TOMFORD

... how am I supposed to get the latest news on all the changes in the airline and credit card industries without rummaging through all of FT boards? This is an honest question.

sbm12

Either you do the work or you let someone else do the heavy lifting for you. That's what value-add is all about.

84fiero

You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Besides there are some really good blogs out there.

HMPS

Pick blogs that you like to get info, scan most of the content and read what interests you.
If you stop altogether how will we get your TRs?

TOMFORD

Hah, new TR coming up in a month or two.

I just read the first five or so pages of OMaaT... really nothing new. I used to love that blog and all the TR in it, but recently since the Rolling Stone cover, there hasn't been a lot of solid reports.

Raffles

Just visit the Boarding Area home page once or twice a day - rare you will miss anything if you do that (unless it involves a credit card which pays no commission).

sbm12

The content scrolls by so quickly on the front page that odds are you'll miss entry checking only once or twice a day. Some of it is multiple people covering the same "news" but there is variety in there as well which often gets drowned out by the volume of "me, too" coverage on some topics. That is a major challenge with the strictly sequential approach to the viewport.

kokonutz

Is that part of the reason that some folks post so many posts a day, to stay on top of the BA home page?

Raffles

To be honest I don't see that, but it may be because I am in the UK and the peak posting period is when I am in bed.

lwildernorva

I've found scanning the main page of Boarding Area works as kind of a headline service. An award sale, a mistake fare, a new hotel perk, etc. is generally mentioned in several headlines on the BA main page. I can then come to FT and drill into the particular forum to get more details and experiences from multiple posters.

You can't expect to get everything. A couple of years ago, I scored a number of Marriott Courtyard nights at $21 each just outside of Washington, DC because I was having problems falling asleep and stumbled across the deal--which had apparently begun shortly after midnight when a mistake rate got posted and which was gone by about 4 a.m. in the morning when the mistake was discovered. Given that Marriott was running a stay three, get one free night promo, six nights, at about $150 total, got me two nights that I later used on a vacation.

That's been the exception for me as I've surely missed tons of short-term mistake rates that generally don't last more than a couple of hours. But, for the more normal topics where the deal or the perk is designed to last longer, scanning the headlines at BA and then coming to FT has worked well for me.

CMK10

If you add Boarding Area to your Facebook you can see updates on their FB page, I've found that to be a helpful way to stay on top of news.

pricesquire

I HATE boarding area, but I usually stop in once or twice a week just to skim the article TITLES, not the articles themselves. Usually I'll be able to tell immediately if there's some point/mile/credit news worthwhile.

Otherwise I scan my usual FT threads (once a day)

Philatravelgirl

Twitter - follow accounts (blogger, industry, etc) and organize in lists - easy to scan and read what you want

oliver2002

Note that the front page of BArea is reserved for the top dogs and some who happened to be picked to be headliner for a limited promotional period.

HMPS

Yes !