BiziBB

I support Etihad gettings its own forum, on the basis of:
1. EY's linkages to mainstream partners in a number of countries (notably Virgin Australia here, AA in the US); The VA/EY partnership is a major benefit for Aussies frustrated by QF domestic and international right now.
2. EY having a major award-winning product on several criteria, especially premium travel;
3. EY having extensive network in Europe, South Asia and Asia Pacific, focusing on long haul travel, which are often not served by legacy carriers;
4. My own excellent experiences in the air and with EY on travel to Asia and and from Europe on EY in various classes;
5. Having all of these attributes, the EY FFP is something that will draw more interest as the mid-east airlines continue their ascent and as EY follows the model of SQ, EK and others, often offering a comparable or even superior experience.
6. Just a personal thing - friends use EY and I'd like to see them on FT more to discuss the program. I also am very impressed with Abu Dhabi's commitment to F1 at its Yas Marina. As an Aussie I am happy to see an Aussie airline boss whose organisation supports top level sports including the F1 Grand Prix and Manchester City FC.

Possible negatives I expect to see raised against EY's FFP getting a FT forum of its own:
1. Not directly a major alliance partner (like EK; no * or OW direct connection)
2. Comments based on FTers not having a stake in using these FFPs will make the process a little harder. For example, nil interest in QR getting a forum until it was earning miles and status with US airlines / Staralliance.
3. General focus of many FTers on domestic flight MRs rather than longhaul MRs like us Aussies.

I hope that TalkBoard members can rationally judge this case on the merits of EY and use QR and EK (and partner Virgin Australia) forums as a guide to evaluating if it's worth a try.

Just one more thing. Some history for jimmc66 of Mid-East airlines, below in a few links.

That was quite a number of years ago, before Emirates graduated to its own forum and before Qatar/Etihad were conceived (Qatar and Abu Dhabi were shareholders in Gulf Air along with Bahrain).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etihad_Airways (Arabic: الإتحاد‎, ʼal-ʻitiħād)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Air (Arabic: طيران الخليج‎ Ṭayarān al-Khalīj)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Airways (Arabic: القطرية, Qatariyah‎)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_(airline) (Arabic: طيران الإمارات‎ Ṭayarān al-Imārāt)

Dovster

Negative factors about an airline not only do not disqualify it from having its own forum but actually increase the reason to have one. The more that an airline (or its FF program) upset its passengers the more apt they are to want to express that displeasure somewhere.

I actually joined FT (in fact, first heard of it) in 2003 as a result of some very bad changes that Delta was making to its SkyMiles program. I googled "SkyMiles", found a group of frequent flyers who had started a program called "Save SkyMiles" and, from there, found a link to FT's Delta Forum.

I'm unlikely to fly with Etihad as they don't fly from where I do and are very unlikely to do so until there is peace in the Middle East (perhaps another 100 or 200 years).

Still, if enough FTers are interested, it certainly won't cause me any problems for Etihad to have its own forum.

FlyerEC

^
Yes, please even if I have yet to fly them. Perhaps in 2012.

m0hamed

For the odd internal flight on MS or SV I'm happy to consult the Arab carrier forum, however, EY is becoming a major global player, as others have stated the ability to earn and redeem AA miles has generated significant interest, as posts will indicate.

I'm taking my first trip with EY this Christmas and struggled to find the information I required, as well as engage in any dialogue with FTers who are knowledgable of their products and routes, other than in the AA forum. My family fly them regularly, but they are sick of my countless questions, and consider some of them unnecessary, but other FTers would appreciate that I want to know if they offer priority boarding at the gate, or what kind of Champagne is served on board. I have loads of questions about EY Guest, the FF program as the website is rather unhelpful. I know that similar questions would be answered in the QF, AA or BA forums, and I would learn from others' collective experience and knowledge.

It should also be noted that one of the reason that QF is struggling at the moment, and quite heavily discussed in relation to the industrial dispute, is the assessment that many Australians are choosing EY as an alternative carrier because of the price and comparable, if not better, product.

Alice11

EY is getting bigger, with an increasing number of frequent flyers. The number and the lenght of threads about EY is apparently growing fast.
I' think it's more than reasonable to set up a EY forum on FT. I'd really like it.

matt_r_p

Yes please. The AA mileage addition has made it much more attractive / versatile.

saatx

I am all for it,especially after the extended relationship with AA and the quality of product from them.

Phil the Flyer

Given EY's growth as a major airline, coupled with the high quality of their in-flight product, I think the question FlyerTalk needs to ask is whether FT's credibility is at risk by not having a separate EY forum. To my mind EY is on a par with EK and QR - as such it should have its own forum.

jetche2004

I too support the idea of a separate forum for Etihad Guest.

1. Majority of the posts in the "Other Middle East Airlines" concerns EY.
2. EY is a major player in the Europe - Australia / South Asia and also in the North America - South Asia market (even though they fly to only JFK, ORD and YYZ).
3. They have global partnerships with Virgin Australia, AA, MH and a whole bunch of airlines.
4. Their hard product and soft product are among the finest in the world. (Even in Y, their 346s are probably the best option for long haul).
5. Their FFP Etihad Guest is a very good one for Etihad passengers. For example, 25,000 to reach silver, which has a lot of benefits (including lounge access and excess baggage) is a good deal.

nikhizzle

I think this comes down to the question "Is Etihad a major airline?". The answer is yes, and so it deserves a forum.

HansGolden

+1

Vote yes.

hugolover

Yes please add a forum. The more FT reflects the competitive nature of the airline market with the emerging and increasing dominant Middle Eastern carriers the better and the frequent flyer programmes that go with it.

TONY123

Yes to the vote. They may be in the future a partner to One World.

nsx

After reading everything in both threads I have voted "Yes" to recommend this new forum.

The way these votes tend to proceed is that 1 or 2 of the 9 TalkBoard members will wait until near the end of the voting period, which in this case is November 20, to decide. Typically, only 9-0 votes on completely uncontested proposals end very early. Otherwise TalkBoard members like to take their time and allow all the arguments to be made here on TalkBoard Topics. Your posts here (and in this case in the other thread on the same subject) are a crucial part of this process.

After all 9 votes are in, if the TalkBoard approves a new forum recommendation, our Community Director highlights the TalkBoard's sluggishness by creating a forum immediately and populating it with appropriate threads within a few hours.

If the TalkBoard does not approve a recommendation, the TalkBoard's custom has been not to re-vote the proposal for several months unless some new major factor is present, which might be a request from the Community Director to reconsider the subject.

Cholula

I've also voted to support this new forum. There have been some convincing arguments for it's creation IMO.