I found the following post on FT abbreviations useful when I first joined the community:

http://www.flyertalk.com/glossary/

And to quote another FT member...."search is your friend." People are more than willing to help but long-time members can get testy if newbies ask questions or start posts on questions that can easily be found using the search function (that is when it works!!;)) One word of advice...don't ask about the best hotel in NYC in any of the hotel threads!

Somebody already mentioned the Glossary and Help and FAQs, but also note the Search function under Forums, and the Airline Code Look-up under Help.

It also would be a good thing to fill out a little more on your profile. Just hit your own screen name on one of your messages and you will be taken to information about you. One of the tabs is "About me". There you have two options - one says essentially how you look to everybody else, and the other says "edit". Either one could come up initially. If you get the edit one, hit it and proceed. If you get the other message, hit it and it will toggle to the edit one. Then proceed.

The reason for a little more detail is it will help people relate to you. As much or as little as you care to share. Probably the most useful one would be your home airport, as that drives a lot of answers. Second would be your chosen airline(s) affiliation, as you sort of need to pick a main one to be able to consolidate and amass miles more efficiently. If you are asking tourist do-things questions about a city, age can make a difference in what people suggest as fun things.

And somebody already mentioned, but I will second the very best technique for getting help. Being humble and polite, post your best effort on a specific fare/trip/whatever that you actually want to do. Details - how you did it, dates, etc. Then the gurus here will sort of compete to see who can improve it more. It you haven't put much effort into it and it isn't a very good number, likely just other newbies will sharpen their teeth on it. But that will help you make the next effort better, and you will get a better class of help next time.

Good luck - Romelle

Even when FT Search has given up on you, there's always Google, 24/7. I would say "Google is your friend." :D

I also agree with Romelle. The more specific you are, the easier people can dress up their responses to fit your needs.

It would be very wrong to suggest a vegetarian FTer to try BBQ if say FTer doesn't mention the diet preference. It's impossible to tell you which is the best airline to fly when we don't know where's your base & how much is your budget. You have to reveal enough of yourself or personal preferences to get helpful responses. Stating you're starting from ground zero doesn't help much. See even when quite a few useful tips/suggestions were given, a newbie still couldn't comprehend the challenge she's facing. That turned into a defeat for everybody. :(

We all were newbies once. You have to start somewhere. As wharvey said, you got to do your homework. Set a small goal, research a bit on your own, read the stickies & FAQs, then start asking "smart" questions. If you are willing to do your homework, you'll know how to ask good questions.

Good luck!

Hi - I'm new too. I've been a lurker for a while and now I'm on.

I guess my main objective is to find good flight deals and just have fun doing it. My ALL TIME best deal ever was LHR-SFO-LHR via ATL for $302 in Jan! Woohooo!! On Delta.

And now I'm hooked! SO HIIIII :D

Welcome to FT!

As a fellow newbie I can assure you the gold is here, you just have to be patient in mining it out from everything else.

I stumbled across FT last November when I was wondering how to maximize the flying I expected to be doing this year.

What have I learned?

I learned about the joys of airport lounges, upgrades, double miles, airline status, and the list just goes on.

Specifically, All in all, this changes the way you see travel.