shanshan

I've always assumed that the most creative Flyertalkers have already banded together via off-line PM, chat rooms, emails etc. That FT as I knew many years ago (if only as a curious lurker), I assumed would largely move "more" underground..

jcf27

^ +1

--J

PS: once I accidentally caught someone plagiarizing posts from other websites as his.her own. Word by word....

julielou2

Actually I've used my Preferred card as a mower blade. Just sharpen the sides of the card and it will cut your grass just fine.

DHAST

You lead off okay without having time for the "puzzles." Heck, I've been around here for 10 years, and I still don't have time for the puzzles.

But you conclude with (paraphrasing here) "I'm not willing to put in any sweat equity." And this is where you're going to be sorely disappointed with FT. None of the good deals come with no risk and no effort. What are you looking for, some sort of discount code to put in the "buy here" box? A mistake fare or three? (Ones you can use that actually happen to be available by the time you hear about them are few and far between. I haven't gotten in on a mistake fare since 2005 or 2006.) Your only real option if you've got no time is to be a small business owner or otherwise have lots of reimbursable business expenses. There aren't very many ways to get miles at no cost in perpetuity.

You can't get something for nothing, and in this case, you're trading $ for some time and effort. If you value your time more than you value the money you would save, then you'll just pay the cash. That's how the world works.

Least you think I'm just flaming you, I get your position. I never did the dollar coins deal because I was too lazy to drag thousands and thousands of dollar coins from bank to bank hoping they wouldn't get fed up and tell me to piss off.

I do, however, do credit cards. I've picked up over a million points in my name alone over the last year and a half or so. But, I gotta check the blogs (sorry, too lazy to skim through FT everyday) and apply for a few cards every now and then. Nobody can do that for you, unless they have your SSN. I have to spend time searching for award inventory, and yes, it's time consuming. Why should people do that for you for nothing?

I do gift cards, too. And depending on how long a particular bank is in the business of rewarding five points per dollar spent at office supply stores, I'll be bringing in 7500 points/month. That's actually really good for somebody with just regular household spend.

A few years ago, Starwood was doing a "free weekend nights" award. I spent six nights at a local hotel (at $75/night) to rack up two nights at the W in Times Square (NYC). That took time.

This year, my wife and I are going to SE Asia for a month. First Class airfare is free (ok, I had to pay some heft fuel surcharges). Hotels in HKG and Bali are free. I found a mistake rate and some good deals elsewhere.

Even if I put 100 hours into planning this trip, it's worth it. I wasn't going to bill it at work, but if I did, I'd net something like $2500 for that time. The quality of trip that we are taking is worth far more than that $2500. But, if your billing rate is in the hundreds of dollars per hour (and you could bill all day along) or you value your family time extremely high, then you'll pay the money. One year, I outright paid $2300/ticket for two business class tickets to Bali from JFK. (Discovered this one on my own, actually.)

Enough rambling from me. I get what you're saying about "the puzzles" but you can't get much for nothing around here. The really good stuff is going to take time and effort on your end.

NYBanker

For me, the aggregated blogs are an easy way to learn about many deals/opportunities. They certainly don't have all the deals, but it is much easier than trolling the myriad of forums here or on Milepoint....both often principally filled with rant threads/etc.

For example, I probably would not have learned about the Fairmont LivingSocial deal last March had I not been a blog reader. I don't read the Fairmont thread here, and I don't know when it made it to the "buzz" thread.

To knock blog-writers' profit motivations while not including FT (or MP) in the same statement is hypocritical. Frankly, more money has likely been made off of FT from the ads here, and the sale of the property, than the sum of all blogger referral fees. (There is a Chase Mileage Plus Explorer add to the right of the editing box as a type this!) To think FT is anything other than a profit-motivated enterprise is naive at best. Face it - the Internet isn't an egalitarian Utopia. Many wish it were (or think it is!) - but that's simply not the case.

Regardless of whether a "good" deal is profiled here or on a blog makes little difference - once it is posted in a well trafficked public forum, if a company has a good Internet/media strategy, they'll uncover it quickly (and can shut down the deal if they wish). Thankfully, despite the travel providers' presence here, most big companies are pretty slow to react. Therein lies our remaining opportunity....

HansGolden

+1

Things I dislike:

1. Lazy bloggers who re-post the same stuff without any original work (even creating a deals digest is eminently preferable to writing a "post" that regurgitates the latest promo; a summary/deals digest/roundup at least adds some value)
2. Lazy FTers who want all the deals handed to them on a silver platter or want their trips planned for them with free award consulting and tourism research without doing any research themselves
3. Bloggers that cannibalize the hand that feeds them
4. FTers that cannibalize the hand that feeds them

Things I like:

1. Bloggers that perform original analysis, adding value
2. FTers that perform original analysis, adding value
3. Bloggers that are respectful of those that find the deals they post
4. FTers that are respectful of those that find the deals they post
5. Bloggers that are helpful to their readers, while balancing helpfulness to all people in the FF game (which includes their readers)
6. FTers that are helpful to the community, while balancing helpfulness to all people in the FF game (which includes their readers)
7. Bloggers that are honest about the best CC deal rather than pushing what will make them the most money
8. FTers that are honest about the best cashback deal rather than pushing what will make them referral money

I think people are beginning to realize, but hopefully the above crystallizes, that it's not about the medium; it's about the person. We have both types of people on FT and writing blogs. Both FTers and bloggers will feel the long-term effects of taking one approach or the other. We can't stop either type, but we can attempt to shape their behavior through our actions: how we communicate with them, whether we click their links, how we share info with them, etc. All those are legitimate forms of voting with our actions/wallets/info to help show what we as a community feel is appropriate behavior.

YouDontKnowMe

I really didn't mean to come across that way at all. I work hard to get the best deals I can for myself and family. I do credit cards. I find creative ways to make the ever increasing spends. I purchase via portal malls when I ever I can even it takes a lot more time to do so. I use ITA and the OTA's to get the best fares I can. I also know it takes time, thought and effort to travel on miles and points. I don't have a million miles but I have several 100k and use 100-200k every year.

I have only been a member here for a few days but I have tried to contribute where I could. I am not looking for a handout. I wasn't raised that way. I do believe in helping and sharing and that is what I was looking for here. Hoping that FT could help me maximize my limited resources.

I had better start reading what I have written before I click submit.

julielou2

Actually children will go anywhere there's a hotel pool and a place to buy souvenirs. My kids have great memories of all the trips we have experienced. We have been all over this great country of ours. And we got there by flying. The impact of these trips have now made our grown up children want to take their kids to places beyond the beach.

Ken in Phx

+1

DHAST

Yeah... I never set foot on an airplane until I was headed off to college. When I was younger, I remember being a wee bit jealous of kids whose parents could afford to take them on nice vacations. Now, I have to pay my own way

While I have fond memories of my grandparents (many a vacation was spent at their suburban house in a mid size city's suburbs) I honestly have had my fill of camping (my parents' other favorite past time). I would have appreciated a real trip or two.

DHAST

Ain't that the truth. There's asking for some help, and then there's "I have 15k miles in UA, 15k in BA, and 10k AmEx points. Please help me take my family of four first class to Australia!" I can't even begin to give that person decent advice.

You know, I go both ways on that. Any good deal is going to get out. Any deal that can be taken advantage of in perpetuity will be. If I don't take advantage of it, somebody else will. (Think coins -- I never did a single one, but I wonder what the record was.) I honestly don't know how something that can be cannibalized won't be.

I'm putting as much of my monthly spend on AmEx gc's from Office Depot as I can. Is Chase going to come after me or otherwise reduce the generosity of their offer? I hope not. There's a 50k limit on purchases in that category. I'm going to come in at well under half that, so I hope they didn't set that up as a loss leader. I don't have any great desire to take advantage of a company (although I will ) but I really hope for deals that are advantageous to all involved.

That is so true. There is absolutely nothing sacred about FT. If it's posted here, it's probably posted on Dan's Deals, Slick Deals, and Fat Wallet. Blog readership has to be tiny in comparison.

DHAST

Honestly, the best help that I've gotten from FT or the blogs (I never really keep track of what I learn from where) is just the general knowledge of how programs work. The intricacies of who partners with who and how my points can transfer or be used on various awards.

abcx

Why are all the bloggers going crazy and listing all the point breaks on their site? It used to be nice when not everybody in the world was booking these on the first day. I'm on vacation damn it and I wish I didn't have to make all my bookings on the first day after the list came out.

IMH

I can understand why a couple of specialist hotel/PB bloggers carry it -- and am glad that they do. Why anyone running an "Airline X" or "Today in the Air" blog thinks they're adding value and defining their niche is more of a mystery.

guoguo914

+1