United Struggles, Ultimate Starbucks, Family Travel Seminar, Citibank CEO interview, Langkawi, Scotland, Dildo, Criticism, Alex Honnold, TBB Frontline Report

68 Comments

1. First?

   1. Knew it…that it was a matter of time!

2. Gotta stop doing things not on my computer. Losing my touch.

   1. Get it together!

3. Monkey knife fights just got some upgraded weaponry!

   1. Pardon?

      1. The last .gif, it looks like a monkey knife fight but one of them got a lightsaber

         1. Yeah sorry about that. For some reason I thought I had the monkeys queued up for Wednesday’s blog post. This is what happens when you see so many credit card links. And so many soccer games!

4. Airfare Watchdog is on a twitter “carry on bags limit” rampage. Good stuff there.

   1. Ok, thanks for the heads up.

5. Must have been a slow news week that all those CC link filler posts come out 🙂 I take it your feedly is working again 😉

   1. Feedly is back….still not as stable as it was…Hey good luck today, hope the Germans slap the Ronaldo gang silly!

6. Stop linking people to the inferior Hyatt card offer! You can get a $50 statement credit still by doing a mock US booking. See the FT thread. I bet you’ll censor this….

   Oh, and I got the bonus for a second time last week.

   1. Great, I updated the post. I thought the $50 credit was over.

      U saying u got the 2 free nights again? Same hyatt GP #? Canceled the first one first (and waited how long?).

      Thanks for the heads up, TBB and TBB readers appreciate it!

      1. Looong time between apps, but same Hyatt GP account. Applied 10/10, cancelled 11/12, applied for the new card last month. Nights posted about four days after spending $1K (with Serve).

         1. Sweet, good to know!

            Fairmont #hint

            1. Will take the gamble with Fairmont as soon as we’re heading back to Maui/Big Island.

         2. That is called churning and you are not supposed to do that you naughty person!!! Good blogs that want you to travel well for less money will not tell you about this, they are looking after your welfare

            1. Remember when blogs actually used that term?

               1. Yes 🙂

7. Vintage TBB!

   And the last gif was TBB beating bloggers into submission I presume 😉

   1. Hahah, nice thought process 🙂

   2. This Frontline stuff is not sustainable as they just never stop pumping.

      Kind of sad to watch these marketing departments…

      At least I am trying to make it a little fun. If they don’t like it, they can stop pumping so much #hint

8. Catching up on blogs. Hmmm.. No weekend FTG piece from Andy. Maybe he finally got smart and got away from that epic trainwreck.

   1. I believe Andy’s in Brazil for the futebol at the moment.

   2. Yeah, he is having a great time in Brazil. He is keeping up with his own blog.

9. George, it sounds like you don’t think those fact checkers that IB got for the blog are doing their jobs well. They must know as much about the game as Howie knows about redeeming avios. Oh boyy..

   1. They NEVER get the credit card links wrong, you can bank on that (pun intended)

10. TBB writes “One Mile at a Time … The only reason this post was published was to pump all of these cards. WTF!!” and proceeds to list a bunch of non-affiliate cards (Alaska, Hyatt, Fairmont, Virgin America) WTF!! At least get your facts right, George 😀

    1. If just one clicked on a Chase card link the post achieved its purpose 😉

11. I sent you a coffee on Thursday 🙂

    1. Thank you!

12. What a compliment to make TBBs “DOs I like” list. Now click my link…to buy a ticket 😉

    1. I liked the line up! Gotta watch that Phil guy before he goes all Maldives on you guys 😉

       1. The Maldives won’t be around much longer. It’s an opportunity for the kids to experience the consequences of global warming first hand. One could make the argument that a visit to the the arctic would be more impactful and allow them to really experienced the rapid consequences of global warming and also envision how maps will be redrawn in the next few years http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UFZJDPUyvm4
          During the summer the kids can intern at a newspaper (while this is still an opportunity).

          1. Excuse me I am still on Cloud 9 from the USA win in the World Cup and my own team’s proudly named “Gasping for Air” subsequent beating of our nemesis 6-2. Yours truly scored 2 goals and assisted in another. Felt so inspired by Team USA what can I say?

13. RE: DeltaPoints (or “Rene’s Delta Points”) and Southwest… I also find WN to be great and used to be a CP holder. Not using them as much lately but the “Greyhound of the skies” comment makes me laugh as I’m actually on an $15 Greyhound trip ($17.50 after fees) to Portland because it made more sense than Amtrak or a flight. Also enjoying WiFi and fairly comfortable seats… In Portland my SO and I will be staying at a $40 a night Airbnb apartment in an actual neighborhood… So talking smack about WN (and Greyhound) may serve to reinforce DP’s delusions of grandeur, but I am happy using the likes of WN and even Greyhound if and when they make sense. Fitting, I suppose that WN overflies DP’s home airport of SBN — on the plus side, he would be able to catch an actual Greyhound bus from SBN, as well as several other bus options (and even the South Shore line) which works really well for trips between SBN and downtown Chicago.

    Also, thanks for the link about UA. That airline just seems to keep getting worse (so much for “United Rising”) but I also enjoyed Rohan from Upgrd’s rant about United: http://upgrd.com/aerospace/talk-is-cheap-so-it-works-perfectly-for-united.html

    Have a good week!

    1. @Hua, you should also look at BoltBus. It’s another great way to move up and down the Pac NW for very little money. Have fun in Portland! Bring umbrella this week. 🙁

       1. Thanks — I narrowly missed getting soaked during a stop in Centralia. I have looked into Bolt Bus for other trips but they didn’t pick up from where I originated (Tacoma in this case) but I view it as a viable option for possible future trips.

          Do you know what the relationship is between Greyhound and Bolt? I seem to remember seeing a Bolt Bus parked in Seattle awhile back that said “Operated by GLI, Dallas, TX” or something along those lines. Found the answer myself… According to their FAQ “BoltBus is owned by Greyhound Lines, Inc. and is operated in the Northeast region in partnership with Peter Pan Bus Lines, Inc. of Springfield, MA.”

          1. This Portlander is taking the Bolt Bus r/t Philly-DC in Sept, after a tip from The DealMommy (thanks again, Dia!). Super cheap (one ticket was $1 and another $3). I just hope it will be safe; the safety record could be better…. but we decided to go for it.

             With Hua’s arrival, the TBB Fan Club, Portland Branch, just got even bigger. Hua, Welcome to the Rose City, aka Stumptown, aka the Bridge City, aka Little Beirut, aka the Carousel City…. there are more but they escape me at the moment. The weather should improve as the week goes on.

             1. I love Portland…I also loved the 90s too 🙂

                We have Megabus in the Midwest. I usually get tickets to Chicago for $5.50 one way. Nice ride, nice bus, wifi, dropoff at Union Station.

                1. Never tried Megabus, either — sounds like a great deal, though! Although I did once get a WN flight from MDW to DTW for $25!

             2. Thanks! I love it here… today’s weather, not so much — I swear a helmet and a shield would have been more appropriate for the downpours and hail. 🙂

             3. Woot! This makes my day.

14. TPG says today that he is about to hit 1m unique visitors per month. On that basis, based on data of my own, I am slightly spooked to say he could be grossing $5m per year.

    1. If he is even making half that, it would be a good guess that numbnuts kickstarter Benlucky would be north of 7 figures. The gall and the balls of that whole affair piss me off so much. ……. Buzz, good work as usual, take the rest of the week off and enjoy some futbol…………Buzz, I have to admit i don’t know my ass from my elbow as far as soccer goes. I worked a charter in 1977 for the NY Cosmos, which supposedly was made up of international superstars. I didn’t recognize any of them except the guy from the Coke commercials, who happened to be wearing a full length white fur coat that would make Liberace envious (Pele). All that was missing was a pimp hat. Nice man, nice smile, didn’t speak a lick of English.

       1. One of the Boarding Area bloggers told me straight out in Charlotte at the DO there that Lucky made over a million. I have no idea why that was shared with me, but it was…

          1. That is crazy. Please donate in my plea to fly the Residence because it is so ridiculous as I can never pay for it lol.

    2. He’s quite full of it. He likely doesn’t know what a ‘unique visitor’ is. I’d believe page views. Even adding up each day’s sessions seems like a stretch.

       1. Don’t be so sure. I do 100k uniques a month in a country 20% of the size. 1m is not crazy given his media profile – I do almost no promotion at all.

          1. I am waiting for ingy to tell me my blog’s metrics 🙂

    3. We clearly don’t know. Everyone can say whatever they want. We can make educated guesses. TPG is over 7 figures and Lucky easy mid 6 figures. Not bad hey, click my links lol

       Ramsey: I am all soccer. I live it, I breath it. I grew up with a soccer ball next to me. At summer time that is what we played, from morning till dark. Heck, sometimes we will play after dark under the street lights. I had professional aspirations but was not really that good. I did get a call up for a tryout for the Under 14 Greek national team for our region. Never made it, broke my ankle in an awful way a few weeks before it. Still hurts me to this day.

       I was not here for the Cosmos. I have been watching the World Cup since 1978, there is nothing like it. It gets WAY more intense in the elimination games! Buckle up!

       1. I’m surprised there are so many goals. What happened to 1-0 and 0-0 games? An Italian game with 3 goals!

          1. Yeah, I know. This WC has been super awesome so far. I hope it continues…This is like watching three Superbowls every day!

15. I’m tired of you beating up on milevalue. Well, not really. I’m tired of your never, ever beating up on him for always misspelling the name of the bank with his only credit card affiliate link (apologies if I missed such instances). There is no apostrophe in Barclays. The name is even misspelled in one of the ‘best’ credit card dropdown links. Sometimes lazy proof-reading is worse than recommending low-value personal financial services products for one’s own financial gain; I’ve heard it can kill.

    1. That apostrophe gets me too sometimes, I better highlight it in today’s meeting with the TBB intern team. Just finished making another entry in the Frontline Report about said blog making reference to said bank lol.

16. Lucky about to shell out $2K for recliner seats on a 5 hour flight, but because he has to pretend he’s an average joe, he needs to “ask his readers” whether he should do it, as if he hasn’t already decided

    Not the first time

    “Should I take the Seattle to Chicago flight, or should I fly first class to Chicago via Tokyo and Istanbul without ever actually leaving the airport”

    1. I had the exact same thoughts.

       The BS meter is about to drown the TBB staff….so click my two links lol

    2. He is so full of shite…..I can’t believe all the fan boys he has. They think he’s some sort of God. “Oh Lucky, you are so cool and you do all of this for us, your fans”. Geeesh.

       1. He’s also deciding which hotels to stay a in Iceland, Hilton, Radisson or both?

          That’s an easy answer and he’s already made the decision. Of course it will be both, and of course he will “remind” us what cards can rack up points for them – well except the multiple hilton and radisson cards that don’t pay him

       2. In the First Class Award Space release by airlines he says something like…I can guess the Lufthansa FC award space 99% of the time or something like that…”no wonder I can not get a job”….Spare me the BS Ben, you have the best job and we know it…spare us the “out of college looking for my first job and doing this which is my passion blah blah blah…”

          Unbelievable!

17. As of 2. 23 pm Tuesday I have the following for tomorrow’s Buzz:

    1 link to miles/points blog
    1 link to a pure travel blog post from a known blog network

    3 awesome links to travel/photography blog posts
    2 links to videos (one travel, one soccer)

    31 references to blog posts we all know and expect to pump their readers with affiliate credit cards. Many of these businessmen present in known seminars.

    Speaking of fairness, Saverocity is losing all its links at the end of the month. Which goes to show you how perverse this field has become. It is sad to watch. Waiting for ingy to look like, well, ingy 🙂

18. “I Heart Chase: Why I Love Chase Cards”

    If Matt ever has regrets about the fact that his site didn’t bend over and be Chase’s bitch, all he has to do is look at headlines like that on the website founded by, named after, and prominently featuring Rick Ingersoll, and I’m sure he’ll be at peace with his decision

    Sucks that he’s losing his links. He’s a smart guy though – hoping he can find a way to continue building on the success they have had to date

    1. Yeah I feel really bad about that. Like I said earlier this whole space and the economics behind it is just super absurd. My Frontline Report now has close to 40 entries, miles/points entries? 3

       WTF!!!

       1. Buzz why aren’t you watching North Korea VS. Russia?

          1. I did. But not on my TV. Online at espn3.com. Split screen. The 1st half bored me to pieces, 2nd was good. Fair result

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