I agree with you that the FlyerTalk's performance of late had been very dismal, and the elimination of the traditional search engine has appeared to rectify the underlying problems.

But why is it that FlyerTalk seemed to run fine for a long time -- subject to occasional disruptions, some scheduled, others for emergency maintenance -- with the traditional search engine intact? Though I have zero experience or knowledge of web development, it seems improbable to me that the traditional search engine was the cause of the mayhem or that getting rid of it was the only way to solve the underlying problems.