New Member Roll Call!
 

Just joined FlyerTalk? Let us be the first to welcome you! Post a "hello" here so we can get to know you!

Want to know more about your fellow members on FlyerTalk? Check out the long-running http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...ho-we-all.html thread in the CommunityBuzz forum. Not ready to jump in there and tell us your life story? That's OK--just drop a quick line here we can welcome you!

If you've got a specific question, it's best to start a new thread in the Information Desk forum (or a forum more specific to your topic) rather than posting it in here. Questions posted here tend to get lost. :)

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Hi everyone. My name is beckoa and I like points and miles ;)

This thread is dedicated to our new members.

Hi! I'm new although have made more than a few posts in the last 2 weeks! Great resource you have here, some great like minded people and the usual internet trolls! :)

Hello everyone,

I literally just joined your community. :cool:

I am hoping to get some good advice for MR in the short term, but I am also looking forward to being part of the community in the future. :)

Cheers!

Welcome! Thanks for posting! There's a lot of shared experiences and mindsets here, but there is indeed also a lot of diversity. :) Let us know what we can do to help!

Great to have you! The good folks over in the Mileage Run Deals forum (and the more discussion-oriented Mileage Run Discussion sub-forum) can teach you more than you ever thought possible about finding, constructing, and flying cheap fares.

hi
 

Welcome! Are you looking to MR just to top up with some miles or are you going to hit a status tier?

For what it's worth, personally, I try to minimize pure mileage running (that is, only staying at the airport for a few hours before turning back around) and make at least a weekend trip out of it. But to each his own. :)

Also, you might want to factor in the fact that the DOJ just basically approved the AA and US Airways merger. With the removal of more competition in the airline industry as well as Doug Parker, the CEO of US Airways (who hasn't always proven to be the most flyer-friendly CEO), running the new airline, that may affect your goal. Might want to read up in the AA and US forums to see what the latest speculation is (keeping in mind that that's all it is, speculation)...

Hi there!

Very first post here. I've been looking around and learning lots. I feel waaay behind the curve on the lingo. I've had various levels of status with UA in the past, and booked a MR to get back to Premier status thanks to tips on fares here on FT. This will effectively also get Mr. MariaSangria 1K status!

Getting better with the ITA software, but have yet to figure out how to find out which airports to try for MR or good fares other than hit and miss. I've hunted around but can't seem to find any tips on how to find fares. We're often flexible on destination as we love to travel.

Welcome!

I've discovered that having a hint as to where to start is far more productive than blindly searching. Once you know about a good fare, it's much, much easier to then use ITA to find availability and maximize the routing and mileage. I generally don't have the time to just sit on ITA and try dozens of city pairs to come up with something new--it's far better to let others do that heavy lifting.

http://www.TheFlightDeal.com/ is one of the best I've encountered, as it has a very good signal-to-noise ratio compared to other sites (that is, they generally only post fares that are actually good fares). If you "like" them on Facebook and make sure to check "Get Notified," they'll geographically target you and only send you notifications for good fares from your home airport. (I get notifications maybe once a week about a particularly good fare out of PHL.)

Other sources include:
http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/ (low signal-to-noise ratio; I mostly ignore their emails, although I still subscribe to them)
http://www.farecompare.com/ (used to be a great source; much more hobbled now)
http://travel.travelocity.com/mystuf...FareWatcher.do (create alerts for fares between a city pair below a specified threshold--it actually works)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals-372/

More sources and info here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...ser-guide.html

Or, just do as I do and become friends with someone who pays attention to fares. They'll let you know when a good deal pops up. :D

First time booking trip through aeroplan
 

Hi,
First time booking a trip through aeroplan, Halifax - Arizona, looks like 2 stops, the customer service ctr. was not helpful. I can prebook my 2 seats via air canada, however when changing planes in the US I cannot. How do I do this and when? Thanks

Thanks for the quick help! Agreed on FareCompare. I used to use them, but not a fan of having to open up at least 3 other windows just to look for a fare. I will check these others out. I would like to eventually be one the ones that finds the deals that pop up.

Welcome! You'll want to get the other airline's (US Airways or United, presumably) confirmation code (different than the Air Canada confirmation code) from Aeroplan (probably by calling them). Then, pull up your reservation on the other airline's website using that other confirmation code and you should be able to assign your seats.

For more or tips on how to do this, you might want to check out and/or post in the Air Canada forum here on FlyerTalk.

I for one am glad there are people out there like you who are less lazy than me (and willing to share)! :D

Namaste
 

Hello everyone.

I'm from India and just graduated out of college. To say I'm new to the world of points and miles would be an understatement. The only programs I've been enrolled into so far is Air India's Flying Returns (I know!) and Le Accor Club where I'm Platinum (who isn't?).

So, everything on here will be a nice addition to my knowledge and hopefully I can grow into it more and more.

Cheers.^
-Deovrat

Welcome!

:D

Hi, Im Heather from Chicago and I'm a part time blogger .. I love credit card deals, shopping, travel and fine wine :)

Welcome to Flyertalk ^

See that you enjoy wine you'll fit in perfectly :D

Hi, I'm Corey. Lately a frequent traveler. Flew a lot as a kid once my parents separated.

Never had a fear of flying. One flight changed that when we hit the worst turbulence I've ever had. People flew out of their seats and hit the ceiling. That happened when I was probably 14 or 15.

Now 27, still have a fear of flying that stems from that event. Always kind of on edge that I will hit that turbulence again. It sucks because I fly a lot for my career. It's gotten better over the last few years. But still find myself having to calm myself down. I feel like the more I talk about my fears the better it gets. So I've joined to see if this site can help relieve some of that stress.

Hello everyone!

Welcome!

Here are a few things that have helped me whenever I've encountered fear during turbulence.

1. Read this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-q-thread.html It's long, but it's a fascinating read and well worth it. You'll see just how well-trained and experienced the pilots of major airlines are (that one is from the United forum). After reading that thread, I have absolutely no qualms about the qualifications of U.S. mainline air carrier pilots.
2. Remember something my flight instructor told me when I was taking private pilot lessons: these airplanes are built pre-stressed for insane G-forces. You will break loose from your seatbelt and be plastered against the ceiling long before the aircraft is damaged.
3. No matter how much the wings flex, they will not break. No aircraft has (to my knowledge and research) crashed nor people killed from the wings snapping off or anything like that during cruise flight. The only injuries sustained due to cruise-flight turbulence have been loose objects being thrown around the cabin.

Hope this helps. There are also plenty of threads around FlyerTalk which have discussed this topic that you might find helpful. Check out this link to find some of them: https://www.google.com/search?q=site...fear+of+flying

Hi,

Great resourceful forum guys. Love the jargon throwing and intricacy in this forum. I am a law student hailing from The Hague, The Netherlands.

Nice to be here and greetings to all the members and mods. :)

Welcome!

We do try to limit jargon and acronyms here in the Information Desk forum, but out there in broader FlyerTalk-land, it can get pretty crazy pretty quickly. You'll learn fast, though. :)

Lots of lawyers on FlyerTalk, too. :cool: (IANAL...that means "I am not a lawyer." There are a lot of us here, too. :p)

Hello there! My name is Nick, and I just joined the forum after perusing a ton of threads here. I'm finding it incredibly useful, and a lot of fun!

My dad is a cargo pilot, which means he has a lot of miles, but I never got the perks of simply flying standby like immediate family members of passenger airline pilots...however, I was fortunate enough to take a trip or two with his miles while in college, and it changed my life. It's always been in my blood, but I'm now more passionate about travel than ever.

So, a couple years out of school and finally with a moderate and stable income, I'm ready to take on the world of inexpensive travel. I can't wait to jump headfirst into the community!

Welcome! Tons to learn here and tons of ways to find travel cheaply. It can be a lot to ingest, but let us know and we'll be happy to help in any way we can!

Thanks, Jackal! :D

Hi! :)

Welcome! Let us know if we can help!

Hello, I'm MileageManager. I guess you can say I specialize in earn-in's and spend-out's across partnerships and alliances. I'm not new to FFP's obviously, but I've been busy contributing to the "other blogs" that's why you haven't seen me around yet.

1W and SKTM only. I try to stay away from *A.

Welcome, MM. Glad you have joined us. May I ask why you avoid *A?

(For any confused new members, those are the three major airline alliances - One World, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance.)

What I really meant was I scowl and cringe whenever my clients fly *A and they ask for a partner earn-in, say into Air China (CA). CA's website is a headache; then I have to mail the BP's to you know, Shanghai and cross my fingers they get there.

Things like that.

Ah. So nothing against United(UA), just some of their partners. Thanks.

Finally joined after only lurking in the past....

Welcome!

Hey everyone!
I'm fairly new to all of this :)

Just signed up for a few of the airline programs. One of them is Flying Blue because I'm Dutch, and right now it seems I could earn the most miles there for online shopping, as this is more difficult with the foreign programs.

Any more Dutch people around? How do other non-US people maximize their mileage earnings. I've tried to find a thread dedicated to this, but I can't find it just yet.

-x-
Miekz

Welcome, Miekz!

I don't think there's a dedicated thread on non-US people maximizing mileage, but I could be wrong--FlyerTalk is a big place, and even someone like me who's been here almost a decade hasn't explored the whole place. :)

You might find some helpful tips or helpful folks over in the Air France/KLM FlyingBlue forum, though. :)

Hope this helps!

new to flyertalk
 

Hello FlyerTalk team and members...

I am new to FlyerTalk and was wondering how best to start and get to know the site...

Basically I travel alot. I am from Australia and travel alot between Australia / Asia and Europe... I am keen to be kept up to date as people find good ideas and fares across the globe and how I can post any good things I find for others too..

Is there an alert system or something? I could not seem to find it.

Thanks and look forward to being more involved in the site with everyone

Cheers

Thanks Jackal!!
I already found this Flying Blue Forum and I've been looking through it. I also found a group called European FT'ers, but not much seems to be happening there.

Off to explore some more :)

-x- Miekz

The "groups" were a social feature / way to get to know other members that never really took off. I'm not sure if anyone still uses them. Most people stick to "their" airline / hotel forum & then venture over to the travel/dining forums and/or community buzz.

Welcome to FT!

On the "My Flyer talk" page, you can see threads/ forums you have subscribed to and setup email notifications.

Welcome to Flyertalk chriscorben

There isn't an alert for fares on FT per say, but check out this forum for our best finds that are shared with the community. Been some crazy activity on there the past couple weeks:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals-372/

1st timer
 

Hello, I'm looking for something I can afford but am totally new to this game. I'll be checking prices on last minute flights next and reading up on sites to find the best deals on airfare. Are there any sites that include ALL the airlines? I look forward to future inter actions with the forums! Happy holidays everyone!

ps: current project is affordable flights for 2 adults & 1 14 year old child around the 21st of Dec returning the 1st of Jan idaho falls or boise to mesa, az and back.