A few weeks ago I opined that the golden age of points & miles is behind us. Some of you agreed, some of you disagreed. It appears, however, that I misspoke. What I should have said is that the golden age of The Hobby is behind us.

In case you haven’t read it yet, I’m alluding to the rock star treatment accorded to Ben Schlappig of One Mile At A Time in Rolling Stone, a publication best known for propagating rape hoaxes. Check this out:

Schlappig owes his small slice of fame to his blog “One Mile at a Time,” a diary of a young man living the life of the world’s most implausible airline ad. Posting as often as six times a day, he metes out meticulous counsel on the art of travel hacking — known in this world as the Hobby.

Who the heck calls this stuff “The Hobby”? Was there a meeting I wasn’t invited to? Do you all refer to it as The Hobby once I’m out of earshot?

At any rate, George at TBB has been all over this. I don’t have much to add other than a resigned sigh. George linked to this excellent post on Flyertalk from AAExPlat. The whole thing is worth a read but I’ll highlight this one bit:

It makes it all sound so easy and it just isn’t anymore. Granted, it used to be. But the dream they sell is only possible if someone puts a truckload of effort and time into it. Something that MOST people don’t have because they have jobs, spouses, kids, friends, hobbies etc. That’s why the article title is so misleading. Lucky must spend between $50k-$100k on travel each year.

The RS article, mind you, says “Meet the Man Who Flies Around the World for Free”. The Daily Fail article capitalizes the word “FREE” just so there isn’t any doubt about what’s being sold. Ben gets money–a lot of money–from selling credit cards and he spends some of that on his travels. It’s dishonest to say he travels for free, but hey, it’s Rolling Stone, so I guess we can’t get too hung up on things like facts.

We’re doomed, I tell you. Doomed! From now on, I’m just going to write about the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Stay tuned for Chase Sapphire Preferred Week here at PFD!

In the wake of the closing of the Miles for Family blog, a few other bloggers such as Doc and TBB offered their thoughts about blogging. To hear them tell it, it’s a lot of hard work and headaches. But you know what? Those guys are a bunch of whiners. Blogging is awesome! And even better, it’s a guaranteed way to make easy money–fast!

I’m here today to tell you how it’s done. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you my super-awesome Road to Internet Wealth Version 1.0! [Read more…]

Look who’s back on the Prior2Boarding homepage–it’s The Forward Cabin!

The blog was very quietly removed from the homepage a few weeks ago after yours truly broke the story of another credible plagiarism accusation. For those of you keeping up with the scandal, I’ve put together a FAQ:

Q: Has James apologized or admitted guilt?

A: No. He did take down the page that I initially noticed, however, since it was obviously copied and even he couldn’t defend it.

Q: Did BoardingArea founder Randy Petersen apologize?

A: Yes.

Q: Publicly?

A: I’m not aware of any public acknowledgment of the plagiarism scandal on his part.

Q: So are you ticked off at BoardingArea?

A: No, not at all. There are a lot of great bloggers there and I continue to read them daily. In fact, it would not surprise me one bit if James has rubbed some of his fellow BA bloggers the wrong way as well. James notwithstanding, they don’t like plagiarism any more than I do, and they’ve even published helpful advice based on their own experiences being plagiarized. Based on my correspondence with James, I get the feeling that he’s an overly ambitious, unethical, resumé-padding weenie. Those types wear out their welcome in the long run.

Q: Upon discovering your work had been stolen, why did you decide to post about it rather than to reach out behind the scenes?

A: There are different shades of gray with this stuff. If somebody is a little bit lazy or sloppy, that’s not a big deal and I’d reach out in a friendly, non-public way. (Though I’ll note that I’ve never even had to do that before.) We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. But if he appropriates an entire post to pass off as his own, that’s another matter entirely. If somebody does that, then odds are it’s not an isolated case and raising a stink about it is the way to go.

Q: I understand multiple people have questioned your professionalism for handling things this way.

A: Yes… but then, those people would stand to benefit from my keeping quiet.

That’s all the Q&A for today, folks! Stay tuned for further developments!

Oh, and I’m blocked from following you-know-who on Twitter, so I’ll just have to imagine what he’s posting. Here’s my best guess…