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A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

rollingstone.com

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Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#11

Post by Retra »

lingben wrote: post #9
comrade1 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guy find ways to exploit the system - some of it is reasonable, for example taking advantage of airlines overbooking flights, but some of it is just being an ass, for example demanding a voucher if his headset is broken rather than a new headset. Plus, lots of boring multi-leg flights with no real destination just to rack up miles. Guy should use his brains for something more useful, like solving the traveling salesm…

he's making a lot of money doing what he enjoys and it is legal, so what exactly is wrong with that?

People who write legislation are not literally deities.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#12

Post by eitally »

lingben wrote: post #7
nkassis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically the person in the article uses various tricks to game the airline and accumulate as many frequent flyer miles and fly around as much as he can (accumulating even more points it seems). He also writes a blog about it.

wait, you're saying that you accumulate FF points when you are flying on a ticket that you got by redeeming FF points? wouldn't removing this simple feature nullify what he's doing or at least a great deal of what he's able to accomplish?

I share your skepticism. I have personally never accrued FF points while flying on an FF ticket, on any airline.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#13

Post by fennecfoxen »

comrade1 wrote: post #3

This is a bad customer. I'm surprised the airlines just don't ban him.

It's not strictly about being a bad customer of the airlines... You can get free flights by being bad customers of other businesses offering airline miles (like credit cards) or by defrauding taxpayers (the well-known "buy dollar coins from the Mint" scam). This might even be profitable for the airlines. Sometimes.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#14

Post by imjk »

Ben's only one of a growing number of high-profile frequent flyer bloggers: http://pointsbuzz.com/. As most of the strategies they promote for amassing ff points revolves around gaming sing up bonuses for credit card fees, the bloggers make money from affiliate fees for credit cards they promote. The airlines don't mind because they sell their miles to cc companies and gain customer loyalty. The credit card companies don't mind because they buy the miles for cheaper and use them as an incentive that is cheaper than the lifetime value of the customer.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#15

Post by vezzy-fnord »

comrade1 wrote: post #10
lingben wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he's making a lot of money doing what he enjoys and it is legal, so what exactly is wrong with that?

Spoken like a true HN devoté... In terms that you can understand: legal != right

Correct, but it is still a form of hacking, by way of social engineering. The ethics of it are dubious, certainly, but there's still something to appreciate in Kevin Mitnick types, even if they don't necessarily deserve to be lumped as "hackers" in the sense of technical prowess.

Engaging in human hacking and systems analysis of institutions like this can have high personal pay-offs, but it also often requires to revolve much of your lifestyle around it, so whether it's worthwhile varies.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#16

Post by phn »

lingben wrote: post #7
nkassis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically the person in the article uses various tricks to game the airline and accumulate as many frequent flyer miles and fly around as much as he can (accumulating even more points it seems). He also writes a blog about it.

wait, you're saying that you accumulate FF points when you are flying on a ticket that you got by redeeming FF points? wouldn't removing this simple feature nullify what he's doing or at least a great deal of what he's able to accomplish?

Well, the point of miles is to keep you flying on that same company, why not keep giving them?

From an incentive point of view it makes sense, otherwise, spending all your miles would be an opportunity to jump to another airline.

This particular abuse seems like an extreme case, and really, what is giving a seat to one guy who goes to extreme length compared to the returns on the general customer base?

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#17

Post by imjk »

comrade1 wrote: post #3

This is a bad customer. I'm surprised the airlines just don't ban him.

It's actually a big circle jerk that benefits the airlines. Most of the strategies that Ben and his cohorts promote is "gaming" credit card signup bonuses. Basically, sign up for X credit card and get X number of of frequent flyer miles. The airlines sell the miles to the cc companies for much cheaper than a consumer could buy and in return get some revenue and customer loyalty. In the case of co-branded credit cards, there's probably some revenue share going on. The credit card companies then incentivize a new customer by giving X frequent flyer miles after X spend threshold. The CC companies make money by charging retailers a merchant fee for transactions. The bonus miles they give to new customers is often itself cheaper than what they'll earn in transaction fee from retailers, but almost certainly after you take into account the lifetime value of the customer. The customer feels as if they got miles for free or super cheap as they often make purchases they would have made anyway on another card. And of course, bloggers like Ben get paid on affiliate fees for promoting specific credit cards.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#18

Post by twblalock »

imjk wrote: post #14

Ben's only one of a growing number of high-profile frequent flyer bloggers: http://pointsbuzz.com/ . As most of the strategies they promote for amassing ff points revolves around gaming sing up bonuses for credit card fees, the bloggers make money from affiliate fees for credit cards they promote. The airlines don't mind because they sell their miles to cc companies and gain customer loyalty. The credit card companie…

There is also a subreddit for this: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning
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