RyanAir has no FF program. Therefore OEFFP doesn't make much sense.

EasyJet and Spirit barely have FF programs.

As for organization - easily fixed with a forum header description change, if appropriate. I still think RyanAir, EasyJet, and Spirit belong in Budget Travel. They certainly don't deserve a forum of their own to discuss their small to non-existent FF programs and what little there is to discuss about these airlines themselves is appropriate for Budget Travel. I'm sorry if that offends some people's sensibilities, but that's where I believe they belong.

I agree with you on paper. From purely theoretical perspective, that is what makes the most sense and why I suggested to people to do just that.

It is just that experience tells us that this just does not work. I am not sure what the proper answer to the problem is. But I sure know that closing one's mind in a doctrinaire "that is the way it should be" is perhaps not the most constructive way to go about it.

This has nothing to do with sensibilities but rather with pragmatism and common sense: when something does not work, perhaps one needs to think again rather than pretending that no problem exists and that all is fine and dandy. It may be that changing the description will do the trick. I do not know. I really do not know what the answer to it is. But I sure would like it infinitely better if TB members acknowledged when there is an issue (even if one does not have a satisfactory answer to the problem) rather than pushing the issue under the carpet.

Whether you like or not, it is a fact that people do not know where to post when they have question about Ryanair and Easyjet and do not tend to post them in the budget travel forum. Just repeating in TB that this is where people should post will not solve that problem. And if someone were to ask me now where to post such a question, I would no longer tell them to post it there because I do not think that it would be sensible for me to tell someone to post in a forum where their chances of getting a useful answer are not very high.

What do you mean by "doesn't work"?

Are there dozens of posts straying outside the Budget Travel forum? Or are a small number of people refusing to use this forum for RyanAir, EasyJet, Spirit, etc?

Responding to "I want!" is not how TB should be making decisions and changes. Educating and directing traffic may be a better solution going forward than just making changes and adding forums based on "I want!".

That's the crucial question. I'd like to know too. Also whether a retitling would help guide posters to the correct forum.

As to the other point that TB know FT like the back of our hands... I have compiled forum usage statistics for all FT forums a few times. It takes a couple hours. Each time I do, I discover changes that I had not noticed. Nobody but SanDiego1K knows FT like the back of her hand.

I have no interest in any of these airlines, but what about splitting Budget Travel into subforums, including one for Budget Airlines?

Disagree a bit. Obviously I don't know FT like the back of my hand or I would have realized initially that the Budget Travel forum actually includes LCCs in its forum description. ;) And it's obvious that neither EasyJet nor RyanAir are high-end carriers, so the best spot for discussions is probably that forum.

There are posts re: RA/EJ in the OEFFP forum, probably more than in Budget Travel from what I've seen. My guess, and it's only that, is that those who are UK/Europe base think of that forum first or just haven't perused all the forums that FT offers & discovered Budget Travel.

If there are indeed posts re: EJ/RA (or any LCC; let's not be myopic) in forums you think are inappropriate, you can PM the mod of said forum(s) & suggest the threads get moved to Budget Travel.

BTW - I just went back for a year in the Budget Travel forum & there are very few threads that have 0 replies & none (maybe 1) had to do w/ RyanAir/EasyJet, so I'm a bit perplexed by your saying that your friends questions were left unanswered. Seems to me based on my quick view of threads is that people do answer those who post in that forum. There's also a LCC sticky in Budget Travel forum.

Spiff has made clear his disdain for EJ/RA is simply a personal opinion & his opposition to them getting their own forum has more to do w/ their lack of FF programs. I don't have strong feelings one way or another re: EJ/RA, but am inclined to agree w/ him re: why they don't deserve their own forum based on lack of FF program.

Some might not know Budget Travel forum exists or some may think that the Europe forums are the place for EJ/RA because that's where they live. The solution could be as simple as having mods move the threads to BTF if they think it's in the wrong place.

I don't think (and won't vote for one at this stage) it requires a forum just for EJ/RA - one reason being in that the forums where I do see them, threads re: them still aren't a majority of the threads in the forums where they do exist.

Agree.

This sounds more like getting the mods to move the threads in other forums to Budget Travel. The BTF already mentions LCC in the forum description.

Having just scanned the thread titles in the Budget Travel forum, the threads are quite varied & not enough to justify sub-forums. The forum description already mentions LCC.

BTW - I had no idea there were so many LCC worldwide until I read this post in the LCC sticky :eek:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/4549539-post2.html

Cheers.

Spirit Forum, its about Time...
 

Spirit does have a frequent flyer program with different tier levels, as well as its own mileage credit card. All of my posts about the airline (most other peoples as well) have been under the "North/South American Airlines forum. There is a strong since by many the Spirit/Ryan Air deserve their own respective, independent forums.

They are both the most successful members of the Ultra-Low-Cost-Carrier Group, in their region. Both airlines are innovators for their industry and have taken the Southwest example, to the next level. Seriously Virgin America has a small FFP, yet along with JetBlue, they have their own forums. It should be noted that their are some growing ULCCs in Asia as well.

Seriously, nobody in their right mind would search for ULCCs in the "Budget Travel Forum"!!

In addition to the forum description for Budget Travel, would it help to rename the forum as something like

Budget Travel, Including Budget Airlines and LCCs

? This might help to clarify where discussions of budget airlines belong.

That's a much more sensible solution than creating a forum for a low-traffic, low-demand, low benefits FFP that hasn't generated much traffic... anywhere.

The OEFFP forum is becoming the de facto place to discuss European LCCs. I have no explanation as to why this is. Perhaps it is because Budget Travel is geared towards the philosophical pursuit of frugal travel. Perhaps it is a reflection of the increased market share LCCs now command in Europe and that travelling on WizzAir, Easyjet, Ryanair, Norwegian et al is unavoidable because these airlines have networks that cover broad swathes of the European continent legacy airlines simply don't serve.

My predilection is to let the posters decide where they prefer to discuss a subject. If the bulk of discussion of European fee-happy airlines occurs in Other European Frequent Flyer Programs, then IMHO the Budget Travel forum moderator should move threads to OEFFP and add that tidbit at the top of a sticky thread.

Carol could then subtitle Other European Frequent Flyer Programs to mention RyanAir, EasyJet, and the others.

Maybe it would be good to first consider where the discussion of budget airlines and LCCs should occur and then be consistent. If European carriers are discussed in the other regional forum, the same should be true for North/South American LCCs, Asian LCCs, etc. so that there's some logic to the organization. Ideally the decision should be reflected in the forum titles so that there's no ambiguity. Few people read the "what to pot here" sticky threads or announcements at the top of fora.

Which is why we need Spirit/Ryan/Air Asia threads.

The whole Spirit thread debate has been going on now for just over seven years++.

Do you mean threads? Or fora? Or one forum for all of them?

And Spirit

1) Is a terrible airline that shouldn't have an operating certificate

2) Generates little to no traffic in the forum(s) that is currently designated for discussing Spirit.

As you know, 1) is personal opinion but 2) quite clearly demonstrates that Spirit should not have a forum.