Bad Marketing
CategoryAm I the only one who thinks Disney World is overrated?
As I mentioned earlier today, the family and I just wrapped up a trip to Legoland and we had a surprisingly good time there. I say “surprisingly” because five years ago
Layoffs at The Points Guy
Red Ventures, a marketing company based near my hometown of Charlotte, just closed on its purchase of Bankrate, the umbrella for CreditCards.com, ThePointsGuy.com, and other simi..
Brooks Brothers credit card offering a $100 sign-up bonus, I think
The Brooks Brothers credit card, which as of late has had sent some nice marketing promotions my way, is now offering a $100 sign-up bonus (at least, I think they’re offering
Delta launches exciting new “mystery fare” initiative
Following up on its years of frequent flyer innovations, such as getting rid of frequent flyer charts that let consumers know how many miles a frequent flyer redemption will cost,
Bankrate acquires Million Mile Secrets!
The big news in the points & miles world today is that Bankrate has acquired Million Mile Secrets. I’m glad MMS made a public announcement; that’s more than we got
Is the Chrysler MasterCard credit card the worst automotive credit card out there?
I wasn’t even aware before today that there is such a thing as a Chrysler credit card–and it turns out there’s a good reason for that.
The card is issued by
Should bloggers accept free stuff? Sure, what the heck.
Frequent Miler recently experienced a dilemma over whether to accept a free rental from Silvercar:
Ultimately, my decision had less to do with ethics or the desire to remain unbi..
Bloomingdale’s loyalty program screw-up brings $17K windfall for customer
Here’s an interesting story from Loyalty360, a loyalty marketing industry publication:
After a computer error placed dollar signs in front of Loyalist points, a few Bloomingdale’..
How to make your rewards / loyalty program more evil
Congratulations! You’ve just been placed in charge of a loyalty program. Maybe you work for an airline, or a credit card issuer, or a retailer–no matter. Your boss just told you
The pernicious effects of credit card affiliate marketing: a tale of two cards
It was the best of cards, it was the worst of cards…
A certain blogger has written up two similar cards: the Barclaycard Arrival Plus and the Capital One Venture. The two
Rolling Stone puts another nail in the coffin of “The Hobby” while continuing its new tradition of making stuff up
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
BBVA Compass NBA Amex Marketing Fail
The bad news–from a professional basketball standpoint anyway–is that I live in Charlotte. The good news is that the credit card industry has given me a reason to care about
Want to get rich quick? Start a blog!
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
The Forward Cabin makes a triumphant return to BoardingArea after a plagiarism suspension!
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 an..
Forward Cabin plagiarism scandal: a second accusation surfaces!
I recently wrote about what looks for all the world like a clear-cut case of plagiarism by The Forward Cabin, a BoardingArea blog. Last week our esteemed leader Matt contacted Ra..
Is a Boarding Area blogger plagiarizing me?
Four days ago I published a quick piece on Citi’s new Access credit card. I hadn’t seen this product mentioned anywhere before, as there had been no grand announcement from Citi…
Apple has a new credit card with terrible rewards
I haven’t seen much publicity about this one, but Apple and Barclaycard recently launched a new card. It’s officially called the “Barclaycard Visa with Apple Rewards“, (not, you ..
Who owns the credit card blogs?
“A company that helps you find the perfect credit card is now worth $1 billion,” said a recent headline in Business Insider:
Credit Karma, a credit-tracking personal finance sit..
Congress to clamp down on frequent flyer mile devaluations?
Over at CreditCards.com there’s an interesting interview with Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL). Grayson, like most members of Congress, is a frequent flyer, and he’s not too pl..