cooleddie

I'm not aware of any other alternatives. Do a google search and you won't find any. But you'll find many posts scattered all over flyertalk in all different boards - e.g. this one in the Virgin Australia forum http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virgi...ays-delta.html

Cheetah_SA

I am ambivalent about this. The same half-dozen people tend to contribute to discussion about SA and the number of threads is rather meagre. The truth is there isn't much to say about SAA most of the time. The Voyager programme is not interesting to almost anyone outside of ZA - especially after its recent evisceration. So what would spark a sudden increase in communication if there was a new board?

I have some sympathy for this viewpoint - but I remain sceptical. No harm in trying it and recombining if it doesn't work, maybe?

Posts like that will remain where they are - as they were only indirectly about SA. They will not contribute to traffic on a dedicated SAA forum.

MSPeconomist

Was the old SAA forum on FT before or after SAA joined *A?

tcook052

Before:

SAWorldVoyager

I think South African should definitely be separated from Africa/Middle East and agree that such a move would attract an increased viewership and moreover increase content.

MSPeconomist

OK, I'm confused.

When did the old SAA forum exist on FT?

When did SAA join *A?

I'm trying to figure out how to evaluate the argument that some people seem to be making here that the proposed revival of the SAA forum would now get enough traffic because SAA is now a member of *A. If SAA was in *A for at least some of the earlier period when FT tried having a dedicated SAA forum, then I don't see how the situation now is any different.

tcook052

Seems straightforward enough as the linked quote dates to April, 2005 and indicates the forum was already closed by then and given SA didn't join Star Alliance until one year later, 10 April, 2006, there could be no way the former incarnation of the Voyager forum was around when SA was a Star Alliance member.

cooleddie

If a board is to be created for one airline in Africa, it's SAA.

Given it doesn't cost anything, it's a pilot that's worth trying and see what happens.

One can always recombine everything after a 6 month trial, given posts get moved around between boards on a daily basis.

cooleddie

The same goes for various other programs - it's not interesting to anyone outside of their respective countries:-
- WestJet - a very simplistic program that is only good if you live in Canada
- airBerlin
- El Al
- JetBlue
- Aegean - now pretty much useless

But people post on those boards, because it exists.

Cheetah_SA

I'm not convinced by that logic. Those airlines and/or their FFPs are intrinsically interesting to the demographic that hangs out on FT. Aegean wasn't interesting until it became known as the easiest way to get *A status. JetBlue is a rapidly growing (and rather fascinating) force in the biggest air travel market in the world. (Though I must admit I have no idea why El Al or WestJet are interesting. )

Which country the airline is in matters. Any airline domiciled in North America or Europe gets attention by virtue of that fact. The fanatics about flying and FFPs are largely flying those airlines. The bloggers blog about them and that drives more people to have an interest and then to come to forums like FT to get/share more information. When last did a blogger mention SAA?

thijsseh

I have wondered every now and then why SAA did not have its own forum and have always thought that the post volume probably did not warrant it. I suspect that there is some 'rule' within Flyertalk about this.
Why Africa is often (not only on FT) lumped with Middle East beats me, but it is a fact (MEA is a regularly heard term in commerce). Maybe Africa should be split from ME and we end up with 'Africa' and 'Middle East' forums...
I personally don't see the compelling need for a separate SAA forum, I can find / post what I need / want as the total number of posts in the current forum is not that significant.
But I don't have strong feelings about it.

Dovster

I can find absolutely no logical connection between the Smokers Forum and an SAA Forum but, as long as you do, I will follow your lead and connect the two.

In the Smokers Forum discussions, you said that posts can be made elsewhere (such as Travel Buzz). Well, for SAA posts can be made elsewhere -- such as the "Other Middle Eastern and African Airlines Forum".

Also, a few members, concerned that having a Smokers Forum would encourage people to smoke, thus endangering their health, either opposed it or wanted health warnings placed on it.

I have flown on SAA, liked it, enjoyed both Sun City and Capetown immensely (not J'burg), but I am well aware of the very high crime rate in South Africa. Do you think that in order to protect FlyerTalkers from making dangerous choices we should avoid having an SAA Forum or, at the very least, place a warning on top of the forum letting people know that visiting South Africa can be very dangerous to their health?

Cheetah_SA

Would the arguments that are being made for a separate SAA forum be equally valid for Ethiopian or EgyptAir? Genuine question.

I did ponder exactly that same thing. Of course the ME Big 3 have grown so dominant they have spawned their own forums. But it does leave a rather odd group of airlines bunched together.

Then I thought about whether MS would be ME or Africa and my head exploded.

jsnydcsa

One problem I've seen is that people frequently don't know where to post about South Africa travel generally. They'll often have sort of a crossover question "Going on safari, what's the best ....." that often crosses into potential airlines SAA, BA/Comair, LCCs etc but then veers in and out of "have you thought about driving? ... SA roads are very safe" or "I wouldn't recommend a trip to XXX.... better to fly YYYY to ZZZZ and do 1, 2, 3, 4 things" It discusses flights/travel on SAA but also discusses other carriers. Or a visa-related question, "I'm flying SAA into JNB, do I need a Visa?" posted in the Other Middle Eastern and African Airlines forum when it might be better posted in the "Africa" forum.

I see it in the "Africa" and in the "Other Middle Eastern and African Airlines" fora pretty frequently.

Is it possible to do a "sub forum" within the Other Middle Eastern and African Airlines Forum so that a potential new SAA Forum isn't off on its own and that someone going to the Other Middle Eastern and African Airlines Forum would see the SAA sub forum?

I was originally going to suggest a "Sub Saharan African Airline Forum" but I think that would be even more confusing.

PS - If Flyertalk really wanted to have a true Smokers Forum, it would be outside this web site, halfway down the web in another ISP altogether, in the rain, and cold, without a roof. That's a joke.

Stewie Mac

I'm with jsnydcsa on this, there is a lot of cross-over between the Africa forum and the Africa/ME airlines forum, and I actually think that rather than splitting SAA out from the airlines, it might be more worthwhile to split SA out from Africa - without looking, I would think that at least 50% of all the posts in that forum are about SA.