A better way to search FT

[baggageinhall]

I think this is worthy of a new thread. (Whilst it has been mentioned in a few fora, I can't see it here).

Instead of using the terrible FT search engine, a much more effective way to find something is to use Google's advance search option.

Specify the domain as flyertalk.com

Put the airline in double quotes

Use some sensible search terms.

Honestly, depending on your ability to think of sensible search terms (ie narrow enough to exclude similar but useless threads, not so narrow as to return zilch) then you can find almost anything.

[Sixth Freedom]

I discovered a while ago that you can specify the domain name in the normal Google typing place without having to open advanced options.

Example:
Sixth Freedom 63K site:flyertalk.com
yields
63AK are the best seats on the UD

[Motors]

Yes it is the best way by far, you can also search just the BA forum by adding the sub-forum's address ("/british-airways-executive-club") - the best way to see that sub-forum address is to view a post, rather than the actual forum page, which has a -446 on the end of the address.

site:flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club best seat in club

So the full Google search will turn out like this.

By typing it directly in, the Google auto-search always remembers when I start to type site:flyer... which makes it a lot easier when searching.

It's also the best way to search BA.com too!

Also, if you want an extra geeky tip add &num=100 to the end of the URL - so it will show 100 results, instead of 10.

[FenLandK]

to all for these excellent tips! Thanks!!

Edit: actually, I think it's worthy (IMHO) of a sticky, or at least a separate post/thread combining the information and then making it sticky

[MaxFlyer]

Just tried it

It should definitely be added as a sticky or something.

[imt24]

Brilliant!
Thanks!!!!

[Motors]

To make it easier (so you don't have to type in all that site:flyer... malarky), I've just set up this Custom Google Search Engine:

http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=00...27:xcmjxmxz6j8

or for easier reference:

http://bit.ly/FindBA

It does all of the above, ie it will search both BA.com and only the BA FT forum. I realise it's a little like FT's own custom Google site, but this one searches just BA resources.