There a great thread regarding the optimal use of Search / Advanced Search: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/info...ve-thread.html

Sure. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/sear...ate-wait-times
You will get this result, for example, and wonder what relevance it has: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilt...l#post30583127
It has none. It is just that Alaska appears in the wiki.

OK I see. Yeah, this is just a limit to search algorithms every engine has, unfortunately. Doing Advanced Search specifically in the AS forum and having "companion certificate wait times" may yield better results for your purposes.

Ok, thanks. The problem is sometimes you don't know which forum to put the search. For example, award ticket on Japan Airlines could be done in the Alaska subforum, or in the Japan Airlines forum, or maybe also American Airlines or another Japan Airlines partner.

You can select multiple fora to search when you use Advanced Search. The thread linked to above probably indicates that, but see my illustration. Here, I’m looking in titles only for the search string “status+extension”, meaning status in conjunction with extension in the Air New Zealand, Alitalia and American Airlines fora.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f473079e4.jpeg

Thanks. I know how to select multiple forums. It is just that sometimes results pop up in forums you don't expect. And they could be helpful.

So annoying. Searching for Chicago and a BA thread pops up, with absolutely no mention of Chicago in the posts returned except in the wiki.

This works just like Google. You can specify specific sites/forums you want to search, but if you want to include everything, you'll likely end up with stuff that is irrelevant for your purposes.

Actually it absolutely doesn't work like Google. Google doesn't include all your search terms, it tries to predict what you are looking for. FT search is exactly the opposite. You cannot find what you are looking for in a simple search. You use an advanced search to try to get closer. I haven't seen it yet where Google doesn't actually include the word when you put it in quotes. On FT search you can search "by post" and it'll pop up a result that doesn't actually have the word you searched for in the post. Because it is in the wiki.

The Wiki is a type of post. That's why it's called a "wikipost". It works on BB Code, not Wiki Markup. It's just publicly editable, compared to an individual's post.

I understand you are saying technically it is hard. But the Wiki is not an individual's post. As in, every single post should not include the wiki. It just doesn't make sense. If so, searching "by post" doesn't work when a thread has a wiki, because you cannot actually find what an individual posts if the terms are in the wiki, the results will return literally every post. It does make sense if you are searching and want the results "by thread".

OooooK so this is a "Search Posts" issue, rather than a general search issue. I'll ask tech to take a look.

Thanks.

For example, if you search by post and type in "japan travel" it will pop up this result first: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...l#post32602428
The post itself has no "japan" in it, but the wiki does.

Now, once in the thread, if you search in the thread for Japan it won't pop up every post because it doesn't search the wiki anymore.