darkhunter

Yeah but its my understanding that the Hawaiian cards are churnable.

So say you get one every 90 days or every 6mo or so and that's a lot of miles.

The consensus seems to be that Chase and Citi are 1 time deals.
So you might get 100K in 1 shot but you are not getting another.
(citi was churnable, lot of people got tons of AAs but then they started putting new language in the terms)

Honestly too we have probably gotten spoiled by the crazy 100 and 75K kinda offers. I loved them but something like 35K is a lot more normal historically speaking. It's not really a bad offer, compared to 75K a pop yeah, but if that's all over then hey I 'll take 35 over nothing any day.

It is slimmer pickings on the deals right now so yeah the bloggers are having to reach a little more for the deals, if the Hawaiian is getting the attention right now again I think the big thing is their chrunability. In the long run I think churnability is much more valuable.

Also the 100K offers had their share of "catches" I think the BA card was a perfect example. Obviously there was tons of controversy about everyone geting their 100K and then all the sudden they turned to "avios" and were severely devalued for anything but short-haul travel. And lets not even get started on the fees. When you can BUY a revenue ticket for less than the cash portion with your miles, that's frigging insane. I mean come on. Seriously? There's some gems for avios use like again direct short haul travel
but that's about it.

mnscout

Not good? Compared to what? To Cap One 100,000 miles bonus that was likely once in a lifetime deal (for the record, I'd like to be wrong on that)? Just 3-4 years ago, bonuses of more than 25,000 miles were unheard of. Of course, back then you could churn Citi AA, but in the long run, it would take you at least 3 churns or over 9 months to get to the 75,000 miles? Hawaian is useful for Hilton 1:2 transfer, so 2 BoA cards brings you 140,000 Hilton. How is that not so good? 50,000 TYPs are worth over $600 in travel, and RRs $800. What is so shabby about those bonuses that they're not worth mentioning?

GetSetJetSet

Please don't put the final nail in the coffin of legitimate journalism by equating bloggers with reporters. Posting pictures of your flights and links to credit card signs ups is decidedly not journalism.

belfordrocks

Well for one, the whole point of miles and points (at least to most people, and definitely those interested in opportunity cost) is to redeem for international first class and other purposes which maximises their value. Having TYP basically given a predetermined value per point completely nullifies this.

+1^^^

sbm12

Hate to break it to you, but you don't get to dictate what content someone else produces. You can choose to read it or not, but you don't get to decide what a blogger writes.

Some folks are more about always flying up front. Some are more about flying to far-flung places and some are just about trying to make life as a domestic US business traveler just a little bit more tolerable. Why? Because there are folks who want to read all those things.

How can you tell how much any of the bloggers have paid for any of the trips they're reporting on?


Guess it is time for you to start writing.

I don't like the incessant CC referrals. And to address that issue I've mostly stopped reading the folks who publish that content. Plus, I've decided not to partake. I know I'm making less money from my blog that way but I don't mind so much because I'm happier with my content that way.

tassojunior

I used to try and help some of the bloggers by using their cc links when I could. Now I don't. I avoid their links whenever possible.

The turning point for me was their incessant pushing the BA cc and the 50% MR-BA transfer bonus just before BA switched to the garbage Avios. And then having the gall to write repeated articles about how Avios really is good and we should keep getting more to polish up Chase when their blogs were the one forum that could have raised an outcry against Avios and forced BA to change Avios.

We need an independent blog devoid of these cc ads.

mikeef

Believe it or not, there's nothing to stop you. Creating a blog is ridiculously easy and there are a number of commission programs that act as the middleman between you and the credit card companies. I don't do it personally, but I have no problem with people who do.

And there are very, very few people who get rich off Google Adsense. If people are blogging to make their millions off of Adsense, they are going to hate it very quickly.

Mike

benzemalyonnais

Some folks are more about always flying up front. Some are more about flying to far-flung places and some are just about trying to make life as a domestic US business traveler just a little bit more tolerable. Why? Because there are folks who want to read all those things.

Agreed, sometimes when I post from my phone I don't re-read my posts and I end up sounding too negative. I'm all for both of the top two, and thankfully don't have as much work travel anymore.

However, some of the blogs aren't doing anything involving those three....

How can you tell how much any of the bloggers have paid for any of the trips they're reporting on?

Certain bloggers can't 'sit in Y', so they write about how they 'scored a great deal by upgrading for 1500$ off of low-fare Y' Of course not all of them do this, but this particular one often states how much he pays for hotel stays too.

Guess it is time for you to start writing.

If I ever get laid off I'll definitely consider it, but as for now I enjoy being a back-seat driver.

Besides, I'd get just as many negative comments on here because I'd be most useful writing about fuel dumps or using OJs to fly for cheap.

Most of us are hard-working folks, and just hate being taken advantage of by the bloggers who are making lots of easy $$. Making money is one thing, but making money discreetly and with a crap-quality product is another thing. And I will add I have nothing against your blog, it's one of the better and more original ones.

2stepsbehind

No, to the vast majority of people, the whole point of miles and points is to fly for free. It is starting to get more than a little annoying that a few people would like to impose their own ideal of travel on everyone else. If a particular blog/set of blogs doesn't speak to you, don't follow them and/or create your own.

84fiero

In addition to reported churnability, the HA cards can be obtained in both BoH and BoA versions simultaneously for 70K total. Some folks use them for HA redemptions, partner redemptions, or conversion to HHonors points (which would net 140K points just from the card bonuses). Though I hope the HA cards don't get pimped too much and ruin churnability.

I didn't know you were the blog police And guess what, not everyone is obsessed with flying first class for free!

benzemalyonnais

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand people who redeem for coach. My mom has me do all the deals for her, and she then wants to fly to Arizona in Y. Makes no sense to me, but it's not my call...

I'll generally take anything for free, but I just want a good value. No problem with a Y redemption if its a good value, and I also don't value C flights at 4k like some do. I'd never pay that.

I'm really really anti high mileage redemption in Y because I happen to be very good at creating affordable Y fares for myself which I can purchase outright. Case-in-point, I earlier redeemed 60k DL miles for a BOS-AMS redemption. I thought it was a good value since I figured I'd have to pay close to 1000$ as it was summer travel.....well I just found basically the same flight for $465 last week and bought it. Now I've cancelled that award ticket and even with the fees I can put those miles to better use.

Sorry if I sound too frustrated, I post things that are way too blunt when I'm posting from my phone.

tc fly girl

Let's face it, you'll visit the blogs that fit your travel style and provide you with information you can use or enjoy.

It doesn't matter how many blogs are out there because you're only going to visit the ones that fit your needs/wants.

It doesn't matter if information is repeated, you might pick up information on one blog that you missed on another. If information is repeated and you don't appreciate that, don't visit that blog any more.

It's great that we have the freedom to create a blog, freedom to chose what we want to read, and the freedom to complain.

Considering the time and effort it takes to keep a blog going on a daily basis, I'm glad someone can make some money at it. They wouldn't be able to make money if no one read their content or clicked on the links.

With that said, I will shamelessly promote our blog.

toddreg

Please note that the Hawaiian card has an annual fee which is not waived the first year. Therefore churning, to me, seems pretty expensive. Just get a SPG card and a Cap 1 or a Sapphire card and load them up.

FederalFlyer

I'm curious what people would prefer "content-wise" over what's currently being offered by the bloggers out there?

belfordrocks

Anything not credit card related, like Ben's hot nuts and diet Coke posts....