B747-437B

Location: West Africa
Experience: Almost 10 years

What is FlyerTalk to you?

FlyerTalk has been many things to me over the years. I have used the forums as an invaluable information resource from my days as a college student almost a decade ago to my current role in airline management. It has been a community from which I have met some lifelong friends and to which I am grateful to have been given the chance to contribute. I honestly can state that my life today would be a lot less fulfilling if it were not for my experiences on Flyertalk.

What has to change on FlyerTalk?

There is a lack of real opportunities for people that care about the FlyerTalk community to volunteer and give back to the community. This comes about mainly because people wear multiple hats and instead of bringing in new blood when more slots need to be filled, existing volunteers are given additional duties. This needs to change.

What do you like best about FlyerTalk?

Where do I start?

I love the fact that a bunch of strangers from around the world can become good friends due to a shared interest in travel. I love the fact that a wonderful resource like this exists for like minded people to access and improve their travel experience. I love the people, I love the posts, I love the sense of community, I love the bonus promos, I love the tips on cheap fares, I love it all!!!

State a platform motto or goals for FlyerTalk for the future.

Flyertalk needs to keep pace with industry trends to remain relevant, whether those trends are rationalisation or whatever else. The fundamental position of my platform is that change must be informed change and must have the interests of all stakeholders appropriately represented before it can be implemented. The role of the TalkBoard is to represent the interests of the userbase in the ongoing dialogue process.

Name your three favorite forums and why.

Trip Reports -- We obsess about Points and Miles and Status and everything else, but at the end of the day all of this is for the end goal of enjoying travel. The Trip Reports forum allows everyone to share in their own ways their personal story about how they enjoyed their travel and has spawned some of the best travel writing I have had the priviledge to read.

TravelBuzz - To borrow from Forrest Gump, TravelBuzz is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. It is one of my first bookmarks every morning to catch up on some of the anecdotes and commentary that keep travel interesting.

Travel with Children - A very strange forum to interest someone without kids like myself, but I have found that the input provided by the denizens of that forum to be of utmost value in my day job as an airline manager. My post count is not particularly high, but I read and absorb the discussions like a sponge and hopefully I can use the viewpoints gleaned from there to better serve my own airline's young customers.