tom911

How do the Talk Board members feel, though? This topic has been out there for two months and only one member has commented and offered suggestions.

lin821

I guess you haven't heard?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...elections.html

SkiAdcock

FWIW & speaking only for myself, I seriously doubt whether TB elections has anything to do w/ this suggestion for a forum, which was brought up a couple of months ago; long before the upcoming election.

I haven't seen a case made for a stand-alone forum, and my take is most parking programs are handled well in the regional forums. My guess (and it's only that) is that other TB members feel the same.

Cheers.

Canarsie

There are several parking companies with locations throughout the United States that offer frequent parking loyalty programs, such as:

1. PreFlight Airport Parking with nine locations
2. theParkingSpot with 21 locations
3. Park ’n Fly with 61 locations
4. Global Airport Parking with 102 locations plus eight cruise port locations

Plus, there are discount parking services worldwide, such as:

1. AirportParking.com with greater than 100 locations worldwide
2. AirportParkingReservations.com
3. CheapAirportParking with 21 locations

There may be more companies which I am missing, including internationally — but how would I know unless there was a forum dedicated to this topic?

Confining this topic to regional forums is a disservice, in my opinion. Which of these companies offer free shuttle service? Which has the best frequent parking loyalty program? Which has the best discount coupons? Which offers water or soft drinks upon check-out? Which gives away newspapers? Which gives you bonus airline miles? Which offers pet-sitting services, car wash and detailing services, or discounts with partners? I have to go through each regional forum to find this information out?

Plus, there are many FlyerTalk members who use more than one base airport to park their vehicles — perhaps for work, because they own more than one home, or for the purposes of positioning for a “mileage run” or sale airfare not available at the closest airport to where they are based.

For these and other reasons, I support the creation of a forum for frequent parking loyalty programs and airport parking discounts and services.

lin821

I believe you misunderstood and missed my point. I was replying to tom911's question about missing input from 8 other current TBers.

I simply pointed out a timeline. What I meant or implied was that a new TB election is coming up next month and we don't know if every current TBer will be serving again in the new term starting December 2012. It probably wouldn't mean much if we heard from those TBers who wouldn't be on the next term. No need to show your rolleyes on my matter-of-fact statement.

Two and half months ago, this thread was nothing but a (misplaced) thread for OP to self-promote his own parking service/program in JFK. However, things have changed when Canarsie put some great thought and made a much better case for creating a frequent parking loyalty programs forum on FT.

IMHO, giving this new "twist", if there's any new "development" of a proposal, or a remotely possible motion, it probably would make sense to have it happen till all the new TBers are in office. YMMV.

hhoope01

I don't question that there are national parking programs out there (or even programs that might span more than one region.) The question really concerns whether there would be much discourse around those programs and parking in general.

I'm personally not averse to some forums being more for informational purposes rather than having a lot of posting traffic, but I think most prefer to have forums with some minimum level of posting "traffic" whatever that is. And I think that might be the sticking point with this being a forum.

nsx

Correct. This is a local topic. There's also an OAK parking thread in the Southwest forum (in addition to the SF forum), since Southwest dominates that airport.

My experience with Frequent Parker programs is colored by a zero-notice devaluation by Parking Company of America. I filled three of their punch cards, each of which says it's good for 10 days of free parking. No longer. I could send them in and get banked points worth much less. Fortunately BART now goes to SFO.

Frequent parker programs would not have sufficient interest even if they could be counted on. You can discuss them in SPAM if you like, along with the topics like the defunct Subway punch cards for a free sandwich.

Canarsie

You may be correct — although there are currently at least 490 discussions about parking throughout FlyerTalk, with a minimum of 153 discussions about parking in the TravelBuzz! forum alone and at least 11 more discussions in the S.P.A.M. forum.

However, I am having an issue with one frequent parking program of which I am a member, and for comparison purposes, I would like to discuss it but am loathe to post it in a regional forum, the TravelBuzz! forum or the S.P.A.M. forum because none of those forums really fit the topic, in my opinion — so I did not post the issue.

If there was a dedicated forum for frequent parking programs and parking programs which offer discounts, that would be the proper forum — again, just expressing my opinion.

nsx

Why doesn't SPAM fit? That's where ebates and all sorts of minor rebate programs go.

Canarsie

My reason is the same as for frequent travel loyalty programs of airlines, hotels and rental cars...

...because parking at an airport is part of travel — speaking for myself, of course — and there are frequent parking loyalty programs which not only offer points, but some even offer bonus airline frequent flier miles. Miles and points has always been the core discussion and raison d’ętre of FlyerTalk.

Based on this line of reasoning, discussion dedicated to frequent parking loyalty programs deserves its own forum on FlyerTalk — but that is merely my conclusion.

The S.P.A.M. forum was initially created as Sites with Points and Alternative Miles for loyalty programs other than for travel purposes. MyPoints is one example.

I believe that frequent parking loyalty programs deserve a forum on FlyerTalk every bit as much as for frequent travel programs for airlines, hotels and rental cars.

SkiAdcock

Until canarsie provided some information recently on nat'ls, my take was that the proposed forum is already handled by existing regional forums and/or not enough justification for a stand-alone forum. While I can't speak for other TB members, my guess is that they felt the same hence not a lot of responses on the 2-month thread.

I don't believe in lame duck TBs. We are a current active TB until the elections are over & the new TB is installed.

I don't have a problem with motions being voted on during the election process as long as votes are done before the new team comes in; no cross-over. We have a new TB every year, & there are always current members on as well as new members. Short of the (very very short) cross-over period when new members come on/current one departs, I think our focus should be on the issues/what needs to be voted on, and not get tied up in how close or far away it is from an election.

I don't know if this will be made into a motion at all, although canarsie has provided some reasoning why it should be considered. If the motion is done so that the vote ends before the short cross-over, that's fine. If further discussion delays a motion so that it ties into the cross-over, then we'd probably wait.

Cheers.

Canarsie

What can I do to help members of the TalkBoard consider creating a motion pertaining to this discussion?

SkiAdcock

Will get back to you on that , but I am going to bring up the topic for discussion in the private forum.

Cheers.

hhoope01

I do believe they like to see the following questions answered:

The following are qualitative criteria that the TalkBoard believes are useful to consider when evaluating proposals to create, close, split, or move forums. Whenever a forum change is discussed on the TalkBoard Topics, the TalkBoard encourages posters to fully address these criteria in addition to any other reasons supporting or opposing the change.

1. Will the forum be (or is it now) beneficial to FlyerTalk? Given there are a number of existing threads spread throughout various FT forums, there does seem to be both an interest in this topic and at least some desire to discuss it. Canarsie has stated within this specifc thread that there are at least "490 discussions about parking throughout FlyerTalk, with a minimum of 153 discussions about parking in the TravelBuzz! forum alone and at least 11 more discussions in the S.P.A.M. forum".

2. Will the new forum benefit a relationship with FlyerTalk? E.g., does the forum provide value for FT members, such as a friendly ear highly placed in the company? Given there are quite a few existing threads already within FT, it looks like there is already a perceived benefit.

3. Is FT the best place to discuss this subject? To quote Canarsie again "...because parking at an airport is part of travel — speaking for myself, of course — and there are frequent parking loyalty programs which not only offer points, but some even offer bonus airline frequent flier miles. Miles and points has always been the core discussion and raison d’ętre of FlyerTalk.

Based on this line of reasoning, discussion dedicated to frequent parking loyalty programs deserves its own forum on FlyerTalk — but that is merely my conclusion."

Where would there be a better place to discuss this topic?


4. Is there a passionate following? This is essential in order to provide dedicated expert helpers to get questions answered. I"m not an expert on who is passionate or not, I would say that 490 existing threads shows at least some "base" of interest in this topic. And given travel points/miles is core to FT's mission, this would seem a very good fit.


5. Is a critical mass of posts and readers anticipated or existing? We need adequate traffic to keep everyone visiting frequently. One living forum is more valuable than two mostly dead ones. While the aforementioned 490 threads may be spread over more than a decade of posting, it does show a potential "base" of posting traffic.

6. Is this the best place on FlyerTalk for this subject? This is the classification issue. The answer depends primarily on achieving and maintaining critical mass. It also depends on whether or where the discussion might (or does) occur in the absence of the forum. As stated above, this pertains to travel points/miles and thus should be considered core to FT's mission. It might be worth looking at the dates around those 490 threads to see when they occured, how much discussion went on, and possibly to see if there has been an increase in discussions over the last few years, versus 10 years ago. That might show an increasing desire and posting base for this topic.

7. For proposals to split a forum, is the split expected to improve the signal to noise ratio? Why? While this proposal doesn't really suggest a forum split, it does suggest a topic "consolidation". The fact that there are probably discussions about Freq. Parking programs spread throughout various geographic forums, TravelBuzz!, S.P.A.M., and probably MilesBuzz! as well, can make it very difficult to find all discussions around the various Frequent Parking programs. One would have to search through all those forums to find the information. Having it in one place provides a single location for all that information, thus making searches much easier and more likely to successfully find it.

As I stated earlier, I'm not necessarily for or against this, but I think there is at least some potential merrit to a Freq. Parking forum. And thus it is definitely worth discussing.

tom911

What will happen to the parking discussions in regional forums? Are all of these, even though many contain discussion about parking lots that have no alliance and operate independently, going to be moved to the new parking forum? Or is this new forum only for those that have nationwide programs with benefits? What happens when the thread contains discussion of multiple parking lots at the same airport, both independent and nationally affiliated. Where does it go?