Flyertalk, Points Guy, etc.: do you use these sites? How do you use them?

Sarah,

Sorry, never heard or used them (yet?).

I will be watching this post to see what others think of it.

just so you know and for what its worth, i plan my own trips. I find it exciting and gets me in the mood to go. I also learn alot by researching and reading here and other places. Also, once i touch down, i feel like deja-vu and im always surprised how easy it was and how much its spot on. Sometimes not, but more on than not.

as far as search engines i just use a handful at this time and throw in some travel books from Rick Steves, Frommers and Lonely Planet. There are others, but with those books and the search engines, thats enough reading and browsing for me - if i want to get any sleep during my work week.

happy trails.

When I was traveling all the time work and had elite status with an airline and a hotel chain, I checked the boards for those frequent traveler programs on flyertalk a lot. I learned a lot of tips about how to earn more points, get upgrades, use rewards, etc.. People will post about various promotions and so forth and it can help you increase the points you earn. On the other hand, you have to put up with a lot of whiny posts from people who are very self-entitled (e.g., people who are really put out because some hotel didn't upgrade them to a club suite)

Now that I don't travel much for business, I rarely check flyertalk.

When someone on flyertalk says that your miles are "devalued", it generally means the frequent travel program has raised the number of points required to fly certain routes or stay in certain hotels.

Flyertalk does seem to be a place where a lot of airfare deals get posted quickly enough that you can actually book them. So if you're in the early planning stage of a trip but haven't nailed down a firm route yet, then spending a week or three seeing if anything interesting comes up like sub-$600 rt tickets from California to Copenhagen that have showed up lately (the legacies are trying to quash Norwegian before it gets a foothold in the USA) or the $200 mistake fare first class tickets from the mainland to Hawaii that showed up last Christmas eve can be useful on the wallet.

In terms of hotels, they've largely about the bigger chains and maxing out on points and status there.

I tried Flyertalk for awhile, but it just seemed too unwieldy for me. There are so many people on this website that travel extensively, I just watch their advice. I also start checking out airline rewards and airfare about a year in advance just to get a feel for what prices/rewards look like. I've started logging the info.and can look back a prices (things only seem to go up!).
Patty

I've used FlyerTalk in the past to get detailed, up-to-date information on airlines I've considered using for flights. There is much more information there than there is on this forum, since it is dedicated to flying. I did pick up a couple of tips there. One example: have a written list of alternative flights with you as you travel in case one you're on gets cancelled. This did help make a smoother flight experience when we did have a cancelled flight, as the phone agents can process your request much more quickly if they don't have to search for alternatives for you. This same information might be available on this forum, but unless someone has asked that question recently, it's hard to find considering the current state of the search function. I have not found, however, that reading FlyerTalk saved me any money.

Flyer Talk is useful to get objective information like "do the airplanes normally used between x and z by airline h have in-flight entertainment in English?", or to get all tips on best seats and whhether comfort/extra space/preferred seats you would have to pay a bit extra are worth for or not.

It is, however, a forum with many people that make deeply irrational decisions when it comes to frequent flyer programs, with all sorts of gimmicks and "mile runs" in order to get into coveted elite/diamond/VIP status

I also use Flyertalk for information that may not be strictly related to air travel. They have great forum pages on chip-and-PIN cards and on dynamic currency conversion scams at ATM machines or from merchants, for example. But the other posters are correct--it's a massive site and sometimes hard to navigate.

Thanks fellows,

While these replies have been coming it, I've been perusing Flyertalk and visited Points Guy. Both of these sites seems fascinating, however especially Flyertalk is something that I think I'll look into after my next trip. It's too painful to be probably quite near a super but temporary deal, and know I can't quite manage the data. For example, there was a thread on a fabulous sale for, I think, Air France business class. So, I did my checking, and there was no deal. After a lot of fiddling around, I discovered that the deal was for Canada across the atlantic ocean, not the US. None of the posters were saying Canada, probably because it wasn't an issue for them.

I appreciate the input, especially letting me know that it's not abnormal to find navigating these sites challenging.

Sarah