sobore

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060602529.html

Scrunched in the packed coach cabin, J.P. Maxwell eyed the lone empty seat in first class. An elite flier on Continental Airlines, he was upset. Maxwell was convinced he should have been automatically upgraded for the recent four-hour trip.

greggwiggins

I'd say more than mentioned. The main thrust of this Washington Post story is how airlines are learning to listen to Flyertalkers, making changes in airline operations and policy based on what is posted on Flyertalk, and how some airlines have people who are lurking while others have assigned people (such as Continental marketing director Scott O'Leary -- also known as CO Insider -- who's profiled in the story) as liaisons with posters.

A nicely done piece on how influential this site and the people who frequent it has become within the airline industry (^ Randy), and it surely got my attention when I opened my morning paper and the first words I read on the front page of the Business section were "Found on Flyertalk.com".

An excerpt from the article:

"These are free focus groups," O'Leary said. "Every airline executive in his right mind is reading Flyertalk and other sites. If it is bothering these customers, it is probably bothering others who don't post on the sites."

seoulmanjr

Overall, I like really am a fan of the airlines/hotels having reps participating here rather than simply lurking. CO Insider, NW scoop, and SPG's rep all help get resolution to issues and that's incredibly valuable.

However,




Also, the article says there are 130,000 FylerTalkers. I would love to see a breakdown of how many have more than 100 posts. Or 50 for that matter. I can't beleive there are 130,000 active participants. An awful lot has to be people who pop in and sign up when they see an article or a mistake fare alert, etc and never come back. Does anyone know a better number for active posters? Is this something a mod could query, or is Internet Brands wary of info like that being out there since it could impact advertising $s?

peace,
~Ben~

kiljin

There are many of us lurkers who are not active posters but active in reading on the industry here. Just because we like to sit back and let others talk doesn't mean we are not here. Even though I don't post that often, I still gleam lots of good material on a daily basis from this site. Without it I'm sure I'd still have FF miles in 50 different accounts and not even have bothered to start up hotel or car rental FF programs.

A better number would be the # different people who sign on weekly.

joe52

To second Kiljon's point about lurkers I've been a regular reader for a few years. I probably lurked regularly for at least 6 months before my first post and I still don't have many considering how long I've been here.

greggwiggins

Seoulmanjr left out the last sentences of the story in the excerpt he quoted. I'm attaching them because, for me, it turns a into a . And personally I have no problems with an airline correcting a mistake -- particularly after the fare's been available for three days.




O'Leary, who says he admires the Flyertalkers' passion, has not always been their best pal.

Last fall, someone on Flyertalk found relatively inexpensive fares on Continental between Minneapolis and London and posted details about the ticket price in the chat room. The fare was improperly coded, resulting in a $219 one-way ticket that came with too many bonus frequent-flier miles. Flyertalkers couldn't resist. They quickly bought nearly 1,000 round trips -- one traveler purchased 12.

Continental stopped the fare sale only after O'Leary spotted the chat and alerted company representatives.

Still, O'Leary remains embarrassed by the episode. It took him three days to notice the costly discussion.

He was too busy having fun -- hanging out with Flyertalkers in Cleveland.

seoulmanjr

True enough.

I just meant by way of balance that there are huge pros to having the airlines in here and some cons as well. Like I said, overall, I'm a big fan of them being involved rather than lurking since they are helping resolve issues and work to make the flying experience better. Just remember who signs their paychecks.

peace,
~Ben~

Muckus

"Since being assigned to monitor Flyertalk, http://www.airliners.net and blogs on various Web sites, O'Leary has solved dozes of problems that irritate road warriors."

Who does the fact-checking at the Washington Post??

LightSpeed

The way I read it: that's a comma: indicating Flyertalk and Airliners.net.

greggwiggins

The way I read it also. And the way I would have written it if I'd been doing the article.