SkiAdcock

FWIW - I've been checking normal forums like United, American & quite a few others in the last week or so. As far as I can tell it's actually the norm for there to be more guests than members, and in some cases it can be 3-4x the amount (depending on the forum). Those forums don't have entry requirements. Just means FT gets a lot of visitors, whether they're logged in or not. We've even had some contributing FT members mention they don't always log into FT when they peruse forums. I don't actually understand that, but to each their own.

Cheers.

hbush

It's rather normal behavior not to log in unless it's absolutely necessary (that is, not to expose your passwords) when working from public terminals like from lounges in airports and hotels.

SkiAdcock

Ah - that makes sense to me (although I've always done it anyway!). Thanks.

Cheers.

kokonutz

My initial impression is that a Good Deal Premium and Economy fares forum is a great idea.

I am also initially in favor of a 180/180 and logged in restriction.

That said, I am open to all input on the issue.

THAT said, the sooner we make a decision about this the better, because the premium deal mega thread is impossible to read any more. ^

SkiAdcock

I'm confused. You voted not to require a simple log-in for the Mileage Run forum, but now you want to restrict this potential new forum to both logged in & 180/180.

Cheers.

kokonutz

The most important thing, i think, is to get a great deal fares forum up and running because, as whimike says, the premium deal thread is too unwieldy to use and the actual good data is mined by bloggers who present them clutter-free. That's a lose-lose for Flyertalkers.

My initial thinking regarding thresholds is that armagebedar makes a good point. It's not about mistake fares; it is about legitimate fares that might burn out fast in an open forum. But I am nowhere near dead set on that.

Mostly I just think the forum is needed.

nsx

A city-specific search capability, along with ability to tag a fare post with the cities to which it applies, would help a lot. It should be better than trying to organize a new forum.

As to good deal economy fares for the purpose of travel (a novel idea, I know) rather than collecting EQMs, we have this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...e-threads.html

Also, when Southwest runs one of these sales (typically twice per year) the other airlines tend to match for Southwest's routes, allowing the EQM collectors to benefit.

SkiAdcock

I don't really follow mileage run or premium deals, so will take your word for it that the thread is unweildy. However, in reading this thread there seem to be an equal # for or against, with both making some valid points & also questions on which would qualify & which wouldn't.

Cheers.

jackal

I'm going to leave aside the discussion of whether some or all of the MR forums should be put behind a wall of some sort, as we've had that discussion several times and I'm not sure talking about it here will add to the discussion.

But I did want to point out the post above by 110pgl.

I've been following the Good Deal Premium Fares 2012 thread ever since the $700 fare to BOG was posted (which yielded an almost-MR-worthy CP-EQ-M). I'm not really sure why I still follow it, because nothing posted since is even remotely appealing to me (some of the fares discussed in that thread are as much as I've spent for the entire year to earn UA 1K and AS MVPG). I guess I'm still hoping that by following that thread, I won't miss another one of those spectacular deals like BOG.

But it's been an interesting exercise to see what a few FTers consider to be good deals on premium fares and read the discussion. But that's the key word: a few FTers. Even if a dedicated forum were to increase the volume of discussion by a factor of 3 as compared to that thread, I'm skeptical it'd reach the volume of posts necessary to create a self-sustaining discussion. As it is now, that thread pops up maybe a few times a week.

I'm not entirely opposed to the idea, but what is posted in that thread and what is proposed to be discussed in this forum is out of reach of the vast majority of FTers and won't, IMHO, hold broad appeal. If the slim minority of people to whom that forum will hold appeal are enough of a constituency to make the forum a vibrant place, then I'm happy--but I am skeptical that will be the case.

HIDDY

I'd love to see a "Good Fares Deal" forum......one where the posts are easily understood at first glance.

I really can't be bothered trawling through hundreds of posts full of riddles and nonsense to find out which routes the fares are for.

United747

I totally agree. It would be so nice to have an easily read thread (say that five times fast). This would be a great addition.

Delta747

ainternational

Can we please put this to a vote or get a moderator to cast a decision? I feel we are in perpetual limbo here...

jackal

The Good Deal Premium Fares forum would not have anything to do with the current Trick It thread (the one you're referring to with riddles and nonsense).

For discussion of non-trick mileage run-worthy fares, there's a place for that where things are discussed in a pretty-easy-to-understand manner: the Mileage Run Deals forum. No need for a separate forum in that case.

The Good Deal Premium Fares forum would replace the single Good Deal Premium Fares thread, which is a low-volume thread that discusses sales (and occasionally mistakes) for seats in the pointy end of the plane. It's not done in code, either.

This proposal doesn't address the Trick It thread, which would most likely continue to exist in the current Mileage Run Deals forum in a currently-obfuscated manner. If you just want to look for good deals without trying to trick the booking engines, simply continue to ignore the Trick It thread and watch the current Mileage Run Deals forum.

I doubt it would pass if put to a vote now, so there's no reason to push for a vote.

The best way to get this pushed to a vote is to make a clear case that this would be a significant improvement for FlyerTalk and get several TalkBoard members supportive and fired up about the issue. So far, that hasn't happened, IMHO.

Note that moderators have nothing to do with forum creation or TalkBoard decisions.

vortix

I agree. I am the OP here. What is the process to put this to a vote? Alternatively, if mods don't think the many reasons provided in this thread are compelling enough to put this to a vote, can/should this thread be locked?

jackal

Please see the second half of my post just above yours for information on how to get this voted on.

I am not a moderator of this forum, but it is not regular practice to lock a thread just because a particular result was not achieved. I would rather this thread stay open as a logical place for anyone to contribute future thoughts on this subject, especially with a new TalkBoard about to be seated.