implemented, so I'm sure more is on the way).
If you think Alaska learned something different, what would that be? They're not idiots. It's trivial for them to assign someone the task of following FT and the blogs - all evidence I've seen suggests that's exactly what they did, starting about a year ago. I'd guess that all the wreckage we've seen stems from that, and there's more coming. The bloggers drive a stampede from Bluebird to Serve. Serve gets whacked. The bloggers will now drive a stampede from EK to something else. As sure as the sun will rise, that will get whacked soon. Eventually, every option that people here have enjoyed and benefitted from will die. Now that the bloggers have roused the beasts, and "rubbed their noses in it" (bragging out opening 5 credit cards in one day, giggling about sleeping in Richard Branson's bed, etc.) the large companies that used to tolerate a few scruffy interlopers have taken a hard look and decided 'no more mister nice guy'. Nobody should be surprised. Nobody in a position of responsibility at a large corporation enjoys being openly mocked in public by a bunch of ne'er–do–wells with armies of followers all costing them money - they're going to react. They have. They will continue to do so. We have not seen the last of that.
The bloggers are fundamentally dishonest, and are incapable of being honest, because that would quickly put them out of business and then they would have to go get an actual job. How about we start by acknowledging that, and stop apologizing for them and letting their lies go by with a shrug when they claim they're only doing this because they like to help people.
Their apologists will be along now any second to demand forensic evidence and assert that all of the wreckage of the past year and what's coming had absolutely nothing to do with the profiteering of the bloggers. Riiiiiiiight.
Apr 3, 2016, 6:29 pm
#99
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: MNL
Programs: CX MPO DM, Le Club Accor Platinum, World of Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 2,284
are we talking about this guy? 
His new video about Etihad has been shared by an online news website here in the Philippines...and he seems to be happy with the attention. Promising to start a new blog about how credit card users in the Philippines could do the same thing.
Well all i can say is he doesn't know sh*t if he thinks people in the Philippines are not affected....plus he seriously needs to do his homework if he thinks he could do the same here with credit cards here.
His new video about Etihad has been shared by an online news website here in the Philippines...and he seems to be happy with the attention. Promising to start a new blog about how credit card users in the Philippines could do the same thing.
Well all i can say is he doesn't know sh*t if he thinks people in the Philippines are not affected....plus he seriously needs to do his homework if he thinks he could do the same here with credit cards here.
Last edited by FlyPointyEnd; Apr 3, 2016 at 6:52 pm
Apr 3, 2016, 6:41 pm
#100
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: MNL
Programs: CX MPO DM, Le Club Accor Platinum, World of Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 2,284
^^^^^^^
This is exactly what I have been telling people....these bloggers aren't doing it out of altruism...no they aren't your best friend who sends you a text about a secret sale at Neiman Marcus. I wouldn't even consider them similar to sales associates at Prada, at least SA's would keep it within their own loyal customers.
The problem stems out of the need to maximize revenue...get more dollars into their pockets. This might be a hasty generalization, but its how things work...the more traffic into their websites, the more clicks they get, the more signups they generate, more income for them. This might be truer for some but I think this is the case, most of the time.
Just look at how title of the video is written... "$XX,XXX First Class ticket for $XXX only...." more people would be intrigued by it and click on their videos, check out their blogs = more $$$ for them.
Apr 3, 2016, 6:43 pm
#101
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: CX MPC
Posts: 106
are we talking about this guy?
His new video about Etihad has been shared by an online news website here in the Philippines...and he seems to be happy with the attention. Promising to start a new blog about how credit card users in the Philippines could do the same thing.
Well all i can say is he doesn't know sh*t if he things people in the Philippines are not affected....plus he seriously needs to do his homework if he thinks he could do the same here with credit cards here.
His new video about Etihad has been shared by an online news website here in the Philippines...and he seems to be happy with the attention. Promising to start a new blog about how credit card users in the Philippines could do the same thing.
Well all i can say is he doesn't know sh*t if he things people in the Philippines are not affected....plus he seriously needs to do his homework if he thinks he could do the same here with credit cards here.
I wonder what he does for a real living...I highly doubt with his scale it'll be sustainable unlike Lucky and a few of the heavy hitters out there.
At least Lucky creates value for his readers, HWMNBN just rips it straight off FT with click bait titles.
Thankfully there are still areas of opportunity...for now...
Apr 3, 2016, 7:34 pm
#105
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,397
Nobody made the crowd on FlyerTalk the only proper recipient of any knowledge regarding the tricks of frequent flying, manufactured spending, deals and card churning. Taken to a logical extreme, nobody gets anything ever because we're all selfish and keep things to ourselves because it all needs to be mine, mine, mine, and telling secrets means it ruins the deal eventually. You're competing with me for that CX F seat, right? We can't both sit in it at the same time.
Do bloggers have a motive that's obviously financial and more that just "I'm helping people"? Duh. They're helping people and making good money for it. But try looking at this site without an ad blocker sometime and you will see that this site shills credit cards too. Your posts and page views are making the folks at Internet Brands money. Do you think that they somehow are morally superior to a blogger? I tend to not think so.