aaupgrade

I know I am a lot less active than I once was in a number of ways and for a number of reasons. AA/US merger is long over and all the merger pain discussions are long past which is nice. AA went to a dollar based RDM earning and I switched to BA for my OWE status as a result. Many of the threads/stickies I was interested in are now buried somewhere in the WELCOME to AA Forum: Lounge & Airport Hub Dashboards, Resources, etc. sticky thread and as such I do not see the former thread/sticky highlighted in bold indicating there are new posts; and I have no desire to, nor do I, wade through that thread to find the links and see if someone has posted something new.

So a lot less reading and hardly any posting. It is still one of the pages that load daily, and I glance at the thread titles a couple times during the day, but only on a few occasions find something of interest.

Interestingly, I spend little time in the BA forum even though I switched to the BA FFP. I monitor the OW forum daily and it is quite slow, but I do often find most of threads there of interest and the Changes to xONEx Rule Sheet sticky of particular interest, not to mention anything RTW related.

SJOGuy

I agree about a couple of things here:

The consolidation of threads gives the appearance of there being less activity. The level is probably the same.

The tone of the AA board has changed for the better. I first stumbled onto Flyer Talk in 2007. I have learned so much here at the AA forum, but, wow, it was necessary to plow through a lot of snark and attitude and one-upmanship and, at times, anger to get to it. I never became involved, but I thought It was an unwelcoming place in those early years. That seems to be gone. ^

BLG

I think there's a lot of truth in this -- I wonder if the demographic make up of forum users hasn't been getting progressively older as younger people gravitate to other sources or simply feel like forums are where their grandparents hang out? As I reflect on the posts it seems like -- to some degree -- that might be the case, and if that's true, it might also be that there is a gradual slowing of activity as older users are pulling back after many years of high levels of posting activity.

In any case, this forum remains an invaluable resource and I thank the mods again for the great work they do.

PHLGovFlyer

IMO the shift to dollar based earning has eliminated most of the high leverage points earning opportunities across all of the major U.S. FF programs. With that change, interest in frequent flier forums appears to have declined somewhat. There are simply fewer points leveraging techniques and deals to be found and discussed.

aztimm

Interesting observation, and I agree.

As for me as a pre-merger US flyer, I knew little about the AA program or its partners. Helping to moderate the forum through the merger, I read through many of the threads, and learned so much about the program. I'm certainly no expert, but I manage to make the most of the program. And I did find biz/F award seats on QF for travel later this year ^

Regarding the EQD, while activity in the AA forum may have decreased, I have seen an uptick in the mileage run forum, specifically the Premium Fare and the Discussion forums (there's a thread dedicated to AA/One World help). Gone are the days of getting status with $300-400 runs to Europe (yes I did several of those), but with creative routing, using partners, and premium economy, I've found status to still be within reach.

JDiver

Just a FYI, right now it’s 359 (81 members & 278 guests). I’d say that’s not unusual. The questions are “How many of those members are active?” followed by “Is this the calm nobody feels a need to post (to ask or to vent)?” By far, most of the Handle’s I see are not generally found in posts here.

BTW, the reason there are so many threads with Wikiposts on the first page is because they’re the more popular pages, representing a significant concern - so they get wikis. Challenge, PDB, aircraft types and seats, airports, lounges. Today, phone delays (the wiki explains why and when alternatives to calling the main call center), and the related CLT and PSA threads. As usual, the threads are presented in order of last post time and date.

(A couple of members have mentioned the dashboards. The update has been slow, and it’s on me. I’m dealing with a couple of challenging demands on time right now, and the exacting task of knitting together the widgets with thread links (I.e. [url= [url ]https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/1334379-lounge-guide-hkg-hong-kong-intl-airport-oneworld-lounges.html][/url ][IMG ]http ://iveanonymizedthiswebpage com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/HKG.png[/ IMG][/ url] without the spaces inserted so you can see it) is challenging to me right now: my eyes are growing cataracts, but they’re not quite developed to harvest and implant new lenses yet. Even on a tablet I can pinch out, it’s difficult because of the way vBulletin works whilst doing that. July 2, I’ll be evaluated again. Here’s hoping...)

Superguy

I was on hiatus for awhile - still not back nearly as much as I was. Given AA's "meh" state and that they've been pretty predictable, I haven't had anything to complain - or get excited - about.

I'll probably be back more on here and other parts of FT as I try to figure out whether AA's going to continue to make sense for me or find that I'm less screwed over at UA. None of them really excite me anymore.

The Gold MCE change sucks for me as my travel has tapered off, but what's really been irritating is AA's schedule seems to keep getting worse. It's getting harder to find itineraries with only 2 segments each way as they keep cutting flights. It's getting to the point that 3 segment itins are becoming the norm to get across the country - and that's not even to podunk cities. Trips that used to have lots of options now only have a few.

BLG

JDiver -- Sorry to hear you're having eye problems...Here's hoping you'll be able to get them fixed ASAP....good luck!

AA100k

JDiver

Thank you.

I’m not hoping for another shoe to drop... please.

cova

I have noticed a lot of the regulars from 15 years ago - do not post as much as they used to. Seems more distributed with more people posting but less frequently. That is likely a good thing as you get more opinions. With all the changes to the FF programs the past few years there are less schemes to play and discuss.

andersonCooper

As a relatively new member here, I feel there isn't really much to post. Typical types of posts:
1) Help/assistance/advice needed;
2) MX delay, IRROPS, Airport issues, AC issues;
3) DYKWIA, one-post-and-never-show-up-again thread, rant-about-rules-i-don't-know-about, rant-about-everything
4) Knowledge share, constructive criticism;
Nothing much to post after you see a lot of 3) but rare 4).

astanley

Absolutely concur as well. I only check in from time-to-time. When I was on DL and made 360 (almost entirely flying one route), I popped over to the DL forum and never came back. AA is where I started (10 years ago!) and it set the tone for me. It's nice to be back (in the forum... not so much on the domestic metal )

george 3

Best of luck with your eyes and thank you for all of the knowledge that you have and continue to share with us. I'm fortunate enough not to need prescription lenses (yet), but the time will come soon enough for that and more.

When I joined the forum, and began contributing, it was the same month that AA filed for Chapter 11 protection, I was promoted to Executive Platinum (being short of miles) and many things were happening. Those many things were the result of the AA team trying many different strategies to bring traffic into the system (which was successful - exiting bankruptcy with equity holders getting something is rare) and discussed and debated here. I learned many things from the helpful threads prior to the merger that helped me get ALOT more out of my travel experience. Further, for the one year that I participated in CK and some related NYC events, I shared those experiences with speculation on the direction of the program (at that time). Even though post-merger, I feel there is a smoothing with less announced changes by AA management, I still learn quite a bit and actually refer to the Newbie thread for assistance on occasion (never to experienced to learn). Thus, its not really the forum that's slowed, its the airline that doesn't have alot of new (and positive) changes, and they don't leak initiatives in advance (or so it seems) - thus limiting the speculative discussion to a limited number of threads. Since I'm a run of the mill EXP with very little email dialogue with AA, it's hard to comment or speculate without something really to go on, particularly with the airline perhaps "auto-pilot".

Buffaloflyer

I'll say! In one of my first posts I complained about something that was (in the end) adjudged to be my fault by the FT community (compounded by the fact that I cross posted) and I was nearly run off the board .