Careful, if you point out how hard it is to use aa miles some smart Alec will suggest you PM him to give you all your miles. :rolleyes:

zero. never have, never will. I don't see the need to indirectly fund bloggers lavish lifestyles when all they do is copy and paste info they get from forums and post trip reports of their first class flights.

I'm all for supporting the bloggers I read. Is every post a gold mine of useful information? No. But, I figure if they save me a little money or add a little value to my travels they deserve a kick-back.

At the same time, a majority of blogs that push referral links to inferior offers so they can get a commission. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but Doctor of Credit does not even provide links and yet seems to survive.

This model was very successful for affiliates back in the days of online poker and sportsbooks.

A friend of mine rebated a significant % of his affiliate commissions back to the person signing up. He was the first to offer a program like this and became one of the biggest affiliate sites on the Net. He banked a $$$ fortune because of the generous split he offered. Customers earned "points" for signing up to various sites and these points could then be redeemed for various gift cards for major retailers.

I'm not sure if it's greed, ignorance or some sort of regulatory requirement but if a blogger could use this model with CC signups he/she would almost immediately corner the market.

No, you're definitely right. If bloggers aren't pushing the best offers then they don't deserves a dime.

Contractual (not regulatory, but still...) compliance sucks, doesn't it?? :p

Interesting thread, some facts I would like to throw in here:

Regarding splitting commissions, it is explicitly forbidden. The risk is too great to be found out as the punishment is having your links taken away.

Most bloggers started this as a hobby. Some have managed to make it a huge business.

It is the responsibility of each blog reader to reward good blogging practices and blogs that ADD value to them.

Most blogs quit due to life changes and/or not getting enough support from readers.

When you post on the internet you will attract trolls/haters. If you do not have a thick head you should not become a blogger.

In my blog I review miles and points blogs. I keep a list of blogs I love, like and ignore. Many of the blogs the OP mentioned are in the Ignore list. ...! But hey, if they add value to you please support them.

This is not a hobby anymore. This hobby thrives in being under the radar. And the airline/hotel industry is incredibly different from many years ago. Commercial blogs are a HUGE reason for the hobby slowly disappearing...This will reverse when most blogs quit when the banks stop paying fat commissions to keep selling credit cards to newbies----->people who never had a travel rewards credit card before and are probably not suited to managing credit responsibly...

I could go on...

You're specifically talking about the application page link or their blog link in general?

The general rule is any click which takes you to the website of the company concerned.

So, for example, if a blogger mentions a competition that Chase is running on its website and you click though to it, that will set a cookie which will pay if you take out any card from Chase via their site over the coming weeks.

Zero. I'd rather give the credit to a friend or family member or frankly to no one rather than to a shill.

So using Award Wallet as an example, there is a banner on the left side of the page advertising current offers from Amex, Barclay, Chase, etc., If I'm only reading the blog on this site, maybe commenting to earn 5 AA miles, and or checking my miles and points totals.

Am I cookied to the point if I apply for any of the same cards they're promoting on another site or Incognito with a better offer than they are showing they still get paid? Or do I have to click on one of their card links to keep the cookie clock running?

Reading a site with an ad on it doesn't set the affiliate referral cookie. Clicking on it does.

Note that Award Wallet sets affiliate cookies when you auto log-in, unless you turn off the option in settings.

Didn't know that did you?

Whenever you ask it to, for example, auto log-in to Hilton you are handing AW a chunk of your Hilton bookings for the next 14 days.

What setting? I don't see anywhere for those type of settings on the website nor on my phone.