IIRC, sometime back in early 1998, I googled "frequent flyer programs" and came up with WebFlyer Magazine and then clicked on "Webflyer Live" or "inside Flyer" or something like that. It was a long time therafter before the URL became www.flyertalk.com

In the beginning, I was so totally blown away by the quality of the free-flowing discussions and information, and the obviously extraordinaly high intelligence of the participants that I was just hooked right from the start.

I have been checking in here almost daily now for over 6 and 1/2 years, have made hundreds of friendly acquaintances and dozens and dozens of really good friends. I have also attended more fantastic parties than I can recount.

We are FlyerTalk!!! Yeah us!!!

I was writing trip reports that I was posting on airliners.net, a large and, IMO, very well constructed website that is geared more toward the airliner enthusiast as opposed to the mileage junkie. On one airliners.net posting, someone mentioned that there were good trip reports on this site called flyertalk.com, so I figured it was worth checking out. It did not take me long to realize that the quality of the reports on flyertalk were far better than those on airliners.net, so I decided to post some on FT.

At the time, early 2001, I was living and studying in London and, having done a lot of European flying on British Airways (well at least more than I had ever done previously), was starting to get interesting in mileage accumulation. FT came into my life at just about the perfect point.

I will never forget following tfung's trip report of his Oneworld Explorer, which he posted in July/August 2001. It convinced me that I had to do one after I took the Bar Exam that next summer. If not for FT, I would never have realized such a thing as a RTW ticket existed. Having just finished my second RTW, I know my life would be no where near as interesting had I not found FT.

I like to think that my exposure to some of the talented trip report writers on FT has greatly improved my own trip report writing. I know it has made me a much smarter traveler.

There's a link on our Corporate Travel page.

Wow, so far nobody found out in the manner I did. I found out about FT from the guy sitting next to me on a flight from SFO to EWR.

I can't remember exactly where I found out about FT, but I do remember it was during the time AA was doing the 20/20 promotion and I was looking for ways to qualify. It would be another few months before I actually registered.

I stumbled on to it doing a search on google for NWA certificates. Course, I found my certificate at home after hours of searching. so didn't need it. but I found lots of useful info here so, thought I'd join in.

I "found" FT almost 3 years ago off of a link at SmarterLiving.com...I used to go there every week to check the latest "web" specials. Now? "Hello, my name is Fred and I'm a travel junkie and FTaholic".

I was an early subscriber to Inside Flyer and did not think too much of the magazine because the publisher never did bother to add to mileage earning methods information about how Q miles were earned with the partners and other Q miles earning opportunities. I guess that despite my email request, the publisher did not realize that there were at least a few of his readers for whom the regular miles had piled up and just about the only ones that really mattered anymore were those that brought elite status.
For a year or two, I usually threw the mag away after looking for what I needed and could not find there, meanwhile being only vaguely aware of the existence of a chat board started by the mag.
Then one day, I noticed one of the ads or articles in IF that mentioned something about a discussion of elite status on FT, so I looked in. That was about all it took, and my ongoing intention of cancelling IF went by the boards. Now, I let it renew every year as my way of supporting and thanking the company that runs FT.

I too stumbled upon InsideFlyer or whatever it was called back in '99 when I just enjoyed reading about flying to lots of places. Then a few months back I was trying to find out if there were any other people who did mileage runs like me... or if it was just something that crazy people did (ha! ). I lurked for a while, found the airline boards after a couple weeks, and signed up ^.

Like Fred, I too found FT through Smater Living. Unlike Fred, I'm not yet ready to attend those weekly meetings

But FT is the greatest and I tell everyone I know (who might be interested) about this fantastic information resource.

My friend Alysia knew I traveled a bit and was collecting FF miles... I was better organized and more knowledgeable than many people about my FF program but still nowhere near as savvy as the FT folks. She told me about this great website where I could learn a lot more, find out about bonuses and deals, and even meet people at regular social gatherings. A few months later (last Dec.) when I finally decided to check out the site, I was amazed and overwhelmed (in a good way): despite all that Alysia had told me about FT, I had no idea just how huge this was! Since then, I've learned a great deal, improved upon my miles/points 'earnings' and posted info when I thought I could help. Best of all, I've had the pleasure of meeting many more FTers from all over the world at our DC happy hours!

I used to follow the forums on http://www.Airliners.net, mainly interested in the passenger view of flying. There were several references to FT there but when I took a quick look here I couldn't see anything interesting. It wasn't until http://www.seatguru.com/ recommended me to do a search for "Best seat" on FT that I knew I had come to the right place.

It was in mid 1998 and I was trying to find an answer to an arcane problem involving United Mileage Plus, using one of the early search engines (Alta Vista, I think).

One of the hits I followed led to a posting by some guy named Rudi who not only put me onto the right answer, but sidetracked me into spending about the next hour or so reading the entire site (it was about a week old at that time, and already full of helpful hints and information). From there, it became an almost-daily habit to check in and see what was new. Pretty soon someone had a question I was able to help on, and I began active participation. I'm certainly happy I did.

A few months later, I was able to meet Rudi in the old SFO RCC as our paths crossed. And then a year and a few months after that I met a whole slew of new old friends at the PiP.

I was an amateur miles/points collector. I don't really remember how I stumbled upon FT. I know I was seeking to become a more efficient collector. I was blown away by the knowledge and helpfulness of the regular posters and quickly became addicted. It revolutionized the way my family travels. And I have made many dear friends along the way. My sister calls them my "imaginary cyberfriends". She just doesn't get it.

I have flown all of my adult life work work, from 25K to over a 100K year after year. I am currently old. I thought I knew a lot about flying. Then about four years ago my brother told me about FT. I have been hooked ever since. By the way his handle is DEN1K, but he is currently flying DL. Funny how the world changes. Thanks, FT and this is really an interesting thread on our community.