joker545

Sorry to see this thread dying down. I guess FTers have gotten to the point (myself included) where it makes sense to not share "tricks." Too bad as I'm sure there are still some great ones I'm missing out on. Anyone know when Raffles last post was? What ever happened to the idea of starting a private MR/fare mistake forum?

paytonc

Adding a transborder leg has worked for quite a while indeed; I've been seeing TPAC/TATL itineraries (on ITA and the airlines' own sites) since at least the summer. (It's particularly easy to add a second start/end point on ITA.) It's not as lucrative as the PL tricks because (a) flights to Canada generally have higher base fares/taxes and (b) the transborder positioning flight, if necessary, is usually expensive enough to wipe out any savings.

There are a few cases where it can work, namely for those in border cities (BUF, ROC, SEA, BTV), for those US cities that have PD flights, and for cities where both US and Canadian originations have very good fares. Now that the winter sales have loaded, maybe there are a few opportunities in there.

heramato

Really? Im the owner
It would be good to know that you were there to have some chat/beers with a FT.
I hope you´ve been well treated.
Cheers

dukenupe

I agree. I was able to do a fair bit of traveling over the course of the past year for next to nothing thanks to some of the threads like this one. So, if anyone has any tips on how to "negotiate" flights in the future, send me a pm.

davidbr55

Add me to the list of people sorry to see the thread die down...

joelfreak

A private forum would never work due to the fact that EVENTUALLY all deal forums have this problem. Fatwallet started due to this problem on Anantech. Slickdeals started mostly due to this problem on Fatwallet. Eventually a 'brand' whether it be Fatwallet, Flyertalk or any other becomes to popular for its own support system. Having been on the net now for over 13 years I have seen it happen many times. Eventually a private deal forum would spawn another infighting battle which would spawn yet ANOTHER private forum. It's just a problem with human nature.

seoulmanjr

Right - I think you nailed the reality of the situation on the head. But rather than saying that it's futile, I think of it as being high time to set something new up and move along. FT is a great site, but not for MRers and mistake fare hunters anymore. I took a long work/family related sabbatical from posting on FT this past year and now I'm not on the secret grapevine anymore. Que sera, sera. I have resigned myself to just eating what I kill and being out of the loop. Anyone feeling charitable to a long time FTer, clue me in on the new forum when it's up or invite me to one of the many that exist out there.

peace,
~Ben~

iahphx

For all the moaning about this forum being less useful, I still have been able to book sub-$140 tickets (all in) to Europe this winter thanks to the information provided here.

I'd say that's pretty useful information. ^

aaron1262

so you're saying that the trick still works? mind sharing? that's the whole point of the thread right? if you're afraid that the deal won't last as long if you do this..maybe you could write a riddle

buck3y3nut

Maybe he's referring to the deal where many got in on the sub $140 deals to Europe. I personally managed to book 4 tickets to MAD for $134 each. I have been checking PL on a regular basis and I'm pretty sure that the trick we used to know about is no longer working. If there is another trick out there, I'm definitely not aware of it. But I think the last day when the trick was working, I was able to price a $650 ticket to DEL; however a couple hrs later once I decided to go, I couldn't get it to price at the same amount again... I've tried reading and reading to see if there are any other search engines out there that could be used, but have run into dead ends...

seoulmanjr

Yeah - I don't disagree that there's a lot of good info here, but it's a far cry from a couple years ago, that's all. And we all know why -- fatwalletquickcallersmoleslurkers phenomenon.

That's a lot of good deals here - but you and I both know it isn't teh kind of activity it was in, say, 2005.

peace,
~Ben~

iahphx

Right. Nothing lasts forever in this business -- whether it's posted here or not.

Sure, "excessive participation" is a problem. If you want to see that in action, try to buy a frontpage deal on slickdeals. But I still think this forum is very useful. And I'm sure there will be more tricks in the future.

carsonheim

I sure hope so!

buck3y3nut

yup me too. i've met a lot of very helpful individuals here on FT that are willing to help you out. Then again there are some who want help and once helped, they don't even thank you and are to be never seen again...
Im sure there are mistake fares that pop up here and there, and I think because of the leachers/lurkers, people are just more cautious about posting them...

paytonc

welll, I tried being a bit vague in my 6 Jan post, but someone's laid it all out here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...kdays-feb.html