tcook052

Just bouncing some ideas off another FTer, craz, about creating a whole separate forum for misloads, mistake fares, unreal deals (kinda like how that sounds), or whatever you wanna call 'em. That would enable MR to go back to what it was really intended for

Discussion of trip itineraries designed solely for gaining maximum miles and/or points for no other reason than to gain the miles and/or points.

While the mistake fares are that in the extreme, I think the focus of MR forum has shifted with the recent arrival of many new members following the publicity surrounding the US $1.86 deal back in mid-April. The biggest benefit I could see with a separate forum would be a visual display of how infrequent these deals actually are, which might remind some bargain hunters only here for the deals that they don't come along everyday.

I can appreciate there may be some greay areas about what really is an unreal deal and what is a promo fare or seat sale. While the very obvious $20 BA WT+ and the US $1.86 versions easy to figure out, what about the $152 US SEA-FCO flights I took back in March? Misload or just ultra competative low season price?

Randy has already said on another ORP thread that he wouldn't want to see FT become another Fat Wallet site and for that I thank him as I don't either. But even in small, subtle ways lately FT is changing and I'm not always sure for the better. Perhaps a separate Mistake fare forum isn't what FT really needs, but I thought it couldn't hurt to throw it out there...

TrojanHorse

sheesh can you drop it yet!!!! Randy says he will look into it when he has time.. let it go for now.. till he decides what to do

craz

trojan,

Sorry to disagree with you, but tcook and I had been going back and forth orginally on a thread on MR. Lately in PMing.

I was gonna PM Randy myself but wont in as much as tcook already went here with it.

I was afraid that Randy would close up MR as he did CC. The problem is yrs ago when I did MRs not knowing that I was doing them, I had no idea of how to build one etc, I learned it all by READING posts all over but Especially on MR. I would HATE to take that learning process away from anyone else if MR gets closed up to anyone. So I thought why not have another Forum where the Mods can move the Mistakes/Errors to. That Randy can restrict since not being able to read it wont impied anyone from learning/reading about MRs. I would love it if people would stop posting "Please plan a MR for me" when they didnt lift a figure to do their own homework. Maybe MR can be opened for all to read and yet not open for all to post or however Randy wants to handle it. I dont understand why everyone cant read CC, I understand Randy wanting to restrict people from being able to post but not why they cant read it. The system might cost too much to allow eveyone to read but not post till qualified.

All we want is to bring MR back to its intended purpose and yet try to Not restrict what anyone can read.

tcook052

Take a pill with your morning java!!! In case you'd bothered to read the post, this is a very different topic from the previous ORP debate about min. post counts to log on to MR. @:-)

SanDiego1K

Doesn't Talkboard have the charter for determining if new forums are to be opened?

TrojanHorse

the point is he (RP) stated he's going to look into it when he can.. let him do it... chill pill this while you are at it

tcook052

So you're free to rant on the general topic at will, including on HH forum, but others aren't allowed to make suggestions?

If Randy feels this is too close to the other ORP thread about min. post counts for MR forum, or if this isn't exactly the appropriate venue for a suggestion about new forums, Randy or one of the other Mod.'s can move it.

whlinder

BA $20 WT plus wasn't obvious to everyone; some insisted it was intentional.

$152 US SEA-FCO was a misload.

YYZC2

I would be up for a "Super Deal" forum as well. As for what passes for a "Super Deal" - why not let the FT community decide?

In my limited experience with with setting up IBB's, I know there is software out there available to "rate" threads - what if someone could throw together some code that would assemble the top 20 highest rated threads out there and cross-map them into a virtual forum, with links mapping back to the original thread. Such an area would allow a user to get a taste of the "Best of FT" at a glance without having to click through every forum that MIGHT be of interest to them (or some they may never visit).

Such a feature may have alerted me to the beauty of Hyatt's Faster Free Nights promo well before I discovered it by mistake just a few months ago.

Randy Petersen

Actually, we have the thread rating system in place and for those that use the function, it can help. Perhaps we should do a better job of pointing this out to members. In fact, I'll rate this thread as i respond. Thanks for the reminder.

Randy Petersen

Thanks for the suggestion because with the vibrant community that FT is, we must always be aware of trends and changes among our members. I really don't think this is a topic for me. For the most part i don't see myself trying to decide which are new forums to be born and raised. That role has been adopted by your elected TalkBoard and they typically have listened, discussed and voted on newer forum ideas like this. My personal opinion is that it may have some merit, but know that information such as what you are noting, is best handled by more interactive links such as farealert,net (loosely associated with FT) because of the timeliness of the information than in a static forum - but again, that's only my personal opinion and at the end of the day will certainly abide by the direction the TalkBoard might decide since that represents the voice of the members and that is what FT is about.

What might help this is to get the topic in front of the Board. so if you don't mind, I'm going to re-direct the topic there for their consideration and hopefully our members continued comment contribution of the topic.

Thanks tcook052.

Randy Petersen

It must have been too early for me with the above post. I spent some time in Mileage Run and am a bit worried that the mistake and other deals are interferring with the concept of Mileage Runs as is noted from other members above. To help, I've simply jumped in and re-established a former forum we had in early years on FlyerTalk that is about airfare deals. I've named this new forum "The Fare Factor" and it is located in the Travel&Dining area of FT. The idea is here and hope this helps. I value far too much what Mileage Run can do for members seeking status and miles, but as you know, most if not all the mistake things do not earn miles. There will be on occasion some cross over, but at least it won't be constant. So please tune yourself in for discussion and alerts from that forum. Thanks for the suggestions.

Spiff

I think Mileage Run is still the appropriate place for mistake fares. They meet/exceed all the criteria for posting such fares therein.

Football Fan

Randy, could you briefly explain what you mean by "loosely associated with FT" in order to avoid future misunderstandings? Thanks.

wharvey

Totally Agree.

William