What It Is
A forum thread in which members help one another earn referral bonuses by taking turns posting referral links and applying through the links of members ahead of them.
What It Really Means
I'll use yours if you use mine.
Deep Notes
where it originated:
Frequent flyer and points communities such as FlyerTalk, Milepoint, Reddit, and blog comment sections.
how it works:
Members join a thread and use the referral link posted by the previous participant before posting their own referral link for the next member.
why it became popular:
Referral bonuses often represented a valuable source of points, miles, or credit card rewards for both parties.
community purpose:
The referral conga line allowed members to share opportunities more fairly rather than competing for visibility.
frequent flyer truth:
A good conga line depends entirely on trust and good citizenship.
Myth vs Reality
Myth:
Everyone follows the rules.
Reality:
Like any community-driven system, referral conga lines work best when participants honor the spirit of the arrangement.
Heritage
Referral conga lines became a recurring feature of online frequent flyer communities during the growth of points-and-miles credit card bonuses in the 2000s and 2010s. For many members, they represented one of the earliest examples of communities organizing collectively to share earning opportunities.
Related Terms
- Referral Bonus
- Manufactured Spend
- The Pudding Guy
- Mr. Pickles
- Mileage Run
- FlyerTalk
Conga lines perfectly illustrates something unique about frequent flyer culture:
One conga line happens in the airport.
The other happens on the forum.
And both involve a lot of people following the person in front of them.