FlyerTalker688786

Hi all, this question or suggestion have been in my mind for a while. I hope someone can agree with me partially if not as a whole.

What I am thinking is:

1>, Cancel the Airline and Global Alliance from the main menu, add: Star Alliance, OneWorld, SkyTeam as well as non-allianced airlines four main menu.

2>, Move all Star Alliance related sub-forum under the Star Alliance menu, do the same for oneworld and SkyTeam.

3>, Move all non-allianced airline under the Non-allianced Airlines forum.

4>, Move other airlines under the geography catagory into Non-allianced Airlines forum

5>, Within Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam main menu, add a sub-froum for smaller airline programme which is not big enough for an individual sub-froum

So when visitors come to the Flyertalk forums, they will see
Star Alliance
oneworld
SkyTeam
Non-Alliance Airline

four main menus insted of:
Airline porgrams
Global Airline Alliances

If they click on oneworld, they will have sub-forums includes:
oneworld (for general discussion about Alliance and other oneworld member not listed)
American
British
Cathay
Iberia
Finnair
Qantas

Some sub-forums like Airlines of India, Frontier, Qatar, jetBlue, Emirates can be moved to Non-Alliance Airline

I hope I have put my suggestion in a clear manner...Should you have any questions or better ideas please let the moderator know.

wharvey

You might want to make this suggestion in the Talkboard Topics Forum... since the Talkboard would need to take this decision.

SanDiego1K

I've moved this along to the Talkboard forum for their consideration.

NickB

As sub-forums, it would not be ideal. But as a reorganisation of headings along alliance lines, this is something worth considering. I made such a proposal a couple of years ago (see this thread) but nothing came of it.

Given the dynamism and forward-looking nature of TB, I think that we will get there as long as one is a little patient. I am hopeful that this could happen sometimes around the year 2045 or 2046.

Dovster

Not everyone knows every airline's alliance affiliation (or lack of it). It is a lot easier to find, say, "Czech Airways" by using the alphabet than it is by first finding out that the company belongs to SkyTeam.

FlyerTalker688786

Once you are here once or twice you know it aotumatically being a FT.

Jenbel

Until that time, people will post in whichever forum takes their fancy - a lot of our moderator effort in Community is spent redirecting random threads to the correct forum (e.g. the most recent was moving a thread about Hawaiian airlines to the Hawaiian airlines forum), and I don't see this as making the structure of FT anymore transparent to new or occasional visitors. I do appreciate the logic - but I can't see the point of making FT even more new-member unfriendly.

AZ Travels the World

I agree. And I would also see this type of reorganization somewhat unfriendly to veterans.

I know a fair amount about the miles and points games, and know which alliance the major airlines fall into. But when it comes to the smaller, more obscure ones (at least to me), I frequently have to look them up to refresh my memory.

I would advocate leaving the airlines in alphabetical order. BUT what I would love to see is a small alliance icon next to each name in the list. I think that would be very useful, and serve the best of both worlds.

srirams

One thing that confused me as a new member was the naming of the airline forums (eg American AAdvantage), which led me to think that the only topic would be the FF program instead of the everything about the airline. It might be beneficial to rename the forum into the name of the airline (eg American Airlines) instead of the FF program.

Prospero

Picking up NickB's suggestion from 2009, a interesting discussion, series of suggestions and ideas had developed prior to the proposal going dormant.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...-headings.html

I appreciate the points made that the forums should be organised in a way that is intuitive to the user and I have been pondering over some ideas on how the forum descriptions/sub titles might be developed in a way that removes any ambiguity. Here's a initial draft for no purpose other than to take NickB's concept and paint a picture of what might be possible. Please excuse any errors/omissions I might have made relating to airline subsidiaries.



oneworld Alliance

AAdvantage
American Airlines | American Eagle

Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club
Cathay Pacific | Dragonair

Executive Club
British Airways

Finnair Plus
Finnair

Frequent Flyer
Qantas

Iberia Plus
Iberia | Air Nostrum

Mileage Bank
Japan Airlines

Other oneworld Alliance Frequent Flyer Programs
LAN | Malev | Royal Jordanian | S7 Airlines

oneworld Systemwide Issues
Discussion of lounge networks, Round The World programs, integration issues etc



SkyTeam Alliance

Flying Blue
Air France | CityJet | KLM | Kenya Airways | Air Europa

MilleMiglia
Alitalia

SkyMiles
Delta Air Lines

Skypass
Korean Air

Other SkyTeam Frequent Flyer Programs
Aeroflot | AeroMexico | China Eastern | China Southern | Czech Airlines | Tarom | Vietnam Airlines

SkyTeam Systemwide Issues
Discussion of lounge networks, Round The World programs, integration issues etc



Star Alliance

Aeroplan
Air Canada

Air Points
Air New Zealand

ANA Mileage Club
All Nippon Airways

Dividend Miles
US Airways

EuroBonus
SAS Scandinavian Airlines | Blue1

Asiana Club
Asiana Airlines

Diamond Club
British Midland International

KrisFlyer
Singapore Airlines

Mileage Plus
United Airlines

Miles & More
Lufthansa | Adria | Air Dolomiti | Austrian Airlines | Brussels Airlines | Croatia Airlines | LOT Polish Airlines | Luxair | Swiss International Air Lines

Miles&Smiles
Turkish Airlines

Royal Orchid Plus
Thai Airways

Other Star Alliance Frequent Flyer Programs
Aegean | Air China | Egyptair | South African Airlines | Spanair | TAM | TAP Portugal

Star Alliance Systemwide issues
Discussion of lounge networks, Round The World programs, integration issues etc



Other Airline Frequent Flyer Programs

A+ Rewards
AirTran Airways

EarlyReturns
Frontier Airlines

eleVAte
Virgin America

Flying Club
Virgin Atlantic

Frequent Guest
WestJet

Matmid
El Al

Mileage Plan
Alaska Airlines | Horizon Airlines

Privilege Club
Qatar Airways

Rapid Rewards
Southwest Airlines

Skywards
Emirates Airlines

TrueBlue
JetBlue

Velocity
Virgin Australia

Airlines of India
Air India | Jet Airways | Kingfisher Airlines | Other Indian-based airlines

Hawaii-based Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines | Other airlines based in Hawai`i

Other Asian, Australian and South Pacific Frequent Flyer Programs
Other airlines based in Asian, Australian and the South Pacific

Other European Frequent Flyer Programs
Other airlines based in Europe

Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs
Other airlines based in Middle East and Africa

Other North and South America Frequent Flyer Programs
Other airlines based in North and South America

AZ Travels the World

Thank you for the visual, Prospero, I think it really helps the discussion.

While I think clearer and more consistent forum titles would, indeed, help, I can't see how this organization really helps the average user find what they're looking for. (Which I believe should be the underlying goal.)

It seems to me, more often than not, people will be looking for information based upon the name of the airline -- not the alliance or the name of the FF program.

For example, I'm going to Turkey. I've heard of Turkish Airlines. This organization plan makes it pretty difficult to pick Turkish Airlines out of the list. I likely wouldn't know it is in the Star Alliance. And I'm even less likely to know that the name of the program is "Miles & Smiles." Yet, that's the order of the navigation required to get me to Turkish Airlines.

Who is really served by approaching the structure in this way?

Prospero

This is a very good question - pretty fundamental too. Returning to first principles and I can only describe my own usage which happens to fall into two primary but overlapping purposes:

• Airline related - researching specific product, service standards, airport facilities and the general musing surrounding the airline
• FFP related - comprehension, developing travel plans, harvesting mileage earn/burn opportunities, and tapping specific FPP promotions.

So on reflection, flipping the hierarchy from FFP to airline headlines works equally well, if not better. I do accept your example which leads to prioritising the airline name as the title header as this is what draws the member to the golden info about airlines they are less familiar with.

What I like about the grouping airlines into their respective alliances is that it reinforces FT's raison d'etre and perhaps better reflects its usage or at least my usage.

nsx

This situation illustrates the desirability of board software that could present the forums in whichever way the user prefers.

However we do have My FlyerTalk, which can accomplish most of what is needed for users.

I don't see creating a major project for a minor benefit. As we all know, the people who are displeased by a change are always much louder than those who are pleased by it.

NickB

Yep. Pretty much my thinking too.

The alphabetical organisation works ideally for a general 'airline travel' board. If, however, you have an FFP-oriented board, then the alliance-based system is, IMO, preferable. It means, for instance, that BA fliers may see in the headlines just below something of interest in another OW airlines, such as CX or IB that may catch their eyes, which they are highly unlikely to notice if we stick to the alphabetical list.

No, it does not. My flyertalk does not enable you to reorganise the list in whichever order you choose. You are still stuck with alphabetical ordering, whether you like it or not.

Yes. You are absolutely right about the inherent conservatism of human nature (and moreover one that increases as we get older). You just need to look at the howls of disapprovals when those infernal railway machines were created, which could only be a creation of the devil and were bound to make you ill by reaching the dizzying heights of 25 mph... . But then again, if we always stuck to those instincts, we would still be trying to make fire with two stones to heat our cave.

tcook052

Disagree and like Dovster I can't recall with accuracy which airline is in which alliance, at least those beyond the airlines I fly often or have active FFM accounts, so prefer things as they are. Just MHO.