GUWonder

Nearly $3900 for 250,000 Lifemiles is a lot. It wasn't that long ago that Lifemiles was selling miles for 1.56 cents per mile. While the "up to 50% discount on Star Alliance awards sounds good, it wasn't that long ago that Lifemiles hiked up the costs of its award tickets.

84fiero

Yeah I definitely wouldn't make such a purchase speculatively based on past history. Seems like a pretty limited audience that would have a real use for this offer. The MilePoint launch iPad giveaway was more of a draw to most people.

The new MPdbaIF homepage seems similar in layout to the latest FT homepage. Maybe I'm looking right past it but I can't even seem to find a login link.

So far I'm seeing just a slicker interface, conglomeration with international sites, blog articles competing with BA, and at least one co-branded travel app that is just like many others out there. I guess their definition of "inventing something" is fairly loose

Moderator2

Visit the Avianca/LifeMiles forum here on Flyertalk to perform extensive due diligence if this InsideFlyer deal interests you. It could work out fine for people with the right travel agenda, but "Caveat Emptor".

kokonutz

I'm trying to figure out the value proposition too.

I was thinking maybe they would TELL us...

Is this, so far, as impressive as you thought it would be?

If so, how?

GUWonder

It will take a few months before I'll be able to a get sense of how this will turn out and work out for me in particular.

It's better to under-promise and over-deliver than to over-promise and under-deliver. I've been promised nothing from MPdbaIF but I'm willing to give it time. If it delivers something rather unique and integrates global coverage of the travel loyalty program world to help me get into more deals, I think it could end up doing rather well over time. If, however, it ends up only having nuggets of info and other engagement that can easily migrate over to FT, it might just end up being a source for FT more than FT is a source for it.

84fiero

Thanks!

All good points to keep in mind! I'll check it out and give it a chance (assuming I can ever log in!), no harm in giving it a bit if time.

nsx

So far I see a reformatted front end for Milepoint, reminding me more of FlyerTalk's (mostly useless to me) home page than anything else. Where is the big change?

notquiteaff

Ads! Lots of ads for this gold member!

(And reduced usability overall)

sbm12

Something the leadership of that site has failed on many, many, many times.

kokonutz

This is all fine and well but...can anyone tell me How to Get Vienna Opera Tickets for 3 Euros!?

oliver2002

Gary posted something about what the new IF is going to be, sadly the discussion about the LM offer drowned any and all comments about the site. A clarification on the LM offer followed. Ed also posted about the LM offer and didn't go into the details of what IF will become.

Garys comments:

Reader 'Eric' posted this comment:
Gary later responds to various other remarks:

GUWonder

That's mostly or entirely from the viewfromthewing blog entry.

[The Lifemiles pricing stuff was interesting to me for other reasons, as there seems to be some geographic segmentation going on, but nothing I wasn't able to get around easily.]

I am not sure what Lifemiles brings to the MPdbaIF table, but more offers are better than fewer ones, even if the gimmicks don't end up making the place sticky. People in the VFTW and other blogs seemed to want to know what was in it for MPdbaIF and its backers. Sometimes it's just about generating attention.

gpapadop

Very interesting to see how this develops...

So far, I am way underwhelmed. I have no interest in the Avianca offer whatsoever. And this trip manager/awards aggregator traxo thingie is WAY underwhelming. Again to me, ymmv.

What I don't understand is this: It appears most of the blog posts in the front page now are from Boarding Area bloggers. Do they get compensated in the same manner (page views) for all the clicks their posts get on IF?

Pumping the new site & screaming about the first "deal" without revealing the ACTUAL monetary cost of the minimum purchase made me hold my nose. That takes some effort because I have a big nose

Raffle's opinion makes me sit back and see where they go with this, maybe it will be useful to me.

I also found the little hints about the "new" site on Twitter, well, kind of ridiculous, come on!

Point Princess just left BA and the new economic realities about the ad revenue, I am sensing, may be hurting the non cc pumping bloggers. The days of the lucrative ad contracts are over imho.

One more thing: I was a subscriber to IF and when they folded it I had (I am guessing) several months still in my subscription. I didn't get anything telling me "We are really sorry". Maybe a prorated refund perhaps? I just felt I got the shaft and this is no way to treat a subscriber. How about some Avianca miles lol?

This is really a fascinating industry indeed. Just goes to show you how important that long established name and users (as FlyerTalk) are and it is SO hard doing it again.

GUWonder

MPdbaIF doesn't have a first mover advantage nor does it have a critical mass of users at this point to make it extraordinarily special. What is to be seen is if its curation of information from frequent flyer boards, blogs, deal sites, etc. is enough to give it enough traction to work commercially better than MP. It's not like they invested in MPdbaIF for the purpose of not making it a commercial success; it's just to be seen how they can pull it off -- if they can pull it off.

Personally, I like to see others succeed in things that can add value in making available to me information in the way I find most suitable for me. I'm not sure how MPdbaIF is going to be able to pull that off. If it can pull that off, my bet would be on MPdbaIF being a huge success; if it can't pull that off, it may still work out as a sort of success for some. FWIW, I still find information of relevance in this field of play more easily found on FT and various "old school" forums, blogs and deal sites than looking at a cluttered home page and then having to dig through the clutter and keep encountering the clutter on subsequent visits too. It's why I try to "go back to the source" -- that and the source may have nuggets of gold that maximize returns for me.

If the MPdbaIF experience ends up being enabled for a more user-customizable experience, they may end up having a very powerful tool for those of us who love the travel game. If they don't have a very user-customizable experience, it may have greater trouble with user stickiness.

84fiero

Gary's interest in MPdbaIF is merely modest?! Guess he ought to remove the reference to co-founding MP from his site bio!

TravelCodex was also pimping the offer yesterday. It seems that blogger is the "editor-in-chief" for the revamped site's front page.

Yeah a very steep minimum purchase indeed. I don't know, seems like it would have been better received had there been some sort of (lower) bonus at lower dollar amounts. Not that it would have made it necessarily a better deal but for some - particularly anyone needing to top off a LM balance - it would have been. And it would have at least appeared more accessible to the masses.

It all was sort of cheesy. I guess that's par for the course with marketing types. It didn't help that they weren't prepared technically by the promised time.

There is a thread on MPdbaIF for glitches and feedback.

To me the whole "everything in one place, one-stop-shop" aspect is rarely that necessary or the best option - in any realm not just the FF world. For example do I really need to have my FFP & trip tracking connected to, and branded with, this site? It's not as if it's more than a mouseclick to go to the tracking app or site that I already have.

The new site has some blogs integrated into the front page, but we already had BA - which itself is at the same time crowded with too many blogs but also keeps most of the same ones at the top. Maybe MPdbaIF will expand the scope of its blogs to include general travel, as opposed to miles & points blogs? That could help I suppose.

If they feel that actively pulling information, say from their blogs, into forum threads will help...maybe, maybe not. It's hard to build content from scratch. And I'm just as likely, if I do see something there, to end up really discussing it here on FT anyway.

The foreign language sites have some potential, though I could also see it ending up as just a bunch of sites under one "holding company" not doing one another any real good if not actively managed properly.

But, but, but...you don't just understand about global social connections with technology to empower travelers and pivot to reinvent content! Who cares about your measly subscription when such revolutionary things are happening!!