Research topic? Comments will be appreciated.
 

I have been following the posts on FlyerTalk for quite some time (more than a year--without any posting yet, though), and found them absolutely fascinating. Being a researcher (I'm an assistant professor at Rutgers University), I naturally ask myself whether I can do some research work, in particular about the impact of FlyerTalk on the airline industry. Does anyone know whether this kind of analysis has been done already? Do you know of any airline industry that is paying attention to (or regularly mornitorning) the posts on FlyerTalk? Thanks in advance for your comments.
--Sun Park
[email protected]
http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~boxenju

[This message has been edited by spark (edited 04-18-2002).]

[This message has been edited by spark (edited 04-18-2002).]

[This message has been edited by spark (edited 04-18-2002).]

[This message has been edited by spark (edited 04-18-2002).]

Rumor has it that all the major airline and hotel programs clandestinely monitor this board. The urban legend is, and it is probably true (but I personally don't recall any concrete examples...but someone surely will), is that especially airlines use the information to close loopholes, audit stations that do favors for us, etc. For example, let's say I take an international trip, and the gate agent does not collect my paper international upgrade or just gives me a complimentary "operational upgrade," for no "legitimate" business reason...i.e. just to be nice, etc. Or waives my $100/$150 change fee. Now further suppose that I posted this information in either the particular airlines own forum, or the Flyertalk Trip Reports forum. Now rumor has it, again, that some department reviews this, and they might use the information to "train" whatever station or agent did the favor that this was not proper procedure, etc. As a result, for the most part, I personally no longer post trip reports based on this rumor...as it makes sense to me that the airlines would, by the way they run their businesses, use this board in an audit like capacity that I described. Does this happen evrey time? Probably not, but I bet it happens sometimes.

In addition there have been several airline employees, from various companies, that have informally posted offering advice and information. In many cases, it seems that the airline company has either directly or indirectly admonished the employee, preferring for the companys corporate communication department to handle all correspondence of this type. It appears airlines may have admonished even employees who often follow the company line on the board, etc. Again, the airlines want a centralized corporate communication like department to be their communication interface.

Largely in response to these alleged phenominon, a private email list has been created, and it is by invitation only. The purpose of the list is to post, for example, fares that may appear to be a glitch. I.e. $29 from New York to Paris (I think that actually happened once.) Again the thinking is that if this data is posted to a closed off list, then the "deal" might be around longer because the auditors reviewing this board would not "close the loophole" as they say as quickly. Flyertalk has become very popular, they get hundreds of thousands if not more hits a month.

Also the Flyertalk community at times debates how closely we should work with the airlines, etc. Are we with them, against them, neutral, etc? Is it legitimate to post obvious errors? If what appears to be a computer error gives you 100,000 extra points should you keep them? If you get a $0 hotel rate, should it be yours to use at that rate? There are varying opinions posted on those topics. My unscientific research shows that most people on the board tend to favor the airlines/hotel in loophole situations, but again this is a very unscientific finding, and obviously only reflects the opinions of the posters. Apparently lots of people lerk but don't post, like you for a year.

On the hotel end of the operation, there is definetely a Staroow representative who actively participaes on the board, nearly evrey day. He is called the Starwood Lerker, and is well liked and respected in the community. He will work with customers on individual issues, as well as in terms of suggestiong or feedback on the program in general. The same person has been in this role for a long time now, and that has built up the trust and rapor that people have with him. In fact, a Starwoof VP in a chat said that this persons job was the most secure in the company, so Starwoods executives do see the value in this type of service. Hilton has a vp that is very occasionally on the board posting, but you might see him once a month, if that. Radisson also has a cust service rep(s) that post from time to time, perhaps more frequently than Hilton. Other than that, none of the companies that I know of have interactive participation on the board, again it appears the board is a one way conduit to them only.

Many on the board have requested that other hotel and airline companies offer a similar service that Starwood Lerker does, i.e. be a regularly interactive participant on the board, but I don't know of other companies adopting this suggestion yet.

Also it is very common for the Wall Street Journal and other publications to email people who are on Flyertalk to get information for stories. Many of us "regulars" have been in the papers before where they have contacted us via Flyertalk initially. Incidentally, as you know, you can tell a "regular" by the number of posts they have as one indication, and also the date of registration with Flyertalk.

I hope this answers some of your preliminary questions, and let us know what you discover in your research, etc. You mighyt also email [email protected] and he may have insights in to exactly how industry uses the board, and may be able to comment further on the topic.

At one point, the LH board had a poster with the handle SenatorService.

When asked if SS was employed by LH, the response was http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I would disagree that this is the "criteria" by which you can tell a regular.

I've seen people who come on to FlyerTalk and very quickly ammass a HUGE post count while posting fluff or misinformation...

*cough*afang*cough*

*cough*WorldTraveler36*cough*

Likewise, while I have the utmost respect for those with older registration dates, that doesn't discount the contribution of those who registered later.

Quality, not quantity.

Respectfully, techgirl (lurker since '99, poster since '01, and who still is in the lower end of the post counts among those on FT)

(edited because my UBB abilities obviously label me as a novice!)

[This message has been edited by techgirl (edited 04-18-2002).]

With all due respect, if this l;ist is private and by invitation only, why are you revealing it now?

How about a study on the effect of a Flyertalk post on an airline's ticket sales?
Or, rising subscribership of DSL/Cable Modem users due to the need for faster FT response time?

It hasn't been a secret:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/004564.html

"I would never belong to a group that would accept someone like me as a member." - Groucho Marx

Beyond things like staff behavior, the airlines also make use of the info on creative routings for extra miles at little cost that we share amongst ourselves.

It's the classic dilemma in an intelligence (as in CIA) operation. We customers find valuable information, but making use of that information makes it vulnerable to having that information be invalidated.

Should we keep these fare specials, mileage run opportunities, etc... to ourselves or to a special mailing list?

Personally, I think the information should be shared publicly on FT, even if it causes the airlines/hotels to shut them down more quickly. The whole reason this community exists is because people share their knowledge. If we only share with people we consider friends, FT wouldn't be the place it is today.

As for our impact on the travel industry, I'd like to think they use this board as a free focus group of some of their best customers. Collectively, FT'ers fly a lot and stay at a lot of hotels. Trying to assemble a focus groups of this kind of wide demographics must be close to impossible, but the travel industry can get it for free here on Flyertalk.

There are other business school professors who have written on the airlines who monitor this board. You might ask around at Academy in Denver about who writes on airlines.

What a bunch of elitist snobs (Goldlust and Empress).

I like your style Techgirl http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Several newspaper and other media reporters monitor FT. James Pilcher of the Cincinnati Enquirer comes to mind immediately.

Adam Burke fron Hilton has been a major source of help at the Hilton site.

Delta has an "unofficial" presence in the form of Russ21Atl and www.saveskymiles.com came out of FT and failed because of Delta's indifference.

I seem to remember someone from New Zealand or Australia looking for info for a research projrect.

I am sure that there is more

Where there is a spark, there is ____.

You want to do research? Do a story about the absolutely worthless airport security. What a waste of resources. Maybe this is a full employment plan by our prez. Would be more valuable to use these resources to improve the INS clown agency and keep these undesirables out in the first place and keep track of the ones they let in.

Thanks so much for all of you who have responded to my original posting (of looking for a research topic). As you probably have guessed from my silence, I'm a bit swamped with the end-of-semester work (homework grading, exams, final project, etc.), so haven't been able to answer your post yet.

I won't be an expert enough to do research on "worthless" airport security :-), but I'll definitely look into the work of other b-school professors and others. (sorry for being ignorant, but what is Academy in Denver?)

During the month of May, I'll start bugging you again with lots of questions (You're forwarned! :-) ). Thanks again for your posts.
--Sun

[This message has been edited by spark (edited 04-25-2002).]

As Jetsetter pointed out, this board is a "beat" for Wall Street Journal reporters who look for story ideas, email Flyertalks to obtain "color quotes," write them up and publish them to a giant audience. This is patent laziness on the reporters' parts, of course; it's like dynamite fishing. And they don't have to actually leave their snug offices to track down "real people," 'cos they're all right here. (Though I believe an increasing number of us are declining to cooperate with the Journal.) Anyway, in this manner Flyertalk people and Flyertalk issues gain even greater attention and influence.