Hi Guys ,

I have been in this forum for about 5 months and am learning and benefiting a lot. It just seems I spend an exorbitant amount of time each day reading all the material I think I might need to know.

I also have subscribed to over 62 threads and feel compelled to subscribe to another every day. I just recently realized I could Click on my own name , and read my last posts, and find the info I most recently wanted to follow without subscribeing to another link.

What is the least time consuming , most efficient method of using this site ?

How do you other guys who obviously have a lot more experience, navigate this forum effectively

I always feel like I am forgetting, losing out on something !

I am updating that I am retired and married . I do not fly for business , this is leisure travel that has compulsory 2 trips a year NYC ATH to see my wife , and everything else I/we do for fun.

TIA

If you're new it may seem daunting at first but slowly familiarise yourself with as many aspects of the frequent flyer world as possible and soon it will become second nature.

You may want to focus on a few airlines and/or hotel programs which you use more frequently. Besides milesbuzz is a goof forum for miscellaneous things. Also keep in mind that you will not be realistically able to avail every bonus and promotion opportunity, unless you make it a 2nd job. So establish a threshold. e.g. my threshold for a CC bonus is 50K miles. Hope it helps.

My tip is to not spread yourself too thin. Focus on one or two airlines, one or two hotels, etc. Otherwise you'll go nuts and not be able to keep track. Plus, consolidating will help because you won't spread your business too thin.

Also, keep in mind the value of time vs miles. If you spend an hour of your time reading posts and getting involved in some way to snag 100 miles, it's probably not worth it as the value of those miles is perhaps two dollars.

after reading about the programs I'm interested in, I mainly look at milesbuzz to catch new and interesting miles offers. If I have a trip coming up I will go to the individual hotel or rental car programs to see what their current quarter promotion is. Occasionally I will keep up with an ongoing thread (like the hilton devaluation) until there is resolution. Same thing with airline programs, only look at what you use, unless you are maxed out on easy point gathering and looking for a new program. SEARCH is your friend and can answer many questions without reading a ton of unrelated posts. After you get a handle on your specific programs check out the spam section for oddball programs. After you have enough posts, check out the coupon connection to see how trades are done. There are sections I have never looked in, and there are links to other travel sites that can be just as useful as FT with a less broad spectrum of info.
if your ready for true information overload check out this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-websites.html

My #1 recommendation is don't try to learn everything at once...you'll only end up frustrated. Pick an airline or two (or alliance) and a hotel or two and follow those to start. Once you get more comfortable, start building and expanding your knowledge of other airlines/hotels (if necessary).

I have a Firefox tab group with the 9 forums I really am interested in. I launch that and browse through the bolded threads that have new content. If something looks interesting, I select, go to the last page, and read the posts, deciding if I want to read the prior posts.

After a reading session, I click the "Mark Forums Read" link (this used to be automatic...grrrrrr....) to mark everything as read up to the instant. So next time I visit the only bolded threads/posts are those new since my last session.

Keep it to a manageable number of forums and remember the process so you don't re-scan or re-visit threads/posts you've already read.

^ I like your approach. I didn't know about the "Mark Forums Read" link. I'll have to look into that.

I first discovered FT because it would constantly come up during my web searches (which weren't just about one thing). Eventually I joined to start posting earlier this year. I started off pretty much exclusively in the MR and AC forums, but now I've branched out to be a regular in the CX, *A, China, and TravelBuzz forums. I pretty much only read threads which I'm interested in and disregard the rest. Once you start "thinking" in FT terms, everything becomes pretty much second-nature. I've also worked for a couple of airlines and flown charters as a pilot before so that helps a little I guess.

Just stick with the Airline/Hotel programmes you're most interested in then you can branch out from there. The MR forum is a great place to learn some things if you have the patience to, as well. (including the infamous Trick it! thread)

If you are getting confused by all this churning stuff though, simply get a SPG Amex and stick with in. 1 SPG point (1.25 airline miles) per dollar is pretty hard to beat, and even though there are some cards that might offer more, SPG's wide range of transaction partners (and the option of cash+points for Starwood properties) means you can easily get 5-10 cents per point. Definitely the "go-to" card.

I only subscribe to posts that are somehow beneficial.

Examples:

-A thread on AA where AA FFers offer discount coupons to each other.
-A thread on resorts in Thailand, useful for planning a trip I would like to take.