Carnac the Magnificent called last night and offered the following 2012 predictions for the travel hacking community:
- Credit card applications will continue to be the primary source of free or inexpensive miles throughout the year. As a result more people will actually work on improving their credit to take advantage.
- The competition for card accounts by the card issuers will continue with 50K offers remaining the norm or standard to generate excitement.
- American Airlines will survive as a stronger competitor and will not merge with US Airways.
- In an effort to hold their market share both American and US Airways will offer significant bonus opportunities.
- The US Airways Grand Slam promotion will return with basically the same guidelines and opportunities.
- The Chicago Seminars will be again held in Chicago at the Holiday Inn Elk Grove Village in the month of October. There will be at a minimum at least three new speakers. Carnac predicts Mommy Points will enlighten us all on the US Airways Grand Slam and both ITA Software by Google and Expert Flyer will each offer full one hour presentations on their outstanding products.
- Ninety Nine percent of the public still won’t get it and the age old battle of share the info or hoard it all to ourselves will rage on for another year.
- Catera Commerce will make another huge shopping mall mistake and lose at least one airline as a customer.
- The proliferation of new travel bloggers will continue with some offering additional worthwhile content, but most will be copycat blogs at best.
- The Frugal Travel Guy blog will continue to offer quality content and tips of a diverse nature from the viewpoint of rookies, business travelers, world explorers and a guy that just wants us all to see the world at prices we all can afford.
- And all of us at the FTG blog will continue to be grateful for the gifts of free travel tips we have received from you our readers and our experiences we have been able to share.
Happy New Year to All!
And Howie’s 2012 prediction? Delta merges with Alaska Airlines. 
First Year Fee Waived: 50,000 Points Transferable to Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Continental and British Airways
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