Alaska confirms: 'travel hackers' killed their Emirates Offerings
Apr 4, 2016, 7:42 am
#121
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,187
Take a good look at the links to the 40% off AS offer for details: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...s-a-good-deal/
Apr 4, 2016, 8:01 am
#122
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP, mid-tier with pretty much everyone else
Posts: 873
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.
Apr 4, 2016, 9:40 am
#123
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: AA EP
Posts: 2,203
Apr 4, 2016, 10:16 am
#125
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: ATL
Programs: All of Them
Posts: 511
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).
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).
Their motivation is very simple, and anyone who denies it is either dishonest, delusional, or clueless (or some combination).
Apr 4, 2016, 10:51 am
#126
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: AA LT Plat, UA 1k/1mm+, National EE, IC Plat, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 2,605
Take a good look at the links to the 40% off AS offer for details: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...s-a-good-deal/
Apr 4, 2016, 8:50 pm
#127
Join Date: May 2001
Location: IAD
Posts: 6,148
Agree. EK flies what, 200 F seats a day US to DXB? How many of those should be going to AS mileage plan users, and how many people were bloggers pimping it to? A lot more than could ever possibly book seats in a year.
Apr 5, 2016, 12:21 am
#128
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC//TLV
Programs: DL-PM; Marriott-Plat; SPG (soon RIP) - Plat, and e/t connected to AMEX Plat
Posts: 112
Apr 6, 2016, 7:38 am
#130
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
And if EK had concerns about AS MileagePlan readers taking up too much EK F seats, they can do what they can do: reduce the amount of space it makes available to AS. POS throttling means aren't exactly unheard of in these games of using miles from one carrier for flights on another carrier.
Last edited by GUWonder; Apr 6, 2016 at 1:12 pm
Apr 6, 2016, 8:28 am
#131
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: AA LT Plat, UA 1k/1mm+, National EE, IC Plat, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 2,605
I have substantial doubts that anywhere close to a majority of the miles/points blog readers are individually acquiring enough miles fast enough to consume all of that space.
And if EK had concerns about AS MileagePlan readers taking up too much EK F seats, they can do what they can do: reduce the amount of space it makes available to AS. POS throttling aren't exactly unheard of in these games of using miles from one carrier for flights on another carrier.
And if EK had concerns about AS MileagePlan readers taking up too much EK F seats, they can do what they can do: reduce the amount of space it makes available to AS. POS throttling aren't exactly unheard of in these games of using miles from one carrier for flights on another carrier.
Apr 6, 2016, 1:17 pm
#132
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Tulsa, OK
Programs: HHonors Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 306
Take a good look at the links to the 40% off AS offer for details: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...s-a-good-deal/
"Had to explain how miles benefit the airline and their partners. But even in doing so, realized… What a good time to stockpile AS miles.
It won’t last forever, folks."
Apr 6, 2016, 2:45 pm
#133
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 68
I had some suspicions about points.com involvement but wasn't sure. Thanks for the info you did provide. I had thought that the commission rates varied by type of transaction and perhaps also by access means.
And those award booking services help people buy points too? Interesting how this works.
And those award booking services help people buy points too? Interesting how this works.
Apr 7, 2016, 12:55 am
#134
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,187
Not only that, I can imagine that some mileage brokers offering cheap F tickets on EK to unsuspecting clients will have a problem.
Apr 7, 2016, 7:44 am
#135
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,624
It would explain why OMAAT seemed downright livid over AS increasing the mileage requirement for Emirates. I would imagine he had to deal with some upset clients from his award booking service who might have bought miles during this last sale specifically for him to book their awards.
