Surely a thread with 140,000 views suggests there is a lot of interest in this FF program!
Personally don't think much of that as an argument, the question is whether its a good thing or not, not an equity issue (we didn't do for BMI therefore we shouldn't for US). I'm in favour (and would have been for BMI too), the fact that there has been enough interest to get 140000 view is enough to suggest this should be polled amongst members.I don't think there is a need for it. BMI Diamond Club was previously a very popular program as well but they never have their own forum.
Unlike BMI…
I would say that US DM has fundamentally changed the way many AFFers fly.
Some AFFers have made significant financial, time and even emotional commitments to US DM.
This commitment will drive the need for more comprehensive and compartmentalised experience sharing, and easier ways for users to find this shared information. Especially considering one popular thread is now 341 pages long.
I agree that US DM now needs its own forum on AFF.
If USDM is a fad and/or is taken over it can be removed at that time. In itself not a reason for no separate forum, some of the other airlines that have forums could theoretically be taken over too but that doesn't deny the need for people to discuss them now. As for fad, well it's a long lasting fad at 2 1/2 years now and I for one don't think that will change for at least a year!While I completely agree, the hard question is – is US DM a fad?
Two important points regarding that –
1./ US DM will probably cease to exist in the short to medium term, as it is extremely likely to be merged into the AAdvantage brand.
2./ We are probably experiencing a “perfect storm” at the moment thanks to the GFC.
- US is attempting to raise cash (for some reason) so is having to make very competitive retail buy offers,
- The AU$ is trading at high levels against the US$, so increasing value on the conversion,
- Some carriers in our region have excess premium capacity, which leads to good seat availability at the moment.
The nature of AFFers’ interest in US DM, also means that there is significant cross over with the use of ANA Mileage Club, Aeroplan and MileagePlus, as well as a number of questions regarding flying Thai and Asiana (& others), and IMO it really can’t be viewed in isolation from Lifemiles.
Plus, from the AFF perspective, it also seems to be pulling some flyers away from oneworld, and onto Star for the first time, and this too is creating new enquiries.
But I agree, something needs to be done about categorising the information share, to enable easier access than having to scan through one enormous thread.
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Surely a thread with 140,000 views suggests there is a lot of interest in this FF program!
I have created a new US Airways Dividend Miles forum as suggested. See US Airways Dividend Miles
Thanks for the suggestion.
The main thing would be to create new threads rather than continually adding to existing I think!Now that we have a US DM forum, I don't think that quite solves the 'problem' with the 140k view thread. Do we need to subdivide it, or create new threads which separate out information etc.?