Consolidated "Problems Accessing FlyerTalk When Using A VPN" thread
 

I started using a VPN on my personal PC and phone a few weeks ago. Everything works fine except for FT; the site doesn't load when I am routing through the VPN. It works fine when I don't use the VPN, but it's annoying to have to disconnect and reconnect. Any suggestions? Might FT be blocking my IP address? Thanks.

Is this a work VPN or a personal one? I use Private Internet Access and have noticed some of their Euro headends are/were blocked. All my other VPNs (SSL or IPSEC) work just fine.

Yep, it's Private Internet Access. I'm using the Florida one so I can try switching, perhaps.

Ah cool, try the Netherlands headend. That one works for me and it has lots of bandwidth.

IP Blocking and VPN Access Blocked Issues (consolidated)
 

I'm using VPNs to log into to FlyerTalk. Certain ones always timeout. Are particular IPs being blocked?

Yup, FlyerTalk very obviously blocks some IPs belonging to data centres where VPN servers are hosted.

Afaik, IB does not unilaterally block any vpn IPs, and IP blocking is used pretty much as a last resort. That said, if the the IP(s) in question really have been blocked, it's possible it was done in error while dealing with a spam attack or other disciplinary action.

The best course of action is to send a PM to the IB techs, giving the specific IP or IP range that appears to be having access difficulty. If there is an inappropriate block in place, it would be good to get the issue corrected so others don't encounter the same problem.

Will do when I get home and can test my VPN provider's different endpoints. I know you block a lot of VPN IPs in the Netherlands, presumably due to spam coming from the same data centres.

VPN access to FT blocked
 

I am unable to access Flyertalk.com through Astrill OpenWeb VPN.

This is quite frustrating as direct access to FT form mainland China is sloooow.

How can access from a VPN be restored?

try switching VPN servers
 

I was having a similar problem last week, but found that by switching servers, I could access FT. Hope that helps.

fischi,

I've also heard that it is possible to contact some admins here to remove the block. Any idea who to contact?

Nope. Sorry. But each forum
Has a moderator - you could start with this forum.

I'll point this query out to Admin.

JDiver
Senior Moderator

Looking into this guys.

Thanks!

Please provide the IP address of your computer when using the VPN service.

Also, be advised that if this is an anonymizing service like Tor, you will not be able to access FT as that is considered a security risk.

Not to hijack OP here but thought my question would fit well with the title (it is a silly one, but my IT knowledge is close to zero):

Can my employer track and block me using FT? Just for the reason that they think it is not appropriate to surf during work hours (even if I sometimes come here during work hours, but mostly off-work)

I sometimes think about this as I am quite frequent here these days and I am almost always connected through my company's VPN even when not during work hours.

Yes, your employer can track your web usage and block specific sites. Whether your employer actually does that or not is another question.

The Toronto CA headend is blocked as well.

IP Blocking and VPN Access to FT Blocked Issues (consolidated)
 

Toronto is working now from source IP

This being FT, perhaps we should be using IATA codes for VPNs instead of city names :)

IP addie deleted - Administrators can see what was deleted. :)

JDiver
Senior Moderator

Just tried on Toronto and North York. Still blocked. I resorted to running a convoluted proxy system on my network. The proxy runs on my VMware hosts that has direct internet access. I set my laptop to go over VPN for everything except web browsing. The browser talks to the VM that runs a Squid proxy to handle port 80 and 443 traffic. The hoops we jump through to get to FT :D

Seeing similar issues with other VPN providers (Astrill, etc). Switching servers usually does the trick, but it's odd to only have this problem with FT and not any other boards :confused:

Hi, I've just started to HMA! VPN with a UK ip address and cannot access Flyertalk through it. The ip addresses that I've tried so far are as follows:

78.129.171.52
95.154.230.168
212.38.170.108
37.9.57.57

Thanks.

FT blocked on VPN?
 

I use Private Internet Access to browse online for privacy reasons. FT has not been loading for the past few days. Is FT blocking these IP addresses? Can they be unblocked?

Here as well when using an EU access point, but not when using an AU VIC access point. Hong Kong does also work.
Try another access point.

A lot of spammers use the common VPN proxies to sign up so these are blocked on FT.

I also use PIA and many of its access points are blocked here. Some are not, but I'd say a majority of the ones I try are blocked. I understand spammers use VPNs but so do millions of legitimate people nowadays. It's kind of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Other than Bank of America (occasionally) and Ticketmaster (always), I have zero issues with PIA VPNs being blocked on any other site - and I have it on 3 computers in our house. So somehow most other websites out there seem to manage without blocking one of the most widely used VPN services - wondering why FT can't do the same.

You also have a significant section creating dupes for sock puppetry using VPN clients. The spam is the bigger issue. You have 120 or so posts created all across FT in minutes. If its persistent, the ip is simply blocked as mods are volonteers who are not required to monitor FT 24/7...��

Again, though, FT isn't the only site subject to such mischief, yet no other sites I use regularly - including similar message boards/forums (also relying on volunteers) have such widespread VPN blocking. These are more widely known and busier forums than FT so I'd guess they would be similar targets, if not more so. Yet FT is the only site where I now have to turn off the VPN to access, nearly 100% of the time lately.

Glad I'm not the only one having this problem. Seems a bit excessive, a captcha for creating an account and posting for the first month or two seems like a better solution.

Spammers won't mind this, but a better way is
- limited possibilities (e.g. no images, no PM to others than admins) when less than 10 posts
- when someone really spams, not only the message is deleted but after a single warning the account is blocked.

That is already in place... ;)

Other VPNs may work just fine.

New advertisement? VPN - unblock Netflix AND FlyerTalk!

Yeah. Blocking VPNs from signup is different than blocking VPNs for general use. This is a forum of travelers, sometimes we need to use VPNs!

If I'm on wifi and not at home, I'm logged into a VPN.

Ditto for me. There's got to be a better way than to throw the baby out with the bathwater as mentioned upthread.

Any update from mods or anyone else? FT refuses to load on multiple US servers on my VPN service, and is the only site that I need to turn off my VPN to use. Quite frustrating.

I contacted PIA, they said that it is blocked on many of their servers, could only offer the suggestion of hop around until I found one where I connected. They could do nothing on their end.