I’m getting sick and tired of these “travel writers” that have no clue what they’re talking about.

Case in point, read Chris Elliott’s article, A few points short of a ticket. A couple of the highlights:

Consider what happened to you. In exchange for this ticket, American Express required that you apply for a card and spend money. Lots of money. Now who is that helping? You?

While this is somewhat besides the point, we’re talking about spending $1,000 on a credit card. Something tells me that this lady would have spent the $1,000 anyway, so let’s not blow this out of proportion. From the perspective of a credit card company, $1,000 is hardly “lots of money.” Of course that’s the least of it.

Likewise, airline loyalty programs dangle “free” tickets and other perks in front of their frequent fliers. But in exchange, they not only demand your loyalty, they also require you to do stupid things, like make so-called “mileage runs” designed to reach one of their generally meaningless elite levels.

They require you to do stupid things like mileage runs? Huh? If you fly the amount of miles required for status — and the thresholds couldn’t be clearer — there’s no need for mileage runs.

As if that’s not bad enough, the second half of the sentence is even dumber. “Meaningless elite levels?” Are you kidding me, Chris? I’d love to know which airlines Chris has status with (if any, something tells me he flies maybe once a year, while posing as a “travel writer”), because the airlines I have status with give me a lot in return: free upgrades (domestic and often international), generous mileage bonuses, lounge access, elite check-in/security/boarding, etc. That’s meaningless?