Finding out about FlyerTalk
 

Hi,

I'm curious to know how people found out about FlyerTalk. I basically stumbled about into it from Google. I think FT is an invaluable resource and I'd just like to know how it/who markets?

cheers,
ktp

Believe it or not, I found out about it because somebody recommended it for it's SPAM forum for a conga line for one get rich quick online line or another I was working on.

The rest, as they say, is history.

I learned about it from an employee (who is also a good friend) at my favorite airline. Sadly that person doesn't post here anymore because she had some fantastic information to provide.

I stumbled on to FT through a link on MSN business travel. I forgot the guys name who wrote the column, but he adovcated cutting up FF flyer cards. :rolleyes: Glad I haven't done that.

Read about it in the USA Today and have been hooked ever since!! :cool:

I cam across it through Randy's WebFlyer.

I found it in a dream and its been gold ever since. :)

aloha

Frankly, I don't remember.

Must have stumbled across it by accident.
What a great accident!!!!!!

I came to FT through an article in USA Today on the US Airways Cockroach movement. Somewhere on the roach web site a reference was made to FT and I've been here ever since.

I found Flyertalk just after I had finished doing my final paper for a course in college called "cross cultural studies". My paper was about miles becoming a global currency, with an exchange rate fluctuating, surpassing borders, dictating how people live, shop and ate. I already proved my point and got an A before even finding flyertalk a week later.

This miles junkie now has a home. hehe.

There was a link to FlyerTalk on www.seatguru.com, another terrific site...

There's another long thread on this same subject, but I can't come up with any keywords to "Search" on that yield manageable results...so here's mine again.

I found out about the original FlyerTalk via a phone call a loooong time ago with Randy Petersen about a frequent flyer issue. He mentioned it to me. It was a short-lived experiment that was quickly flooded by usenet types of trolls and porn peddlers...so Randy shut it down.

Then a year or two (?) later, Randy started up another version of FlyerTalk in 1998, which is pretty much what you see today. I found out about this one from Randy too, during another phone call about a fantastic United Mileage Plus--->Hilton HHonors exchange promotion (ah..the good old days) that was going on. He mentioned it to me then.

Having recalled the sting of the first attempt at FlyerTalk...I just lurked a few weeks until I was sure that Rudi, Catman, Matt Wald, and several other early members were not apparent axe murderers or web psycho-stalkers. I'm still not totally convinced about a couple of them! ;)

It was a much more civil place and the inhabitants seemed to genuinely want to learn and/or teach and/or share their experiences to help one another, so I stuck around a spell. :)

Wow... weird... me too... what a junk-mail heap that one quickly became! Then I started travelling even more and lost track of the new one even starting.

I read an article about it this spring, started lurking again, and it's been downhill ever since... ;)

And it's helped me immensely! ^

ditto
 

the USA today, I loved those little travel notes that they used to put on the top of the Business section, i'd read those every day even if i was in a store and didn't buy the paper. However when I found out about FT, it was in an article about the passengers bill of rights.. remember that... before 9/11.. like we have any rights now.. its all in the name of security.. oh thats for another thread... anyway FT was referenced, i got to work.. fired up the computer and went to FT.. and productivity at work has gone down hill ever since

In the old days, say the early 90's, Randy's Inside Flyer magazine provided all the hard copy a miles and point junkie could dream of. Every airline. Every hotel. All the promos were listed.

Randy was always teasing his readers about his new online venture to 'one day materialize'.

When I finally checked in, it was heaven. :o

Thanks Boss. We're all forever in your debt.

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!!! :D

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. :p

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 ^.

SmarterLiving Too
 

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.

I found out from a friend/FTer!
 

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.

Through LexPax, who found it through PlaneBusiness of fond memory - some of you must remember it...

I wondered for a while how he'd gotten soooooo canny about our flying. He'd always paid attention to loyalty programs - we'd been Marriott top tier forever, but we hadn't gotten that much out of airline programs before. He finally fessed up to FT, where he'd been lurking for ages. I went, lurked for about 2 days, and then jumped on in. The water was fine, and Lex joined shortly after.

It's interesting. The folks I know best who travel the most are either also FTers anyway (rtpflyer sent me an email within hours of my first post on FT), or cannot be persuaded to care. I do recommend FT any chance I get without trying to stuff it down people's throats. We'll see if Seth decides to delurk...

I "Googled" my way onto FT, lurked for a year and then finally got my feet wet and now I can't stop. (HELP :D )