Randy Petersen

There seems to be some questions here and while unfortunate that all of the "information" being offered is actually false, I'll try and provide the fine members of FlyerTalk with a few of the facts.

Likely you did not know that the first blog ever for the frequent flyer was created by FlyerTalk in 1999 (before the term blog was ever invented) and was created to pass along information and advice for the first ever "massive DO" when members showed up in Hawaii for a really well planned and wonderful 'Party In Paradise'. Just another thing to be proud of.

So let's get to answering questions about BoardingArea since mnscout asked a question.

First of all, contrary to what "was told" to both HikerT and elBulli and likely others, BoardingArea itself has never considered or part of any affiliate program. It doesn't not belong to any credit card affiliates and the website made a conscious decision when it began a few years ago to stay independent of any influences when choosing to host various bloggers. Anything you see as an affiliate is a decision solely made by the independent blogger without any tutoring for such. They make their decisions just as they likely would if they were hosted on any of the hundreds of independent or dependent hosting platforms. So when you have any observation in this area, balance these facts against each and every other bloggers in the universe because it may be a little known fact but bloggers outside of the area of rewards credit card also belong to and support affiliate programs. Because of the way BoardingArea is structured, BoardingArea does not and never has received any affiliate style income and that earned by the independent bloggers is a direct relationship they enjoy without any contact with BoardingArea directly or indirectly. Looks like Urban Myth #1 has now been put to bed. So, let's move on to Urban Myth #2 .... "HikerT: Yes, my understanding is every blogger on BA is automatically approved." This could be read two different ways. First, any blogger looking to find a blogging host on BoardingArea is not automatically approved. We currently have a list exceeding 80 bloggers who have applied to be hosted on BoardingArea so it's not about quantity but rather we strike to blend quality. I think you'll find some unique blogs such as ModHop that we feel are very different and yet valuable to the sub-sets of travelers who find value in reading blogs. And we host one of the only true Chinese language blogs about miles + points here:
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/tmtravelworldcn/

But, we're pretty picky and actually we have fewer blogs being hosted today than we had one year ago. As well, one might read the above quote and understand it is referring that if a blogger is hosted on BoardingArea they automatically are approved for an affiliate program. Frankly I can't answer that since we are not participants in these programs, have never been asked and actually would refuse to serve as a sponsor to an affiliate approval. I think that answer lies in the actual facts that there are thousands of bloggers outside of rewards cards that have ben approved into affiliate programs even when being hosted independently on their own. Again, another Urban Myth is laid to rest.

In fact, BoardingArea operates on a reverse of what the other Urban Myths that are presented here as information. We only earn revenue based on several differing scales from the income that the bloggers of BoardingArea earn from the general, not affiliate, advertising campaigns that are run across the main pages of the website, similar to the ads you see here on FlyerTalk and almost all other websites you might visit. So there goes Urban Myth #3.

Anyway, i hope this helps those who have been given incorrect information about BoardingArea and as well maybe steer things back on topic which I thought was about valuable blogs rather than how bloggers are compensated for their efforts if they personally chose so.

One lasting thing about blogs, and I'm pretty comfortable discussing their invent and application in and amongst the frequent flyer crowd .... I wrote that first blog for FlyerTalk in 1999! Anyway, there is a trend that blogs are really not about the affiliate programs some belong to as suggested in some posts. In fact it would appear that bloggers serve an important and growing role in the information choice of the frequent flyer. Because of the time it takes to read thread after thread and post after post, many are opting more and more to read blogs as a recap of likely what they really need to know. I think this might be best illustrated by this generalized traffic graphic from Alexa.com which would seem to indicate that general traffic trends for online frequent flyer readers is to the blogs:
http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/...readers.52923/

Anyway, appreciate the opportunity to correct a few things and as well, try to make FlyerTalk more useful in the factual information that its readers are seeking. All good and best of all the holidays to all my fellow members of FlyerTalk.