I have an undeserved reputation in some circles as someone who “kills deals“. To my knowledge, no travel or manufactured spending hack has ever been shut down because of the limited exposure on this blog. I’m aware of hacks that got shut down after mass media exposure or after prominent bloggers shared it. But not with anything I’ve ever written about.
It’s bizarre how some people are obsessed with monitoring my blog and then pounce when they see something they think will die because I’ve covered it.
Reality check
I’ve got some wisdom to share with those folks that hopefully brings them comfort. I say this with the utmost seriousness and not the least bit of sarcasm: The world will not end if you can’t fly first class anymore. You also won’t die and no natural disasters will occur if you can’t sample the breakfast buffet at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome. Science can back me up on this.
I get quite a few emails from people who are concerned about me sharing “secret deals” and killing them. If I haven’t written about it already, I probably won’t. Or maybe I just don’t know about it. Either way, sending emails, lecturing me to keep it off the blog is a waste of time.
If I want to do something, there’s no talking me out of it. But lucky for you all, I can be fairly reasonable. I understand that some things are indeed too fragile for even the smallest amount of exposure. So I have kept things off the blog for that reason.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m always disappointed when a deal dies. For about five seconds. Then it’s onto the next hack. On the up side, the more limiting this hobby becomes, the more creative people get.
Stuff happens, move on
Despite our best efforts to limit exposure, even a small group of people can kill a deal by overdoing it. There was an instance in the past where a single individual brought down a fare deal with a complaint.
Things happen. The less time you spend mourning and anticipating the next apocalypse, the more time you can devote to discovering new hacks and maybe even putting some of those points and miles towards what they were intended for: Travel.
If this hobby goes down in flames tomorrow, I’ll survive. I’m not going to throw a temper tantrum because I can’t fly first class (or business class for that matter). Maybe all of us need a bit of a reality check sometimes. Because this mentality of “I want something nice but I don’t want anyone else to have it” is really ugly and a common occurrence when people “move on up” in the world.
Of course, it’s going to rear its head in a community of people who aspire to travel better than their bank accounts allow them. Perhaps if all of this goes away, people will get back to basics and appreciate travel for the experience rather than the “product”.
Whatever happens, I’m ok with it and you should be too. The world won’t end if we can’t fly first class anymore and rather than getting paranoid about which blogger is going to kill your points and miles cash cow, just enjoy it while it lasts and don’t get greedy. This reminds me of what Rick from Frugal Travel Guy used to say: “Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered.” That rings true in all aspects of life.
Both pigs and hogs get slaughtered. Animal eating is a nasty business. But you are correct. A deal can be killed just by one person. Although its always better when the fragile deals dont get published. Even if that means me missing out on the deal. I’d rather someone else exploit it then to kill it when the locust swarm in on it.
I’m in it for the travel. I do paid deals plus points. You are wrong though. The world will end for some of these people. I’m not one of them. I did ms like 2 times with bluebird. Then, it died. I’m more of a credit card signer-upper. It’s easy, but I would love to see you at Walmart doing your thing.
If those people will lose their minds if they can’t sit up front anymore, they kind of don’t deserve to in the first place. I’m taking a break from ms right now (I went a little overboard last year) but when my trips to WM resume, I’ll be sure to share them on Snapchat or I may start writing about them again.
I’m probably one of those folks that fly F a ton… I’ve already adapted to business class (in fact, I write this from an American 777-300ER business class seat – 3J, so I still turned left :-D). I don’t know that arguing which blog killed a deal really matters. Once its on the Internet, its on the Internet. Yes, folks could do forensics; oh, you posted it at 12:01am, then a bigger blog posted it at 12:10am, but really, once the cat is out of the bag, or pandora’s box is open, you’re not going to get it closed. So what do you do? You, and all of us as bloggers, practice good judgement, and ask ourselves, would we be proud to post a particular deal? Could it kill the deal? Are we doing it for the clicks, or for the community? If the community, is there a way we can do it that preserves it just that much longer so more of the community can leverage it?
I think you’ll notice that from a reselling standpoint, I seldom post deals, the reason, is just that. I wonder whether I’ll hurt more than I help. Travel Hacking is the same, though, not necessarily the difference between profit and loss.
I agree Trevor and I do the same – a couple of months ago I was going to post about a deal. Even wrote it up, then decided it was too fragile for mass exposure. But oddly, it’s posts about Walmart money orders and “which git cards are PIN-enabled” that get people mad. That stuff has been out there for years and one most post isn’t going to kill i.
I’m with you on business class – I actually prefer it over first. If the seat is flat and I save a couple of thousand points, I’m fine not having caviar. 🙂
I for one, think that the Gift Card deal will last for a little while longer. It’ll definitely get harder… Just gotta keep moving on to the next “hack”
It’s been around for so long, I think it will continue for at least a few more years. And I don’t see the gift card companies doing anything about it but rather money order sources drying up. When that happens, as you said, on to the next hack.
You’re probably right that you haven’t killed any deals by sharing them on this blog. However, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of this hobby. It’s not only about flying in premium cabins and staying in luxury hotels. For many people, it’s about being able to afford travel at all, even flying in economy class and staying in basic accommodation. Many people probably have jobs or academic courses that limit the dates they can travel, which makes it more difficult to find low fares. So, they would have to rely on frequent flyer miles to get affordable flights that fit with their schedule.
Also, there’s no guarantee that we’ll continue to have ultra-low fares in the long run. Jet fuel is probably one of an airline’s biggest expenses, and oil prices are volatile. If airfares rise to astronomical levels, then everyone would need frequent flyer miles and other rewards from credit card spending.
I can totally understand that – I was in the same boat before I got into this hobby. But my point is, the greedy ones in this hobby are the ones who can probably afford to fly in economy but use their miles for luxury travel. Often, it’s the same guys who fly to a country without spending a minute outside of the airport, just to a try a certain “product.” Those guys are usually the ones exploiting deals to fund their luxury travel habits and then blame “newbies” when it dies. People like that I won’t feel sorry for when they can’t milk it anymore.
BMAU09, voice of reason. I participate in this hobby to afford my very elderly parents, who worked without any meaningful vacation for decades, the ability to travel in relative comfort today.
There are also those of us who work full time 60 + hours weekly to provide for our families and send our kids to school. Our lives are very busy. We support the blogs by visiting them daily and using their links for CC signups. We hope the blogs provide some insight into good deals so we can treat our families to vacations. For us, first class is not a need, but a blogger summarizing deals is. For many, our schedules do not allow for hours of research and deal hacking. (I love the challenge…I wish I had the time) So it is very kind of the bloggers that do share helpful information. So, be cautious throwing stones at pointchaser. When a hacking blogs is no longer informational, I’m sure most of us quit visiting.
Thanks Amy. That’s why I started blogging – to try and organize all of the information about points and miles into an easily accessible format.
…And how many Hyatt credit card holders have their calendars set to call Mlife the morning of March 1?
My world will definitely be affected if this travel hobby becomes much more limited and harder to earn miles and points. As a family of 4 who used to take one nice vacation a year to a family of 4 who now takes 4 nice vacations a year, plus many weekend trips within driving distance to our area, we’d be devastated.
I suppose we’d have to find other ways to make our love of travel viable because to be honest, I don’t think we’ll aver be able to go back to how our lives used to be prior to travel hacking. Aside from getting married and having kids, nothing has had such a drastic impact in my life as much as this hobby. I mean that sincerely.
So, a big thank you for sharing as much as you have over the years. I have personally learned a lot from reading your blog and have put all that information to good use. <3
Glad to hear it, Gisele. And I hope your family gets to enjoy many more vacations to come. 🙂